List of All Articles with Tag 'science'

US filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has shared a spectacular glimpse inside the Las Vegas Sphere, ahead of his film's opening there on 6 October. The Sphere contains the 'largest screen on Earth' and has 160,000 speakers, which will play his film 'Postcard From Earth', which celebrates the natural beauty of the planet. “At times you forget where you are,” Aronofsky says. In the clip, a huge elephant can be seen towering over him, giving a full 360-degree experience. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

With the tragedy and horror wreaked in Morocco last week, it's unsurprising that people’s focus hasn’t been on the skies. And yet, Friday’s devastating earthquake, has also sparked renewed interest in a mysterious aerial phenomenon. Footage shared to social media just moments before the 6.8-magnitude tremor struck the High Atlas mountains appears to show blinding lights flashing across the sky. Experts have suggested that the jaw-dropping sight is evidence of an enigmatic natural occurrence called “earthquake lights”. Reports of these bright flashes go back centuries. And yet, very little is known about them, to the point that scientists aren’t even sure they’re real. Indeed, some experts have concluded that there isn’t sufficient proof to support their existence, the United States Geological Survey notes. Nevertheless, “people have wondered about them forever," Karen Daniels, a physicist at North Carolina State University, told the New York Times. "It's one of those persistent mysteries that hang around and never quite get nailed." The issue with studying earthquake lights is that since earthquakes are impossible to predict, so are any preceding celestial pyrotechnics. Not knowing when or where they will occur means researchers can’t preemptively install the necessary equipment needed to detect them. Essentially, the only evidence we have comes from eyewitness accounts and, more recently, video recordings. And there is an abundance of the former, with a 2014 study noting that aerial luminous phenomena were reported in relation to 65 earthquakes which occurred in Europe and America over a period of 200 years. These descriptions of earthquake lights vary in their details, with some recalling on-and-of lightning-style flashes, and others minutes-long glows of different colours. “All of these have been reported by observers,” John Ebel, a seismologist at Boston Collegel told the NYT. “Which ones are actually true, and which ones are products of their imagination, we can’t really say.” One theory behind the formation of earthquake lights is that they are the result of friction between tectonic plates generating electricity. However, most experts are unconvinced by this hypothesis, including Dr Daniels. She told the NYT: “Rock on rock is not a situation where people have been able to generate large charge separation. And so it just doesn’t seem like a very good explanation for what people see.” Other scientists have suggested electrical arcing from power lines shaken by earthquakes could be responsible for the sky flares. But Dr Daniels acknowledged it’s still possible that there’s no link at all between the lights and tectonic events. “We’re comforted by things that we can understand, and we’re scared by things we don’t,” she pointed out. “I think that’s part of the reason we’re so fascinated by this phenomenon.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

Space travel might be a relatively modern phenomenon, but a pair of ancient human ancestors are getting to experience it too – albeit two million years after their death. The remains of a hominin species called Australopithecus sediba which date back two million years have been blasted into space as part of the Virgin Galactic’s spaceship, VSS Unity. The remains of a 250,000-year-old species named Homo naledi was also included in the craft, which was sent into space on September 8. Bone fragments from the two ancient skeletons were taken into orbit by Professor Lee Berger. They reached a height of around 50,000 feet by the VMS Eve mothership before being separated from the VSS Unity spaceship. Berger said: “The journey of these fossils into space represents humankind’s appreciation of the contribution of all of humanity’s ancestors and our ancient relatives. “Without their invention of technologies such as fire and tools, and their contribution to the evolution of the contemporary human mind, such extraordinary endeavors as spaceflight would not have happened.” Berger’s son, Matthew Berger, who was a part of the discovery of the remains as a child went on to explain the significance of the unusual cargo, saying: “These fossils represent individuals who lived and died hundreds of thousands of years ago, yet were individuals who likely gazed up at the stars in wonder, much as we do,” “I imagine they never could have dreamed while alive of taking such an incredible journey as ambassadors of all of humankind’s ancestors.” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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

