Oct 14 WATCH: NASA launches Europa Clipper to scour Jupiter moon for life’s ingredients By Marcia Dunn, Associated Press A NASA spacecraft rocketed away Monday on a quest to explore Jupiter’s tantalizing moon Europa and reveal whether its vast hidden ocean might hold the keys to life. Continue reading
Oct 13 Watch 7:28 New book ‘Threat Multiplier’ details the fight for the Pentagon to adapt to climate change By Ali Rogin, Claire Mufson At a 2021 climate conference, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “No nation can find lasting security without addressing the climate crisis.” That sentiment reflects the Pentagon’s three-decade evolution on climate change. Ali Rogin sat down with Sherri Goodman, a former… Continue watching
Oct 13 In engineering feat by SpaceX, mechanical arms catch Starship booster back at its launch pad By Marcia Dunn, Associated Press SpaceX pulled off the boldest test flight yet of its enormous Starship rocket on Sunday, catching the returning booster back at the launch pad with mechanical arms. Continue reading
Oct 12 Two comets from the spooky Oort Cloud are passing by our planet as Halloween approaches By James Wray, The Conversation The Oort Cloud’s residents may be a reason why life ignited on Earth; crashing on our planet eons ago, these ice bodies may have supplied at least some of the water that all life requires. At the same time, these… Continue reading
Oct 11 Wondering why the aurora borealis was visible so far south last night? Here’s why it’s all thanks to the sun By Amoré Elsje Nel, The Conversation During the peak of the cycle, called solar maximum, more sunspots and solar flares occur, increasing the likelihood of solar storms. Continue reading
Oct 10 Watch 6:09 Winner of Nobel Prize in chemistry describes how his work could transform lives By Amna Nawaz The Nobel Prize in chemistry went to three scientists for groundbreaking work using artificial intelligence to advance biomedical and protein research. AlphaFold uses databases of protein structures and sequences to predict and even design protein structures. It speeds up a… Continue watching
Oct 09 When hurricanes hit, flooded industrial sites and chemical releases are a silent, toxic threat By James R. Elliott, Dominic Boyer, Phylicia Lee Brown, The Conversation Hundreds of industrial facilities with toxic pollutants are in Hurricane Milton’s path as it heads toward Florida, less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded communities across the Southeast. Continue reading
Oct 09 ‘Fat Bear’ champ Grazer beats Chunk, the behemoth that killed her cub By Mark Thiessen, Associated Press In a storyline better befitting a melodrama than a popularity vote, Grazer won her second Fat Bear Contest Tuesday. Continue reading
Oct 09 What the Waffle House Index says about Hurricane Milton By Hannah Schoenbaum, Associated Press As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida communities still recovering from Helene, many Waffle House locations along the Gulf Coast, including those in Tampa, Cape Coral and St. Petersburg, have closed in preparation. Continue reading
Oct 09 Helene’s deadly rain and wind got a boost from climate change, flash study finds By Alexa St. John, Associated Press The warming climate boosted Helene's wind speeds by about 13 miles per hour, and made the high sea temperatures that fueled the storm 200 to 500 times more likely, World Weather Attribution calculated Wednesday from Europe. Continue reading