1. Black Holes Still Mystify
If most people know one thing about black holes, they probably know that nothing can escape from them, not even light.
Yet this most basic tenet about black holes has actually been disproven by the theory of quantum mechanics, explains theoretical physicist Edward Witten of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey [USA], in an essay published online today (Aug. 2) in the journal Science.
2. Now That's Fast!
The fastest cheetah on Earth has done it again, breaking her previous world record for the 100-meter dash and setting a new best time of 5.95 seconds.
This feat surpasses the fastest of all human 100-meter sprinters by almost four seconds. Usain Bolt, a Jamaican sprinter now competing at the 2012 London Olympics, holds the human world record at 9.58 seconds in the 100-meter dash.
3. Fickle Glaciers
More than a dozen glaciers that dot Greenland's desolate northwest coastline appear to move in fits and starts, according to new research, sliding into the sea and bleeding ice with sudden vigour for years at a time, then mysteriously slowing, only to swing back into action up to a decade later.
The research, published today (Aug. 2) in the journal Science, used aerial photographs taken in the 1980s to peer back beyond the advent of satellite records of glacier activity in the region. The study shows that in the last 25 years the area has suffered two prolonged periods of sudden ice loss, separated by 10 years of relative quiet.
4. Glowing Global Earthquakes
The cluster of major earthquakes that struck the globe during the past decade can be explained by nothing more than random chance, researchers say in a new study.
Since 2004, devastating quakes have rocked Sumatra, Chile, Haiti and Japan, leading to speculation that we might be living in an age of great earthquakes, similar to a global cluster of temblors seen in the 1960s. Some researchers have even suggested that large quakes are linked across the globe, possibly triggering each other.
5. Unlikely Pals? Sharks and…
On Tuesday (July 31), aquarium biologists at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco introduced the nocturnal sharks (four females and two males) to their neighbours in nature, as both species live in the wild off the South African coast.
The 2-year-old pyjama sharks, which the biologists say are docile and mild-mannered, are expected to spend much of their time in the exhibit's man-made underwater caves; since the two species rub shoulders in the wild, they should pose no threat to each other.
6. …Their African Penguin Pals
A group of African penguins that live on an indoor beach in California greeted some toothy new neighbours this week: six striped pyjama sharks.
"During yesterday's event, the sharks were let into the tank two at a time, which piqued the interest of the penguins," biologists at the California Academy told LiveScience, collectively, in an email. "The penguins reacted with curiosity, some diving into the water to get a closer look at and feel for their new neighbours. Overall, the penguins reacted quite positively."
7. Fire Rainbow Over Florida
So-called "fire rainbows" are neither on fire nor are they rainbows, but they sure are stunning.
They are technically known as iridescent clouds, a relatively rare phenomenon caused by clouds of water droplets of nearly uniform size, according to a release by NASA. These clouds diffract, or bend, light in a similar manner, which separates out light into different wavelengths, or colours.
8. 150 Feet in 40 Seconds
A camera attached to a South American seabird allowed scientists to directly watch its deep-diving feeding techniques for the first time.
Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society fitted a small camera to the back of an imperial cormorant in Punta León, a coastal protected area in Argentine Patagonia.
9. Record-Breaking Tornado
Most of the time, Chris Kirby chases storms, but sometimes they come to him. During a drive through the mountains this Saturday afternoon (July 28) near his home in Aurora, Colorado [USA], to photograph mountain goats and test radio equipment, he got quite a surprise: a rare, high-elevation tornado.
Kirby, who's a registered storm-spotter with the National Weather Service (NWS), took a photo of the thin twister as it briefly touched down on the side of Mount Evans, he told OurAmazingPlanet. He sent his picture to weather service staff, who used maps and line-of-sight analysis to determine that the twister touched down at 11,900 feet (3,627 meters), making it the second-highest tornado ever recorded in American history, said David Barjenbruch, a meteorologist with the NWS in Boulder.
10. Spiral Galaxy
A new, extremely deep photo of the site of a supernova explosion that was observed in 1957 has revealed X-rays emanating from the source.
The photo, taken by NASA's Chandra X-Ray space telescope, is the first to spot X-ray light coming from the remains of the dead star that sparked the explosion, and indicates that the supernova likely transformed the star into a pulsar. Pulsars are super-dense, fast-rotating objects that have been compressed so tightly they are composed only of neutrons.
11. Martian Laser
When NASA’s newest rover arrives on Mars Sunday night (Aug. 5), it will be carrying a host of state-of-the-art instruments, including the head-mounted, rock-zapping laser called ChemCam.
The 1-ton Curiosity rover aims to determine if its landing site, the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometres) Gale Crater, can or ever could support microbial life. ChemCam will play a vital role in this quest by allowing the rolling robot to study the composition of rocks from afar.
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