Astronomy
Menstrual Cups Tested in Space Flight Conditions for the First Time
For long-duration missions, female astronauts generally use hormonal contraception to suppress their periods. But this method has potential health risks and requires special storage. Pads and tampons create waste in space. Now researchers have tested menstrual cups on a sub-orbital rocket flight, where they experienced the force of launch, and found they performed identically to ground control cups. This could provide a new option to female astronauts on future missions.
Tracking Macroplastics Leeching Into Rivers from Space
Rivers are one of the main ways that plastics get into the world's oceans, and now we can identify where plastic waste accumulates from space. Researchers used data from the Worldview-3 satellite to identify and map plastic material and polymer-coated surfaces in a watershed on the US-Mexico border. They collected different waste from stream channels and then identified their specific infrared absorption features, matching them to satellite imagery.
Math’s Block-Stacking Problem Has a Preposterous Solution
In principle, this impossible math allows for a glue-free bridge of stacked blocks that can stretch across the Grand Canyon—and into infinity
ISS astronaut captures a rare phenomenon from orbit — a giant 'sprite' above a thunderstorm
Fig trees may benefit climate by turning carbon dioxide into stone
Fig trees may benefit climate by turning carbon dioxide into stone
'Humanity’s time is over!’ Apple TV+ drops release date and intense first teaser for 'Invasion' Season 3
For 100 years, we have marveled at planetariums. Here's a brief history of how humans brought the stars indoors
Devour a cosmic-sized chunk of Marvel lore ahead of 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps', with the 'The Coming of Galactus' novel
Rare snowfall in Atacama Desert forces the world's most powerful radio telescope into 'survival mode'
A 'Golden Handle' will appear on the moon tonight. Here's how to see it
Galaxy Clusters Have Been Surrounded by High-Energy Particles for Almost Their Entire History
If you could see the Universe through a radio-wave "eye", you'd detect mini-halos of relativistic particles creating radio emissions around some galaxy clusters. Astronomers long figured those halos are relative "recent" happenings in the nearby Universe and didn't occur in the early epochs of cosmic history. That's all changed now that the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio observatory in Europe has revealed newborn galaxies in the early Universe already surrounded by a halo of particles. It's a rare look at what such clusters were like soon after they formed.
Correcting Radius Biases in TESS Exoplanet Discoveries
How accurate are the exoplanet radius measurements obtained by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)? This is what a recent study accepted to The Astrophysical Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how hundreds of exoplanetary radii measured by TESS during its mission might be incorrect and the data could be underestimating the radii measurements. This study has the potential to help astronomers develop more efficient methods more estimating exoplanetary characteristics, which could influence whether or not they are Earth-sized.
GJ 12 b: Earth-Sized Planet Orbiting a Quiet M Dwarf Star
What can Earth-sized exoplanets teach scientists about the formation and evolution of exoplanets throughout the cosmos? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as an international team of researchers announced the discovery of an Earth-sized exoplanet that exhibits temperatures and a density comparable to Earth. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of Earth-sized exoplanets and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.
