Defining what makes a star “Sun-like” is as difficult as defining what makes a planet “Earth-like.” A solar twin should have a temperature, mass, and spectral type similar to our Sun. We also would expect it to be about 4.5 billion years old. However, it is notoriously difficult to measure a star’s age so astronomers […]
Read MoreThe Earth’s magnetic field flips, every few hundred thousand years or so on average, which means magnetic north becomes magnetic south and vice versa (the planet doesn’t actually turn upside down). New research suggests this change of direction can happen up to 10 times faster than previously thought. That’s big news for scientists studying how […]
Read MoreScientists have identified the fossilized remains of an extinct giant bird that could be the biggest flying bird ever found. With an estimated 20-24-foot wingspan, the creature surpassed size estimates based on wing bones from the previous record holder — a long-extinct bird named Argentavis magnificens — and was twice as big as the Royal […]
Read MoreTibetans were able to adapt to high altitudes thanks to a gene picked up when their ancestors mated with a species of human they helped push to extinction, according to a new report by University of California, Berkeley, scientists. An unusual variant of a gene involved in regulating the body’s production of hemoglobin — the […]
Read MoreMysteries about controversial signals coming from a dwarf star considered to be a prime target in the search for extraterrestrial life now have been solved in research led by scientists at Penn State University. The scientists have proven, for the first time, that some of the signals, which were suspected to be coming from two […]
Read MoreIn 1977, two spacecraft started a mission that has redefined our knowledge of the Solar System – and will soon become our ambassadors on a journey into the unknown. lets look at their legacy, 40 years after launch. You’ll find everything from the story about the world’s greatest space mission to the truth about whether […]
Read MoreBy Wan Lin – Global Times China’s first offshore wind farm with foreign investment and the country’s farthest and most difficult wind farm was put into use on Wednesday in East China, which a project employee said demonstrates foreign companies’ trust in China’s offshore power market. Seventy-five wind turbines have been connected to the grid, […]
Read MoreBeijing: Chinese scientists have developed a method to convert light energy and biomass to diesel fuel and hydrogen. The study by scientists of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences provides a way to produce clean energy using solar power or artificial light source and sustainable carbon sources present on […]
Read MoreBeijing: China plans to launch its first Mars probe between July and August this year, aiming to complete orbiting, landing and roving in one mission, an expert said in a recent interview with the state broadcaster CCTV. After the launch via China’s largest carrier rocket Long March-5, the probe is expected to reach within the […]
Read MoreSurrounding the sun is a vast atmosphere of solar particles, through which magnetic fields swarm, solar flares erupt, and gigantic columns of material rise, fall and jostle each other around. Now, using NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, scientists have found that this atmosphere, called the corona, is even larger than thought, extending out some 5 […]
Read MorePlanets tend to cool as they get older, but Saturn is hotter than astrophysicists say it should be without some additional energy source. The unexplained heat has caused a two-billion-year discrepancy for computer models estimating Saturn’s age. “Models that correctly predict Jupiter to be 4.5 billion years old find Saturn to be only 2.5 billion […]
Read MoreAstronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia, along with data from other large radio telescopes, have discovered that our nearest galactic neighbors, the dwarf spheroidal galaxies, are devoid of star-forming gas, and that our Milky Way Galaxy is to blame. These new radio observations, which are the highest sensitivity […]
Read MoreBeijing: The universal platform of the China-developed Wing Loong-1 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been tested fit for facilitating space-air-ground emergency communication, according to its developer. The Wing Loong-1 universal platform has successfully passed a series of tests in an airfield in northwest China, said the state-owned plane maker Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). […]
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