By Ben Guarino The Washington Post
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This Rodent Is First Mammal Made Extinct By Climate Change: Researchers
Years ago, the small, ratlike rodents could be seen scurrying across the sand and coral rubble on the Australian island of Bramble Cay. Fishermen would sometimes see them while visiting the island, which is dotted with a few grass clumps, shorebirds and nesting sea turtles in the Great Barrier Reef.
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Astrophysicists Count All the Starlight in the Universe
By their estimate, over the history of the universe, stars have emitted 4 times 10-to-the-84th-power photons into the visible universe (that's a 4 followed by 84 zeros).
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Pluto Has Windswept Dunes Even Though It Shouldn't Have Enough Wind To Sweep
By Earth's standards, you could hardly imagine a stranger world than frigid, tiny Pluto. It resides in the far corner of the solar system at an average of about 4 billion miles from the sun. NASA's New Horizons probe, which flew within 7,800 miles of the dwarf planet in July 2015, gave us the best look at Pluto yet. There, temperatures plunge to mi...
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Fake News Spreads 'Farther, Faster, Deeper' Than Truth, Study Finds
A tweet can wreak havoc in a few hundred characters, as demonstrated in April 2013 when someone hacked the Associated Press Twitter account and claimed that explosions at the White House had injured President Barack Obama. There were no explosions - and Obama was fine - but the Dow Jones average sank by 100 points in two minutes. Stock markets swif...
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These Record-Breaking Pictures Were Taken By The Farthest Camera From Earth
They may not look like much more than blue-green smudges, but the images are record-breakers. The machine that took these photos was farther from Earth than any other functioning camera in existence.
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4,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummies Were Thought To Be Brothers. Genetics Tells A Different Story.
Long ago, Egyptians carved a cemetery into a rock wall along the Nile River 250 miles south of Cairo. The cemetery outlasted its 12th Dynasty creators. It survived intermittent pillaging by tomb raiders. And then in 1907, an excavator named Erfai discovered an untouched tomb. This was an unusual burial site. Within the tomb lay two high-society men...
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Sheep Able To Recognise Photos Of Barack Obama, Others: Neuroscientists
Of the roughly 1.1 billion sheep on Earth, roughly 1.1 billion have no idea who Barack Obama is. But there are at least eight sheep who can recognize the former president by his face. After a few days of training at the University of Cambridge in England, the animals learned to select the former president's portrait out of a collection of photos.
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Cosmic Rays Reveal Mysterious Void In Egypt's Great Pyramid
High above Egypt and everywhere else, cosmic rays bombard the atmosphere.
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Climate Change Fueling Disasters, Disease In 'Potentially Irreversible' Ways: Report
Climate change significantly imperils public health globally, according to a new report that chronicles the many hazards and symptoms already being seen. The authors describe its manifestations as "unequivocal and potentially irreversible."
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Astronomers Discover An Ancient Exploding Star After A 30-Year Search
What seemed to be a new star blazed into existence on March 11, 1437. The galactic newcomer was witnessed by Korean royal astronomers, among the few people taking notes about the stars in the early 15th century. They recorded the spot in the night sky and reported that 14 days later, the flare vanished from its perch in the constellation Scorpius.
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LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves for Third Time as Two Black Holes Merge
As was the case with the first two detections, the waves were generated when two black holes merged to form a larger black hole.
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Skulls Found In China Were Part Modern Human, Part Neanderthal; Possibly New Species
Modern humans outlasted the Neanderthals by about 40,000 years and counting.
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Forget Eggs - 245 Million Years Ago, This Long-Necked Sea Creature Gave Birth To Live Babies
A quarter of a billion years ago, when a shallow sea covered what is now southwest China, a large, long-necked aquatic reptile got pregnant. That is an unusual fact by modern standards - many reptiles, such as birds, turtles and crocodiles, do not get pregnant, which is to say they do not incubate embryos within their bodies and give birth to live ...
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Shaking Hands Is 'Barbaric': Donald Trump, The Germaphobe-In-Chief
President-elect Donald Trump, during a news conference in New York City on Wednesday, vehemently denied the salacious and unverified allegations put forth in a 35-page dossier published by BuzzFeed News. Behind a podium in the lobby of Trump Tower, the president-elect professed an awareness that the hotel rooms he visits overseas may be bugged with...
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On Trial: A Promising Start To Tinder Date Ended In Plunge To Death From Balcony
Like so many flings in the summer of 2014, the night Gable Tostee and Warriena Wright spent together began with a flirtatious exchange on Tinder. Their brief relationship would end not with fond memories, but in a death and accusations of murder.
