This is a mobula ray. Many species of sharks and rays can jump out of the water. But, why do they do it? Image via Nico Marín/ Pexels. Leaping out of the water requires significant energy. This suggests breaching serves an important function. Sharks and rays leap out of the water for several reasons, such … Read more
The National Weather Service said this morning: “A winter storm will continue to impact the Mid-Atlantic through tonight with areas of heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain. A winter storm will begin to impact the Central Plains Wednesday, bringing heavy snow from central Kansas through much of Lower Michigan. This system will also produce a … Read more
The great solar storm of May 2024, which sparked beautiful auroral displays over much of the world, also created two new radiation belts that were observed with a satellite that came back from the dead. “This is really stunning,” Xinlin Li, a professor at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of … Read more
Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge posted the wonderful images of Wisdom and her new chick on Facebook on February 7 and 9, 2025. Wisdom is the world’s oldest known wild bird, at approximately age 74. You can tell it’s Wisdom from her well-known leg band, number Z333. Biologists first identified and banded Wisdom … Read more
What would happen if Earth were struck by another catastrophic asteroid? While such an event would be devastating, researchers at the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in South Korea wondered specifically how Earth’s climate and ecosystems might change in the aftermath of such an impact. They calculated that there is … Read more
Back to Article List Although classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid, Bennu probably won’t hit Earth. But this study shows the damage a mid-sized space rock of its kind could do. Asteroid Bennu is a rubble pile-type asteroid that was visited by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which took the images used in this composite photo. Credit: … Read more
More than 4,000 small earthquakes have been rattling the Greek islands around Santorini and near the underwater volcano Kolumbo. The bigger the dot, the bigger the quake; the darker the dot, the deeper the quake. So what’s going on? Experts from the German Research Center for Geosciences explain what’s happening with the Santorini earthquake swarm … Read more
How easy is it to see Earth’s civilization? Could an alien civilization with technology like ours detect us looking back at them? What would aliens see? And from how far away could they see it? Knowing how easy Earth and earthlings are to spot might simplify work for scientists looking for alien life. The SETI … Read more
What if Bennu hit Earth? The asteroid has a 1-in-2,700 chance of hitting our planet in 2182. On February 5, 2025, scientists in South Korea said they’ve simulated what might happen to Earth if we end up on the losing side of those odds. Image via Myshoun/ Pixabay. What if Bennu hit Earth? Asteroid Bennu … Read more
This animation from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory shows an atmospheric river event in 2017. Atmospheric rivers are relatively narrow regions in the atmosphere that are responsible for most of the horizontal transport of water vapor outside of the tropics. Image via NOAA. Atmospheric river to continue to pound U.S. West An atmospheric river has … Read more