Leaders of the Episcopal Church voted to divest its holdings from fossil fuels on Friday, citing the fact that fossil fuel burning causes catastrophic climate change. Calling it a “moral issue,” leaders of the 2 million member Christian denomination said fossil fuel investments would be purged from the church’s holdings, which total approximately $380 million. … [Read more...]
A Satellite’s First Look at Earth Has a Stunning Photo of the Sahara
Sentinel-2A conducted its first ever scan of Earth on June 27th. The result was this gorgeous image of the Sahara in central Algeria, showing a glorious terrain of rocks and sand. … [Read more...]
NASA Proves Mars Isn’t Just One Big Desert
If you’ve spent any time looking at the average satellite image of Mars, you’d be forgiven for concluding that our nearest planetary neighbor is actually just one gigantic sandy wasteland. But as this close-up image of the Aureum Chaos proves, Martians don’t just hide in the sand. … [Read more...]
Here Are All the Ways Scientists Propose to Protect Earth From Asteroids
In a short, informative video, the American Museum of Natural History explains all the proposals for deflecting asteroids. Sadly, the plan from Armageddon is not on the list. Happy asteroid day! Here’s a bunch of reasons not to be too frightened of them. … [Read more...]
A Milky Cloud of a Nebula Floats Through Space
Nebula NGC 6153 is 4,000 lightyears away, located in the constellation of Scorpius. The elliptical cloud is the remains of the star that was once there, all its remains ejected once it ran out of fuel. … [Read more...]
What We Might Expect to Find on Pluto
The history of the modern exploration of the solar system has been a catalog of surprises. No matter what astronomers and planetary scientists expected to find, the moons and planets have managed to say “Gotcha!” more than once. … [Read more...]
What Makes Water Wet?
Why is water wet? It’s not just a question to boggle the minds of the kid scientists you encounter: It’s a question of chemistry. Nautilus recently posed just that question to Richard Saykally, a University of California, Berkeley chemistry professor who specializes in water, and here is how he explained what is going on... … [Read more...]
Why Do Snakes Have A Hemipenis?
Snakes and lizards, as well as a few marsupials, have structures known as “hemipenises.” Not quite two penises, but not quite a half one either, these branched structures probably serve some purpose, but what? … [Read more...]