In the News

Geophysics and Celestial Mechanics

6 September 2023 Astronomy, Climate change, Electromagnetism, Physics
This one is a lot more complicated - and there is a lot more verbaige at the two links. These are https://judithcurry.com/2023/09/01/geophysical-consequences-of-celestial-mechanics/ ... the post

Do we know how the universe works?

6 September 2023 Biology, Physics
Gary sent in the link https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-have-made-a-discovery-that-could-change-our-understanding-of-the-universe/ ... which is a press release from Queen Mary university in London. Scientists have discovered universal constants - as

Texas Footprints

6 September 2023 Biology, Geology
William sent in the link https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/one-longest-dino-tracks-world-202823697.html ... a drought in Terxas has led to the discovery of around 70 dinosaur tracks - in a dinosaur

Shorn Comet

6 September 2023 Astronomy, Electromagnetism
In this instance, a temporary affair going by the video - which may change. At https://spaceweather.com on September 6th, we learn that Comet Nishimura on

Chinese Sink Hole

2 September 2023 Geology
Gary also sent in this link and concerns a Chinese sinkhole containing an ancient forest, 600 feet below the surface - see https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science-tech/article-12429387/ ... the

Grande Coupure

2 September 2023 Catastrophism, Evolution, Geology
The Eocene-Oligocene boundary or transition event is also known as an extinction event - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eocene_Oligocene_extinction_event ... which has a condensed version of the subject.

Shanidar Cave

2 September 2023 Anthropology, Archaeology, Evolution
At https://phys.org/news/2023-08-ancient-bee-burrows-neanderthals.html ... Ralph Solecki, back in the 1960s, came up with the idea of a 'flower burial' - a hypothesis that a Neanderthal skeleton

Giant Planet

1 September 2023 Astronomy
One of the big stories of the week. Garys sent in the link https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08/we-dont-understand-how-a-freakishly-heavy-exoplanet-could-have-formed/ ... a huge planet, 73 times the mass of the earth,

Sahara Space Rock

1 September 2023 Astronomy, Geology
At https://phys.org/news/2023-08-sahara-space-billion-years-upends.html ... unusual rocks containing distinctive green crystals were found in a dune filled region of the Sahara desert. The region is known as

Rancho La Brea

1 September 2023 Catastrophism, Dating, Geology
This is an interesting story and it really hinges around dating methodology - see https://science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo3594 ... We now have a pre-Younger Dryas megafaunal extinction at

Mississippi Mud and Antarctica

31 August 2023 Geology
How did the ice  cap first form on Antarctica? At https://phys.org/news/2023-08-mssissippi-mud-reveals-secrets-antarctica.html ... professes to know the answer. Wegener's continental drift is not mentioned. This is

Dansgaard-Oeschger Events

31 August 2023 Catastrophism, Climate change, Geology
See https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2302283120 ... or https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2302283120 ... these are abrupt climate transitions between stadial and interstadial conditions during glacial periods. In this instance the glacial period

How Old is the Universe

31 August 2023 Astronomy, cosmology
Wal Thornhill, before he died earlier this year, or was it last year, predicted that the James Webb Space Telescope, when it started sending back

Great Unconformity

30 August 2023 Geology
Gary sent in a link to a New Scientist piece on the Great Unconformity - a huge piece of missing geology. As the source was

Axis Tilt

30 August 2023 Astronomy, Geology
At https://phys.org/news/2023-08-late-pleistocene-glaciations-terminated-earth.html ... the headline here is that new research finds Late Pleistocene glaciations weere terminated by earth's axis tilt rather than orbital eccentricity. They

Black Hole Observation

29 August 2023 Astronomy, cosmology, Electromagnetism, Physics
At https://phys.org/news/2023-08-outskirts-supermassive-black-hole-accretion.html ... the centre of galaxies are a turbulent environment. It is thought this is because they harbour an actively feeding supermassive black hole.

Hand Axe

29 August 2023 Anthropology, Archaeology
At https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-300000-year-old-giant-handaxe-in-rare-ice-age-site/ ... This struck a chord with me. I have handled, and looked at, many stone axes and handaxes over the years. Admiration for

Long Covid

28 August 2023 Biology, Uncategorised
Interesting  appraisal of Long Covid at https://scitechdaily.com/unmasking-the-long-covid-mystery-new-study-reveals-cause-of-muscle-weakness/ ... Long  Covid is debilitating and symptoms hang on for months - and months. A potential cause for

Dinosaur Footprint Trail

28 August 2023 Biology, Geology
At https://scitechdaily.com/we-were-freaking-out-scientists-explore-dinosaur-coliseum/ ... scientists discovered and documented a single dinosaur track site in Alaska, and were blown away. The location is known as the coliseum.

Mathematics Carve-Up

20 August 2023 Inside science, Physics, Uncategorised
At https://www.quantamagazine.org/two-students-unravel-a-widely-believed-math-conjecture-20230810/ ... the work was posted at the pre-print server https://arxiv.org ... with the purpose of encouraging other mathematicians to look at it and