Ancient symbols carved into stone at Göbekli Tepe (an archaeological site in Turkey) tell the story of a big comet impact more than 13,000 years ago, scientists think. The devastating impact triggered a mini ice age that drove many mammals weighing more than 40 kg to extinction.
According to an article published by New Scientist, carvings made on a pillar known as the “Vulture Stone” in Göbekli Tepe suggest that a swarm of comet fragments hit the Earth in around 11000 BC.
On his most recent trip to the International Space Station (Expedition 48), recently-retired NASA astronaut Jeff Williams has recorded a great HD video of Earth (titled Jeff’s Earth) using an Ultra High Definition video camera.
Here in the video titled “Jeff’s Earth” below, he shares some of those images and talks about the beauty of the planet, the variety of things to see, and the value of sharing that perspective with everyone who can’t go to orbit in person.
51 Pegasi b, discovered in 1995, marked a pivotal moment in astronomy, being the first exoplanet confirmed to orbit a Sun-like star. Located approximately 50 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, this gas giant revolutionized our understanding of planetary systems. Unlike the gas giants in our solar system, 51 Pegasi b orbits remarkably close to its star, completing a full orbit in just over 4 days. This proximity results in extreme temperatures, making it a ‘hot Jupiter’. Its discovery, led by Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, challenged existing theories about planet formation and prompted a reevaluation of our place in the cosmos.
The catastrophic event that ended the reign of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago has been a subject of fascination and research for decades. A groundbreaking study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, detailed in their 2017 article “Baby, it’s cold outside: Climate model simulations of the effects of the asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous,” offers a compelling computer simulation of the aftermath of the Chicxulub asteroid impact.
This simulation reveals how prolonged darkness and severe cold, triggered by sulfuric acid droplets blocking sunlight, led to a dramatic global temperature drop and significant ecological shifts, ultimately contributing to the mass extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs and other species. This research not only illustrates the direct consequences of the asteroid impact but also provides insights into the complex climatic and environmental changes that followed, marking a pivotal moment in Earth’s history.
Scientists created a computer simulation of how the afterward effects of the famous Chicxulub asteroid (estimated to be 10 km/6.2 miles wide) killed the non-avian dinosaurs (and also a wide range of other species). According to a new study, after the devastating impact, the darkness and cold killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
On January 13, 2017, an article titled “Baby, it’s cold outside: Climate model simulations of the effects of the asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous”, published by the Climate Scientists of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), revealed a detailed model of what happened to the atmosphere and the climate after the Chicxulub impact.
In this video published by BBC One channel, monkeys accidentally kill the robot baby monkey that researchers put among them. Then, something amazing happens: the members of the tribe get very sad because of the accident and mourn for the robot baby monkey’s “death”.
The video below offers an extraordinary glimpse into the rarely-seen world of Nile crocodiles. As a female crocodile named Ganda tenderly transports her newborn babies to the water, we witness a moment of surprising gentleness from a creature often only associated with ferocity. This intimate footage was made possible by innovative research techniques: days before the hatching, scientists strategically placed a robot baby crocodile equipped with cameras where its eyes used to be, ingeniously designed to resemble crocodile hatchlings, near Ganda’s eggs.
That robotic imitator captured this heartwarming event, providing a unique perspective on the nurturing behavior of one of nature’s most formidable predators. This video not only showcases the maternal instincts of the Nile crocodile but also demonstrates the ingenious methods researchers use to study wildlife.
Two stars may collide into a stunning “red nova” in 2022 (or a few months earlier, most probably between September 2021 and September 2022), and for a few weeks become one of the brightest objects in Earth’s night sky, scientists predict. When two stars merge, they increase in brightness 10 thousandfold.
NASA published an amazing image of Earth (and the Moon) from Mars, taken on November 20, 2016, by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image is so incredibly detailed that we can see even the continents and clouds of Earth.
Here are the top ten most beautiful Earth photos taken by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2016.
In the last few thousand years, humans have had a powerful impact on Earth. Within a geological blink of an eye, we exploded out of Africa to colonize virtually every inhabitable space on the planet. We dammed the rivers, domesticated animals, deforested many areas, changed the chemistry of the atmosphere and the seas… the list goes on. But, what would happen if humans became extinct in the future?
One may think “humans are so intelligent, so it’s very unlikely that
