Our Planet

How to reverse global wildlife declines by 2050

Species are going extinct at an unprecedented rate. Wildlife populations have fallen by more than two-thirds over the last 50 years, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund. The sharpest declines have occurred throughout the world’s rivers and lakes, where freshwater wildlife has plummeted by 84% since 1970 – about 4% per year.

Michael Obersteiner, University of Oxford; David Leclère, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and Piero Visconti, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Organic solar panels: lightweight, bendy, cheaper

Today’s silicon solar panels are an industry standard, but these rigid, heavy blocks may be shunted aside by plastic rivals – lightweight, flexible solar panels that could be printed and stuck onto buildings or placed in windows or cars, turning light into electricity in locations inaccessible to their heavier cousins.

The standard solar panels we see on homes and businesses are made from crystalline silicon. These rigid photovoltaic (PV) panels convert light into electricity.

Roscosmos is planning to shoot the first movie in space

Soyuz MS-17 makes a record-breaking 3-hour flight to the ISS

Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency is planning to shoot the first movie in space in collaboration with Channel One Russia (the first television channel to broadcast in the Russian Federation) and Yellow, Black, and White Studio (one of the biggest independent studios based in Russia focusing on the production of movies and TV programs). The title of the movie will be “The Challenge”.

NASA’s SOFIA Discovers Water on the Moon

For a long time, the Moon was considered bone dry. And that’s not a surprise since our satellite has no atmosphere that could prevent liquid water from immediately evaporating into space. But what remained hidden from even the eyes of the Moon travelers, discovered by the probes, orbiters, and observers: there are enormous amounts of water on the Moon, frozen to ice. And, in time, more and more water on the moon is being discovered. Now, two new studies show that there is probably even more water on the Moon than expected.

How Home Maintenance Helps You Conserve

When we think “home maintenance,” we often dread the tedious work and costly repairs that come with these tasks. There are many times when we have old things in our homes, and some of these can cause major problems down the line. We often look at these things and end up deciding to scrap it all and get something new instead. When it comes to items like refrigerators or furnaces, some objects are just too far in disrepair to save.

However, there are ways you can prolong the life of these items before they’re too far gone and we can even upgrade our homes to be more efficient than we ever imagined. This can ultimately save you money and keep bulky items out of landfills. These tips can help you get on track to saving your time, money, and the planet.

The Science Behind Cures: When It Goes Right and When It Goes Wrong

Science is both invaluable and imperfect. In managing cures to all kinds of diseases and ailments, these competing values offer mixed healthcare results. When medical science goes right, it enables protection and prevention, thereby saving lives. When it goes wrong, however, curative science can create more problems for the population.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Collects a Significant Amount of Material from Asteroid Bennu

NASA's OSIRIS-REx collects asteroid material

NASA’s OSIRIS REx spacecraft was supposed to grab a sample of the asteroid Bennu so that it could be returned to Earth for analysis. The spacecraft grabbed the sample on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, but, it’s taken a few days to actually get photos of the tool. Now the mission scientists at NASA realized that they have a problem with too much material. OSIRIS-REx collects a significant amount of asteroid material that larger pieces of regolith have kept the sample head from closing properly, so the material is slowly being lost. As a result, the mission operators are skipping past a number of important tests and going straight to storing the sample for return to avoid losing more.

Smart Home Devices Can Help Reduce Waste and Utility Bills

By now, it’s common knowledge that smart home devices can help with a variety of daily tasks. From asking your Alexa device what song is playing to checking your phone to see who just rang your doorbell, more people are buying smart devices to fill a variety of life needs and interests.

With increased technology, though, people have also begun to see the environmental benefits of these devices. Smart home devices can help regulate home temperature, reduce water use, and conserve energy, among other things.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Successfully Touches Asteroid Bennu

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu

Exciting news: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the first United States spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid has successfully touched down the Asteroid Bennu. The touchdown and sample collection occurred on October 20, 2020, at about 22:12 UTC.

Oceans of the Solar System

Created by the Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo (the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo) scientists, this amazing infographic shows the volumes of the oceans of the Solar System. The unit used is the volume of the liquid water on Earth, so the ocean volumes of the other planetary objects are given by the multiples of the volume of the oceans on our planet.