The Scifi Products Blog.: 08/09/21

Monday, 9 August 2021

Did nature or nurture shape the Milky Way's most common planets?

A Carnegie-led survey of exoplanet candidates identified by NASA's Transiting Exoplanets Satellite Survey (TESS) is laying the groundwork to help astronomers understand how the Milky Way's most common planets formed and evolved, and determine why our solar system's pattern of planetary orbits and sizes is so unusual.

The water cycle is intensifying as the climate warms, more intense storms and flooding as a result

The world watched in July 2021 as extreme rainfall became floods that washed away centuries-old homes in Europe, triggered landslides in Asia and inundated subways in China. More than 900 people died in the destruction. In North America, the West was battling fires amid an intense drought that is affecting water and power supplies.

Melting ice and a high altitude dig reveal Viking secrets in Norway

The summer of 2011 was unusually hot for southern Norway. Where high mountain passes had been choked with snow and ice in previous years, surveyors and team members of the acclaimed Secrets of the Ice project found only jumbled talus and meltwater. Picking their way through the boulders that covered the ice-free Lendbreen pass, the crew soon realized they had walked into a vast archaeological treasure, one that had stayed frozen for a thousand years. They began to collect countless tools, artifacts and weapons—items that had once been in the possession of Vikings.

Survey: Feelings about others' vaccination status run hot and cold

The vaccinated are giving the cold shoulder to the unvaccinated.

Why it makes good business sense to hire people with disabilities

Managers sometimes assume that hiring employees who live with disabilities will be more expensive. They worry that these employees will perform at a lower level, be absent more often, need expensive accommodations and will then quit.

The global water cycle has become more intense: New Zealand's wet regions wetter, and dry ones drier

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has delivered a sobering update on how much the Earth has warmed and how the climate system is responding.

Yes, a few climate models give unexpected predictions, but the technology remains a powerful tool

The much-awaited new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is due later today. Ahead of the release, debate has erupted about the computer models at the very heart of global climate projections.

Unless we act now, a hotter, drier and more dangerous future awaits

Australia is experiencing widespread, rapid climate change not seen for thousands of years and may warm by 4℃ or more this century, according to a highly anticipated report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Art, drama and music lower stress: Considerations for students in years 11 and 12

If you're thinking of taking a performing or visual arts subject in years 11 and 12, you are probably weighing up a few considerations. These may include your passion and interest in the subject, how doing one or two arts subjects might affect your entry into university and what you could do with the skills you learn.

IPCC says limiting any global warming is what matters most

Of all the troubling news in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report out on Monday, one warning will surely generate the most headlines: under all scenarios examined, Earth is likely to reach the crucial 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit in the early 2030s.

Rising seas and melting glaciers are now irreversible, but we have to act to slow them down

After three years of writing and two weeks of virtual negotiations to approve the final wording, the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that changes are happening in Earth's climate across every continent and every ocean.

The dust and gas in protoplanetary disks

Planets form as the dust grains in a protoplanetary disk grow into pebbles and then finally into planets. Because small dust grains interact with gas (via the drag it imparts), the gas in protoplanetary disks influences the distribution of small grains and hence the growth of planets. Astronomers trying to unravel how dust-gas interactions affect planet development are particularly interested in studying the disk thickness (its "vertical height") versus the distance from the star; the disk flares outward in most cases where the central star dominates the mass of the system. By independently measuring the heights of the gas and the small dust grains, astronomers can study fundamental disk characteristics such as the gas-to-dust mass ratio and turbulence in the disk.

'Not too late' to prevent 'runaway climate change': EU

There is still time to prevent "runaway climate change" but only if the world implements carbon net zero policies, the EU's vice president in charge of climate action said Monday.

Acceleration of global warming 'code red' for humanity

We ignored the warnings, and now it's too late: global heating has arrived with a vengeance and will see Earth's average temperature reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels around 2030, a decade earlier than projected only three years ago, according to a landmark UN assessment published on Monday.

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Monday, 9 August 2021