It feels like this year, more than any other, we’re seeing a stream of science stories that continue to blow our minds. Every day is a school day online in 2023, and a host of studies, research papers and headline-making breakthroughs have completely changed our understanding of the world around us at every turn. There have been missions to the moon and findings about our planet which could turn everything we thought we knew on its head – not to mention baffling hearings on UFOs taking place in the US congress. These are the biggest science stories so far this year that have caught our attention in a big way. 'Alien corpses' unveiled in Mexico divide conspiracy theorists Christmas has come early for UFO watchers, with the alleged corpses of real-life aliens displayed for the world to see. The startling revelation came during a congress hearing in Mexico City on Tuesday, titled the Public Assembly for the Regulation of Unidentified Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (UAP). During the session, which was streamed online, Mexican ufologist Jaime Maussan presented what he claimed were two perfectly preserved “non-human entities”. Read more here. Buy now , Massive ocean discovered beneath the Earth's crust containing more water than on the surface People are only just realising that there’s a massive ocean hidden under the Earth’s crust. It turns out there’s a huge supply of water 400 miles underground stored in rock known as 'ringwoodite'. Scientists previously discovered that water is stored inside mantle rock in a sponge-like state, which isn’t a liquid, solid or a gas, but instead a fourth state. Read more here. Buy now , Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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

Kidney transplants my one day get an assist from porcine vessels.

The shape of an animal’s pupils is a clue to its place in the food chain.

A new study has revealed that black holes could be lurking much closer to Earth than anticipated. A black hole in space is when "gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out," NASA explains. "The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying." Due to no light being present, they are invisible. Only special tools can pick up on them. There are said to be around 10 million to 1 billion mass black holes in the Milky Way, according to Science Alert. However, astrologers only know of about 20 of them. Now, a recent study has revealed that they could be a lot closer to Earth than previously thought after investigating the Hyades cluster, "a group of stars located 150 light-years away". In a statement, astrophysicist Stefano Torniamenti of the University of Padua explained: "Our simulations can only simultaneously match the mass and size of the Hyades if some black holes are present at the centre of the cluster today (or until recently). The Hyades with hundreds of stars is said to be approximately 625 million years old. Due to its packed environment, "higher rates of collisions and mergers" are expected. At 153 light-years away, it is considered the closest star cluster to Earth. Researchers were able to observe two or three black holes in the Hyades, which are either still present or ejected less than 150 million years ago and hovering around the outskirts. "This observation helps us understand how the presence of black holes affects the evolution of star clusters and how star clusters in turn contribute to gravitational wave sources," Professor Mark Gieles of the University of Barcelona said. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

An exoplanet more than eight times the size of Earth and potentially habitable has been discovered by scientists. Exoplanet K2-18 b was detected by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and piqued scientists’ interest after data suggested it may be covered in an ocean and have a hydrogen-rich atmosphere that could support life. Scientists are also encouraged by a hint of the detection of the molecule dimethyl sulphide (DMS). On Earth, DMS is only produced by microbial life, but the team has yet to confirm the detection and search for evidence of biological activity. The groundbreaking discovery of K2-18 b may see the exoplanet come under the unique classification of a “Hycean” planet – ones which are candidates for life thanks to their hydrogen-rich atmospheres and water cover. The amount of methane and carbon dioxide combined with the shortage of ammonia suggests there may be a water ocean underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere in K2-18 b. K2-18 b lies within the constellation of Leo and orbits a dwarf star called K2-18. It lies around 120 light years away from Earth and is within the habitable zone. However, scientists added that this does not necessarily mean it can support life. Nikku Madhusudhan, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge and lead author of the paper, explained: “Our findings underscore the importance of considering diverse habitable environments in the search for life elsewhere. “Traditionally, the search for life on exoplanets has focused primarily on smaller rocky planets, but the larger Hycean worlds are significantly more conducive to atmospheric observations.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

Hurricane Lee has grown back into a Category 3 storm with 120-mile-per-hour winds about 650 miles (1,046 kilometers)

Dolly the sheep was the first animal cloned from a single adult cell—and raised a lot of questions about the future of human cloning.

Dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease is, by all accounts, pretty awful: A person with the disease hosts a parasitic worm that forms a painful blister under the skin that eventually bursts, allowing the worm to emerge and lay its eggs in water. Those afflicted don't just endure pain (although there's plenty of that); they also run the risk of secondary infection and permanent paralysis, and there are economic consequences to the disease, too.

The birth of our universe happened at least 13 billion years ago—and you may have seen it on TV.