What Hollywood gets wrong (and right!) about protecting the Earth from asteroids
UC Santa Cruz alumna Kirsten Howley is an astrophysicist working as part of a planetary defense team that has been tasked with preventing a real-life ‘Armageddon’
Healthy oceans need healthy soundscapes, say marine scientists
A global team of researchers has found overwhelming evidence that marine fauna and their ecosystems are negatively impacted by noise, which disrupts their behavior, physiology, and reproduction, and can even cause mortality.
Seymour Marine Discovery Center offers new marine science virtual expeditions
“Scientists Saving the Oceans” program begins with a behind-the-scenes look at how marine mammal researchers are working to protect dolphins and whales from ocean noise
Life on Earth may have begun in hostile hot springs
Understanding the origins of life on this planet could offer hints about where to search for life elsewhere, says Natalie Batalha, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “It has very significant implications for the future of space exploration.”
Original story from Science News.
Newly compiled record of Earth’s climate history puts current changes in context
A continuous record of the past 66 million years shows natural climate variability due to changes in Earth’s orbit around the sun is much smaller than projected future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions
New observations of black hole devouring a star reveal rapid disk formation
New TDE observations led by astronomers at UC Santa Cruz now provide clear evidence that debris from the star forms a rotating disk, called an accretion disk, around the black hole. Theorists have been debating whether an accretion disk can form efficiently during a tidal disruption event, and the new findings should help resolve that question.
132-year-old Lick Observatory threatened by fire
The University of California’s Lick Observatory appeared to have escaped serious damage as the SCU Lightning Complex Fire swept across Mt. Hamilton east of San Jose on Wednesday.
UC Observatories Director Claire Max said firefighting units from Cal Fire and other organizations were stationed at Lick Observatory all night, using the observatory’s buildings as a command center and as a safety zone for the crews.
“Thanks to their tremendous efforts, the telescope domes did not burn,” Max said.
New study shows retreat of East Antarctic Ice Sheet during previous warm periods
Evidence of glacial retreat in the Wilkes Basin 400,000 years ago suggests ice loss in this region could add 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) to future global sea level rise.
Original story from UCSC Newscenter.
White dwarfs reveal new insights into the origin of carbon in the universe
A new analysis of white dwarf stars supports their role as a key source of carbon, an element crucial to all life, in the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Original story from UCSC Newscenter.
Evidence supports ‘hot start’ scenario and early ocean formation on Pluto
The accretion of new material during Pluto’s formation may have generated enough heat to create a liquid ocean that has persisted beneath an icy crust to the present day, despite the dwarf planet’s orbit far from the sun in the cold outer reaches of the solar system.
Original story from UCSC Newscenter.
New method predicts spin dynamics of materials for quantum computing
Universal first-principles approach will accelerate the identification and design of materials for quantum information science and other spintronics applications.
Original story from UCSC Newscenter
The galaxy that grew up too fast
A vast wheel of gas in the primordial cosmos is forcing astronomers to rethink how some of the universe’s largest structures may have formed.
Original story from The New York Times.