-
This Rodent Is First Mammal Made Extinct By Climate Change: Researchers
Years ago, the small, ratlike rodents could be seen scurrying across the sand and coral rubble on the Australian island of Bramble Cay. Fishermen would sometimes see them while visiting the island, which is dotted with a few grass clumps, shorebirds and nesting sea turtles in the Great Barrier Reef.
-
Astrophysicists Count All the Starlight in the Universe
By their estimate, over the history of the universe, stars have emitted 4 times 10-to-the-84th-power photons into the visible universe (that's a 4 followed by 84 zeros).
-
Pluto Has Windswept Dunes Even Though It Shouldn't Have Enough Wind To Sweep
By Earth's standards, you could hardly imagine a stranger world than frigid, tiny Pluto. It resides in the far corner of the solar system at an average of about 4 billion miles from the sun. NASA's New Horizons probe, which flew within 7,800 miles of the dwarf planet in July 2015, gave us the best look at Pluto yet. There, temperatures plunge to mi...
-
Fake News Spreads 'Farther, Faster, Deeper' Than Truth, Study Finds
A tweet can wreak havoc in a few hundred characters, as demonstrated in April 2013 when someone hacked the Associated Press Twitter account and claimed that explosions at the White House had injured President Barack Obama. There were no explosions - and Obama was fine - but the Dow Jones average sank by 100 points in two minutes. Stock markets swif...
-
These Record-Breaking Pictures Were Taken By The Farthest Camera From Earth
They may not look like much more than blue-green smudges, but the images are record-breakers. The machine that took these photos was farther from Earth than any other functioning camera in existence.
-
4,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummies Were Thought To Be Brothers. Genetics Tells A Different Story.
Long ago, Egyptians carved a cemetery into a rock wall along the Nile River 250 miles south of Cairo. The cemetery outlasted its 12th Dynasty creators. It survived intermittent pillaging by tomb raiders. And then in 1907, an excavator named Erfai discovered an untouched tomb. This was an unusual burial site. Within the tomb lay two high-society men...
-
Sheep Able To Recognise Photos Of Barack Obama, Others: Neuroscientists
Of the roughly 1.1 billion sheep on Earth, roughly 1.1 billion have no idea who Barack Obama is. But there are at least eight sheep who can recognize the former president by his face. After a few days of training at the University of Cambridge in England, the animals learned to select the former president's portrait out of a collection of photos.
-
Cosmic Rays Reveal Mysterious Void In Egypt's Great Pyramid
High above Egypt and everywhere else, cosmic rays bombard the atmosphere.
-
Climate Change Fueling Disasters, Disease In 'Potentially Irreversible' Ways: Report
Climate change significantly imperils public health globally, according to a new report that chronicles the many hazards and symptoms already being seen. The authors describe its manifestations as "unequivocal and potentially irreversible."
-
Astronomers Discover An Ancient Exploding Star After A 30-Year Search
What seemed to be a new star blazed into existence on March 11, 1437. The galactic newcomer was witnessed by Korean royal astronomers, among the few people taking notes about the stars in the early 15th century. They recorded the spot in the night sky and reported that 14 days later, the flare vanished from its perch in the constellation Scorpius.
-
LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves for Third Time as Two Black Holes Merge
As was the case with the first two detections, the waves were generated when two black holes merged to form a larger black hole.
-
Skulls Found In China Were Part Modern Human, Part Neanderthal; Possibly New Species
Modern humans outlasted the Neanderthals by about 40,000 years and counting.
-
Forget Eggs - 245 Million Years Ago, This Long-Necked Sea Creature Gave Birth To Live Babies
A quarter of a billion years ago, when a shallow sea covered what is now southwest China, a large, long-necked aquatic reptile got pregnant. That is an unusual fact by modern standards - many reptiles, such as birds, turtles and crocodiles, do not get pregnant, which is to say they do not incubate embryos within their bodies and give birth to live ...
-
Shaking Hands Is 'Barbaric': Donald Trump, The Germaphobe-In-Chief
President-elect Donald Trump, during a news conference in New York City on Wednesday, vehemently denied the salacious and unverified allegations put forth in a 35-page dossier published by BuzzFeed News. Behind a podium in the lobby of Trump Tower, the president-elect professed an awareness that the hotel rooms he visits overseas may be bugged with...
-
On Trial: A Promising Start To Tinder Date Ended In Plunge To Death From Balcony
Like so many flings in the summer of 2014, the night Gable Tostee and Warriena Wright spent together began with a flirtatious exchange on Tinder. Their brief relationship would end not with fond memories, but in a death and accusations of murder.
