The Enlightening Science Thread

NASA satellite shows how much sand from the Sahara is in the atmosphere

NASA is using one of its satellites to determine how much sand from the Sahara Desert in Africa ends up helping the Amazon rainforest in South America to grow. While the two locations are on different continents, the amount of dust from the desert that makes its way to the rain forest will surprise you. NASA used one of its satellites to quantify how much dust from the desert makes it to South America for the first time.

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A Guy

This is how rain and snow travel across the globe

Today NASA released a visualization of storm swirls that took place in 2014, and the results are pretty spectacular. The data were gathered thanks to NASA's "Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory" (GMP), a satellite network that provides near real-time precipitation data covering the entire planet. But the patterns shown in the video aren't just meant to look pretty — they're going to help save lives

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A Guy

Earth’s mysterious ‘second moon’ and its odd orbit

It sounds like one of those crazy conspiracy theories: There are aliens at Area 51. Abraham Lincoln was a lizard. The Earth has a second, secret moon. However, the last of these is actually pretty widely repeated in scientific circles, though only with a very colloquial definition for the word “moon.” Though it’s technically a near-Earth asteroid, the astronomical body called 3753 Cruithne spends much of its time following the Earth like our much more famous satellite, Luna.

First, a quick explanation of why Cruithne is not actually a moon, then an explanation of why many refuse to accept that fact. It’s not a moon because, well, it’s an asteroid. Cruithne orbits the Sun, not the Earth, and its seemingly wonky orbital pattern is definitely not tied to the Earth’s in any satellite-like fashion. By no means is Cruithne actually a secondary body orbiting the Earth — so why is it so often referred to that way?

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A Guy

Einstein's Cross: Distant supernova split into four by gravitational lensing

Thanks to the amount of mass in the universe, light travelling great distances never moves in a straight line. The mass of colossal objects such as galaxies and galaxy clusters creates enough gravity to pull light in a curve around them. This, from Earth, can magnify up to 100 times and otherwise distort the images of objects behind these gravitational effects -- creating an effect known as gravitational lensing.

This effect was predicted by Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which proposed that dense concentrations of mass in the universe would bend light like a lens. This effect was not observed until 1979, but today astronomers use it to help find out more about the early universe.

The visual effects can be pretty interesting, too. Take the phenomenon known as the Einstein cross. This is a quasar is positioned behind the lensing object in such a way that the light travelling from the object towards the observer splits into four distinct, separate images.

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A Guy

There may be more Earth-like planets than grains of sand on all our beaches

The fascinating question of whether we are alone in the universe basically comes down to some intricate mathematical calculations.

A new study combines exoplanet data from the Kepler Space Telescope with a new version of a 250-year-old method for determining orbital periods and positions of planets. The research calculates that in our galaxy alone, there could be billions of planets hosting liquid water, habitable conditions and perhaps even life.

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A Guy

Researchers demonstrate quantum entanglement, prove Einstein wrong

For the first time, quantum entanglement of a single particle has been observed by researchers -- an event that Albert Einstein believed to be impossible under the contemporary quantum mechanics definition of physical reality, calling it "spooky action at a distance".

According to theory, quantum entanglement occurs when a pair of particles remains connected over distance in such a way that actions performed on one particle also have an effect on the other.

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A Guy

Doctors kill golden staph using a 1,000-year-old remedy

The key to killing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- also known as MRSA or golden staph -- may not be new-fangled treatments after all, but a treatment for an infected eyelash follicle found in a 1,000-year-old book.

The MRSA "superbug" is notoriously difficult to treat. Over the years, it developed resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, which include common treatments like penicillin and its derivatives, cephalosporins, monobactams and carbapenems. It's also a particular problem in hospitals and nursing homes, where a high percentage of the population of which have open wounds and weakened immune systems.

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A Guy

Re posting to keep the interest up, the 1st link is pretty cool :)

I had some really good sightings this past week.

ISS Interactive 3D Visualization

ISS Fan Club | get in touch with the International Space Station

NASA - Spot The Station

Space stuff thread

A Guy

NASA anticipates finding evidence of alien life in 10 to 20 years

If you're hoping humans will discover other living beings in the universe during your lifetime, you might be in luck. Speaking yesterday at a panel in DC, NASA researchers touched on the topic of alien life and finding evidence of such, and what they had to say was largely inspiring: it'll eventually happen, and the first stages of that likely within the span of the next 20 years. The prospect is exciting, not the least of which is due to the leaps in space travel humans are likely to make in that same time span.

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A Guy