(Matt Williams) It’s hard living in a relativistic Universe, where even the nearest stars are so far away and the speed of light is absolute. It is little wonder then why science fiction franchises routinely employ FTL (Faster-than-Light) as a plot device.
science alert
Hypnotic Time-Lapse Shows The Surreal Patterns of Antarctica’s Tempestuous Winds
(Carly Cassella) Antarctica is known for its tempestuous weather, and the surface winds surrounding this icy southern continent are some of the strongest and most persistent on Earth.
Mainstream Inner Earth Science: Earth’s Mantle Could Be Hiding Vast Rock Anomalies Unchanged For Billions of Years
(Peter Dockkrill) Gigantic underground masses of rock the size of hidden continents could have been concealed inside the planet in virtual isolation since Earth first formed, scientists suggest in a new study.
Mainstream Media Denies Mental Health Problems and Video Games Contribute to Mass Shootings, Tries to Blame Guns
(Justin Deschamps) The following article showcases the opinions of psychologists who seem to assert that mass shootings don’t have any meaningful connections to mental illness or video games. But this presentation in the following article is itself rather dubious, as there are many mental health professionals who recognize that mental health plays a role in mass violence.
A ‘Ring of Fire’ Is About to Devastate The US With Heatwaves, Possible Storms And Floods
(Matthew Cappucci) From a sizzling scorcher in the South to severe storms in the east and Mid-Atlantic, a ring of fire weather pattern will bring summer hazards to more than 40 million Americans for the first part of this week.
Profiling via Your Cell Phone: You Move Your Phone Can Reveal Insights Into Your Personality, Creepy Study Finds
(Jacinta Bowler) It may sound strange at first, but a team of researchers in Australia has come up with a method to predict your personality traits using just the accelerometer in your phone.
There Could Be a Bunch of Tardigrades Alive on The Moon Right Now
(Aylin Woodward) A horde of microscopic critters called tardigrades were passengers aboard the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet, which crashed into the lunar surface nearly four months ago.
Astronomers Just Found an Absolutely Gargantuan Black Hole The Mass of 40 Billion Suns
(Michelle Star) Black holes can get pretty big, but there’s a special class that is the biggest of the big, absolute yawning monster black holes. And astronomers seem to have identified an absolute specimen, clocking in at 40 billion times the mass of the Sun.
This Simple Online Game Could Work Like a ‘Vaccine’ Against Fake News
(Science Alert) We know inoculation halts the spread of disease. As it turns out, the same concept can also be used for misinformation. Researchers at the University of Cambridge think they’ve found a way to ‘inoculate’ the public against fake news.
Astronomers Just Pinpointed The Origin of a Single Fast Radio Burst For The First Time
(Science Alert) Every now and again, our radio telescopes capture a mystery. A single flash, as powerful in radio wavelengths as half-a-billion Suns, condensed into a burst that lasts just a few milliseconds at most. Now, for the very first time, astrophysicists have traced one of these one-off fast radio bursts (FRBs) to its source.
There’s a Strange, Universal Beauty in The Structure of Earth’s Mountains
(Science Alert) Mountains are some of the mightiest geographic features on our planet, and no two ranges are the same. Some have soaring peaks, ragged ridges, and deep ravines, while others gently roll away in wavy hills and wide valleys.
Worst Fears About China’s Organ Transplants And Prisoners Were Just Confirmed
(Science Alert) Concerns have swirled around the origins of China’s human organ supply for decades, and grisly new findings confirm these longstanding fears remain as justified as ever.
The Star Trek Starfleet Logo Has Been Spotted on Mars
(Science Alert) Here on Earth we’re making big plans to send the first humans to Mars, but it looks like Starfleet may have gotten there first. In the expanse of the Hellas Planitia, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed a huge formation in the shape of the organisation’s famous chevron logo.
The US Navy Will Start Taking UFO Sightings Much More Seriously
(Victor Tangermann) The U.S. Navy is working on new guidelines for its personnel to report sightings and other encounters with “unidentified aircraft,” Politico reports. It sounds like a major step toward taking UFO encounters more seriously: the Navy’s new process would create formalized guidelines for sailors and pilots alike to report and analyze each one of the encounters.
Official Disclosure Imminent? Scientists Say: “Here’s Why The Idea of Alien Life Now Seems Inevitable And Possibly Imminent”
(Cathal D. O’Connell) Extraterrestrial life, that familiar science-fiction trope, that kitschy fantasy, that CGI nightmare, has become a matter of serious discussion, a “risk factor”, a “scenario”. How has ET gone from sci-fi fairytale to a serious scientific endeavour modelled by macroeconomists, funded by fiscal conservatives and discussed by theologians?