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Animals Life on Earth

Pizzly Bear: 10 Fascinating Facts About Polar-Grizzly Hybrids

A pizzly bear (polar/brown bear hybrid)
A pizzly bear (polar/brown bear hybrid) at Osnabrück Zoo, Germany. Photo by Corradox - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

The Pizzly bear, also known as a grolar bear or nanulak, is a rare hybrid resulting from the mating of polar bears and grizzly bears. While it may seem surprising, these two species can indeed interbreed, producing fertile offspring. This phenomenon has become increasingly relevant as climate change alters habitats, leading to more encounters between the two species. Pizzly bears combine physical characteristics from both parents, often showcasing the white fur of polar bears alongside the darker fur patterns of grizzlies, making them a fascinating subject of study in the animal kingdom.

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Astronomy Solar System

A small telescope beyond Saturn could solve mysteries of the universe better than giant telescopes near Earth

Pioneer 11
Artist's concept of Pioneer spacecraft and the Milky Way Galaxy. Image: NASA

Dozens of space-based telescopes operate near-Earth and provide incredible images of the universe. But imagine a telescope far away in the outer solar system, 10 or even 100 times farther from the Sun than Earth. The ability to look back at our solar system or peer into the darkness of the distant cosmos would make this a uniquely powerful scientific tool.

Michael Zemcov, Rochester Institute of Technology

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Geography

The largest island-in-a-lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island in the world

Third Order Island map

There’s an island within a lake that is situated on an island located in a lake on an island in the Philippines called Vulcan Points. But, it’s not the largest such island. Vulcan Points is about 50×80 meters in size (about 164×262 feet). “The largest island-in-a-lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake-on-an-island in the world ” title belongs to an island named Third Order Island: it’s about 110×120 meters in size (about 361×394 feet). Third Order Island is located in an unnamed lake that is situated on an unnamed island that is located in an unnamed lake on Victoria Island, Canada.

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Science Fiction Climate

Dune: Could humans survive on Arrakis, the desert planet?

Dune
Dune: Could humans survive on Arrakis, the desert planet?

Dune, the epic series of sci-fi books by Frank Herbert, now turned into a movie of the same name, is set in the far future on the desert planet of Arrakis. Herbert outlined a richly-detailed world that, at first glance, seems so real we could imagine ourselves within it.

Alex Farnsworth, University of Bristol; Michael Farnsworth, University of Sheffield, and Sebastian Steinig, University of Bristol

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Mars Software Solar System Space Exploration Technology

Will Martian colonists be able to access the Internet?

Astronauts using computer on Mars
Astronauts using computer on Mars

If we can colonize Mars in the coming decades, will Martian colonists be able to access the Internet?

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Global Warming Climate

Urban Density in the Fight Against Climate Change

Shanghai
Shanghai is the second most populous city in China and the most populous city proper in the world. It is one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of China, with a population of more than 24 million as of 2014. It is a global financial centre, and a transport hub with the world's busiest container port. Located in the Yangtze River Delta in East China, Shanghai sits on the south edge of the mouth of the Yangtze in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. The municipality borders the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the north, south and west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea. A major administrative, shipping, and trading town, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to trade and recognition of its favourable port location and economic potential.

It’s no secret that climate change has brought about a wide and serious impact on the health of our planet, and will continue to do so if our practices go unchanged. One of the ways that cities tend to contribute to climate change is by utilizing poor urban planning practices that go on to impact the spread of the city and the resources it takes up.

While the existence of cities can cause issues in itself, the issue of urban density is often one of the primary concerns for improving how cities function on the resources they need. Here are just a few of the important things to know about the way urban density and city planning can impact climate change.

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Photography Animals Life on Earth

Forced perspective: 10 examples of why you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the Internet

7+ meters crocodile hoax - an example of forced perspective
7+ meters crocodile hoax - an example of forced perspective

Forced perspective, also known as the “trick angle” is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger, or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, filmmaking, and architecture. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera.

The forced perspective technique is also widely used to fool people on the Internet to get shares: giant snakes, impossible big crocodiles or alligators, huge rats, etc. Here are 10 examples of forced perspective and why you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the Internet.

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Animals Life on Earth

Turtle Facts: 10 amazing things about turtles

Sea turtle
A sea turtle. Photo by Cédric Frixon.

Turtles are reptiles, and like all reptile species, they’ve been around for a long time: the earliest fossils suggest that the first turtles evolved in the Late Permian Epoch, just before the Triassic period (251.9-201.3 million years ago, or Mya). For more than 200 million years, the body structure of turtles has not undergone any significant changes. Here are 10 amazing turtle facts.

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Physics

The coldest place in the Universe moves back on Earth

Coldest place in the Universe: ZARM
The experiments were carried out in the drop tower at the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM).

Scientists from the University of Bremen set a new low-temperature record. They cooled matter in a tower to an extremely low temperature: 38 trillionths of a degree warmer than absolute zero which is -273.15°C (-459.67°F). Nowhere in the universe can be any colder, so the coldest place in the Universe moves back on Earth again.

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Solar System Life on Earth

Why Earth and Venus followed different paths

Earth's atmosphere - early and today
Earth's atmosphere - early and today

Earth is the only planet we know contains life. Is our planet special? Scientists over the years have mulled over what factors are essential for, or beneficial to, life. The answers will help us identify other potentially inhabited planets elsewhere in the galaxy.

Antony Burnham, Australian National University and Hugh O’Neill, Australian National University

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