List of All Articles with Tag 'c'

Scotland’s only oil refinery is set to close as soon as 2025, dealing a blow to the local

The 10 worst contracts currently on the books in Major League Baseball.

We’re discovering new things about the Earth all the time – just like scientists recently found water is slowly leaking down there from the surface, and people only just realising that there’s a massive ocean hidden under the Earth’s crust. Now, experts have found that the Earth’s axis appears to be shifting for a reason no-one saw coming. Essentially, the Earth’s tilt is changing over time. A few years ago, scientists put this down to global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps. However, experts have published new research which suggests that groundwater extraction is also playing a bigger factor than previously thought. The Earth’s poles can move with the melting of ice sheets. However, the depletion of groundwater caused by irrigation can also force the same thing to happen. While things are moving at a slow rate, with the North Pole moving gradually in the direction of the UK, the phenomenon does have the capacity to change the Earth’s seasons over time in theory. The most concerning thing, though, is what the new study published in Geophysical Research Letters suggests about the way we’re consuming Earth’s natural resources – especially when it comes to salty water being used on dehydrated land. Ki-Weon Seo of National University is co-lead on the study. She said in a statement: "Earth's rotational pole actually changes a lot. Our study shows that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the largest impact on the drift of the rotational pole." It comes after scientists recently discovered water is slowly leaking down there from the surface. The liquid is dripping down descending tectonic plates, before eventually reaching the core after a 2,900 kilometre journey. And while the process is slow, it has over billions of years formed a new surface between the molten metal of the outer core and the outer mantle of the Earth. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

A Japanese automaker has unveiled an electric van that uses rooftop solar panels to charge its battery. The Puzzle van, built by HW Electro, is designed to be disaster resilient, capable of functioning during periods of prolonged power outages, however its small size and limited power output means many everyday users could operate it without ever needing to plug it in. The pint-sized van comes with three photovoltaic panels, emergency outlets, an inbuilt first aid kit, WiFi internet connectivity, and a crowbar. HW Electro said the puzzle-inspired design allows its components to fit together in a cost-effective way, making it suitable for “emergencies and for daily convenience” alike. The Puzzle is a type of ‘kei car’, which are smaller and lighter than regular vehicles in order to attain tax and insurance benefits within Japanese regulations. For the first time, HW Electro will be selling a kei car in the US, with commercial sales set to begin in 2025. “The Puzzle launch marks HW Electro’s dedication to addressing environmental challenges and creating innovative eco-friendly solutions to the commercial vehicle market,” HW Electro President Hsiao Weicheng said at the van’s unveiling. “We are excited to officially showcase Puzzle today and we look forward to making it available in the US market.” HW Electro is yet to reveal details about the price or top speed, though its form and functionality could meet a growing demand in the US for small electric vehicles. Areas like Arizona and Florida are increasingly seeing families using electric golf carts as a “second car”, capable of making short trips within a town. Some states are even adapting laws to allow small electric vehicles with limited top speeds to be driven on public roads, according to Electrek. “As the trend continues to grow, it promises not just a transformation of our local communities, but also a greener and more sustainable future for all,” the publication noted in August.

Every winter, Jewish people around the world spend eight nights lighting candles, eating latkes, and spinning dreidels. But what’s Hanukkah really all about?

Great white sharks are displaying unprecedented behaviours, and experts can’t explain why. One of the ocean’s greatest apex predators has been entering the twilight zone way beneath the surface of the ocean, and far beneath the areas they normally feed in. The twilight zone, also referred to as the mesopelagic zone, is the area 200 to 1,000 metres down below the surface which is at least partly permeated by sunlight. The midnight zone, meanwhile, is found 1,000 to 3,000 metres down and is impenetrable to sunlight. Now, a new study published in the journal PNAS offered insight into the behaviours of 344 tagged predatory fish including great white sharks. Scientists would usually expect the creatures studied to dive to the deep scattering layer (DSL), which is full of small fish and other ocean life forms and therefore attracts more predators than other levels. However, there was also evidence that suggested predators dove down far deeper than the DSL, and scientists don’t know why. According to the research, great white sharks dive down to as deep as 1,128 metres. Camrin Braun is assistant scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and study lead. Braun told Live Science: "How, when, where they access the deep ocean certainly varies, but the clear anecdotal answer is that the deep ocean seems like an important habitat regardless of the predator species. It's clear there are good reasons for these animals to dive deep, otherwise why would they all do it? "There's good evidence for some species/situations in which diving deep is clearly for foraging," Braun added. "So that supported our expectation. However, we also find several cases where we can pretty definitively say the use of the deep ocean is not for feeding – or if it is it represents a totally different kind of predator-prey interaction or mysterious prey resource." The study could suggest that the twilight zone could be far more important to great white sharks and other predatory fish than previously thought. "If it turns out that there is indeed more biomass in the twilight zone than in all current marine capture fisheries combined then it's possible to imagine a kind of mesopelagic 'gold rush' to catch and use this biomass," Braun said. "There are many 'ifs' in this chain and many issues in making mesopelagic fishing feasible but it seems that biomass may be important for predators. Therefore, we really need to better quantify those links between predators and mesopelagic biomass before we can sustainably harvest/use those resources.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Extreme desktop processors for PC builders and highly demanding workstation users are back—or so AMD

Qatar Airways has been renewed as the airline sponsor for the men’s World Cup in 2026 in North America and the and 2030 tournament expected to be in Europe, Africa and South America

Jim Knowles is a sexifinalist.

Britain’s biggest pub groups rose after Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt froze alcohol duty, in a move

Sam Altman has been reinstated as the boss of OpenAI after the company's employees threaten to resign.

S&P Global Inc. expects to generate more revenue from rating private debt financings, as a potential downturn in