Dramatic plumes spray water ice and vapor from many locations along the famed “tiger stripes” near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The tiger stripes are four prominent, approximately 84-mile- (135-kilometer-) long fractures that cross the moon’s south polar terrain. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute For decades, science fiction authors have imagined scenarios in which … Read more
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Florida has long been home to an unnatural assortment of creatures from faraway lands and habitats, and these tourists turned permanent residents have wreaked havoc on the natural ecosystem. You can thank the Burmese pythons slithering around the Everglades for the lack of marsh rabbits, and the Asian swamp eels are … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Orange County is strengthening its protections for the area’s vast expanse of wetlands, delicate but critical natural areas often imperiled by pressure for new development. The updated rules, effective June 1, were two years in the making but won unanimous approval at the county board’s final meeting of 2023. Wetlands, sometimes … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain An Arizona golf course, so picture-perfect it was described as “the Imax of golf“, was wantonly trashed by intruders in the autumn of 2023. But no, this was not Just Stop Oil back for another round, nor the result of a disgruntled golfer. In fact, it was the work of a … Read more
ZTF data of ZTF20aabowdt. On the left, the upper panel shows the lightcurve, the middle panel shows the folded lightcurve (P = 25.92 minutes), and the final panel shows the periodogram. The median uncertainty on the ZTF measurements is 33% and is not shown for clarity. On the right is a zoom-in on the eclipse … Read more
More than 80 percent of the spill at Venezuela’s El Palito oil refinery has been cleaned up, officials say. Venezuela’s state oil company said Thursday that an oil spill at a refinery on the country’s western coastline was no longer “active” and that more than 80 percent of the affected area had been cleaned up. … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday vetoed key parts of a controversial law that is set to loosen the rules around the use of pesticides in the country. Brazil, an agricultural giant, is the world’s biggest consumer of pesticides, many of which are classified as highly hazardous. The … Read more
Image of a flame burning one of the BASS tests on extinguishing burning fuels. Credit: NASA Research on the International Space Station is helping scientists to understand how fire spreads and behaves in different environments and learn how to prevent and extinguish fires in space. Combustion investigations contribute to the safety of crew members, equipment, … Read more
Bees need hives to store honey and feed themselves in winter. In northeast Colombia, police guard warehouses stacked high with confiscated timber with a noble new destiny: transformation into homes for bees beleaguered by pesticides and climate change. The illegally harvested wood is used in the Santander department’s “Timber Returns Home” initiative, building hives since … Read more
Oil sludge is seen on a beach near the El Palito oil refinery in Venezuela’s Carabobo state on December 27, 2023. An oil spill is sloshing tarry ooze onto beaches in the state of Carabobo along Venezuela’s western coastline, several environmental groups said on Wednesday. The spill was first detected on Tuesday, Yohan Flores, a … Read more
