The Cassini spacecraft sent an image of Saturn's natural satellite Mimas. On examination, the image resembles that of the fictional planet destroyer of Star Wars fame, 'Death Star.' Mimas has a barren landscape and no atmosphere. The closest flyby done by Cassini was 5900 miles from Mimas.
A team of Japanese researchers has discovered that silicon might be present in the earth's inner core. The presence of the element is as of yet to be confirmed by various other methods and only then can it be surely said that silicon is present in the earth's core. This discovery, if confirmed, has major implications for the history of the earth.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences proves that evolution is being affected by recent urbanization. Species are adapting to the new environment. But this means that some species will adapt while some will fail to do so and will become extinct. This is a wake-up call to the conservation biologists to devise a sustainable model of urban living.
An article published by James Delingpole dubs ocean acidification as trivial and misleading. In support of his 'logically sound' hypothesis, he presents vague opinion as evidence which fails to stand on verification. This issue is a defeat of logic and reason but a minor hurdle in the path to the observable truth. Ocean acidification is as real as the ocean itself and uninformed opinion won't change the fact.
With its first model about to launch at CES 2017, Faraday Future faces financial trouble. But the hype surrounding FF 91 is expected to save the company from bankruptcy, but only if FF delivers on its promise. Depending on how the model does at CES 2017, Faraday Future will go down in the history books or it will go down period.
The Tibetan plateau has been discovered to be first occupied by hunter-gatherers. A paper published in the latest issue of Science China Earth Sciences explains a possible mechanism of migration towards the interior of the plateau. And latest archaeological findings date the settlement about 8000 years ago.
A U.S. legislation is being drafted promoting wood as a 'carbon neutral' fuel. Scientists have a divided opinion on this issue. The facts convey an opposite story to what is being told by the EPA. Wood has the highest specific carbon emissions of all fuels and hence shouldn't be granted neutral status. The result of this clash of opinions will decide the climate scenario of the US and subsequently the world.
It has been discovered that carbon can form 6 bonds under special conditions in an exception to the textbook 4 bond rule. This was discovered in a 1970s experiment but was revisited by Malischewski and Seppelt. The two researchers confirmed it experimentally, which wasn't the case with the previous version of the experiment. A molecule called HexamethylBenzene was used for the purpose.
