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Geologic activity on Earth appears to follow a 27.5-million-year cycle, giving the planet a 'pulse,' according to a new study published in the journal Geoscience Frontiers. "Many geologists believe that geological events are random over time. But our study provides statistical evidence for a common cycle, suggesting that these geologic events are correlated and not random," said Michael Rampino, a geologist and professor in New York University's Department of Biology, as well as the study's lead author.Over the past five decades, researchers have proposed cycles of major geological events—including volcanic activity and mass extinctions on land and sea—ranging from...

Ladies and Gentlemen. This will be the biggest political matchup since the fall of Rome:In the red corner, weighing in at over 2,400 years old, with a record of more than 320 KOs, 0 TKOs, 0 split decisions, and 0 defeats, we have the Cycle of Civilization, the Destroyer of Republics, the Grim Reaper of Democracy, the undisputed champion of all political theory: Anacyclosis.In the blue corner, weighing in at over 230 years old, 27 amendments, and 1 civil war, we have the oldest national written constitution in the world, ranking in legal significance alongside Hammurabi’s Code, the Twelve Tables,...

Like all stars, our Sun is powered by the fusion of hydrogen into heavier elements. Nuclear fusion is not only what makes stars shine, it is also a primary source of the chemical elements that make the world around us. Much of our understanding of stellar fusion comes from theoretical models of atomic nuclei, but for our closest star, we also have another source: neutrinos created in the Sun’s core.Whenever atomic nuclei undergo fusion, they produce not only high energy gamma rays but also neutrinos. While the gamma rays heat the Sun’s interior over thousands of years, neutrinos zip out...

Actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has previously gushed of being “starstruck” by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, has now shared pictures of the two going for a bike ride around Santa Monica. The former California governor posted images of their meeting to his Twitter account, showing them on a bike ride and meeting his daughter Christina.

There is no more unifying experience among women around the globe than menstruation. All women understand what it feels like to have their period—even if they don’t exactly understand what it is. And yet, the topic of menstruation continues to hold significant stigmas, and embarrassment or hesitation to discuss this vital function of the female body has created gaps in our knowledge of how the menstrual cycle affects a women’s overall health. Therefore, it was a welcome shock to discover that the May 2019 issue of Scientific American magazine is primarily dedicated to the science of women’s reproductive health—or rather,...

Well, well, well, it appears the hostless Oscars came to play. The 2019 ceremony just delivered what could be an Academy Awards first: An acceptance speech dedicated to none other than menstrual periods! Period. End of Sentence. just won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short. “I’m not crying because I’m on my period, or anything,” said director Rayka Zehtabchi. “I can’t believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar,” she continued. Zehtabchi (who is 25!!) shared the stage with producer Melissa Berton and the rest of the Period team. Period tells the story of women in rural India fighting...

Infertility is a part of life for 1 in every 8 couples in the United States. Most people know that risk factors like age and tobacco use can make having a baby difficult, yet, there are young, tobacco-free families who struggle to get pregnant in every community. Because knowledge is critical in safeguarding your reproductive health, here are five causes of infertility you may never have heard of. 1. LEEP Procedures If you’ve ever had an abnormal Pap smear, you may have heard of LEEP (Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure). With this treatment, doctors use an electrically heated wire loop to...

In linking to my sunspot update this week, there has been a lot of speculation at the climate website WattsUpWithThat that the next solar cycle has begun...which suggested that this sunspot was the first such sunspot this cycle, was not quite accurate however. This sunspot with an opposite polarity, which decayed so quickly that it did not rate getting a sunspot number, was not the first... The grand minimum of the 1600s, dubbed the Maunder Minimum in honor of the scientist who first identified it, was a century where almost no sunspots were visible. There was no apparent solar cycle....

Shia LeBoeuf's failed first and second iterations of his He Will Not Divide Us camera was translated into a third camera of a flagpole with a He Will Not Divide Us flag with NO PHYSICAL LANDMARKS. 4chan tracks down the flag, steals it, and replaces it with a Trump Hat and shirt within 24 hours.

Nothing reported for a link. She had cancer and was 55 years old. Very sad.

Jac Kelvie was holding court in the parking lot of Dulono’s Pizza amid a cloud of exhaust, cigarette smoke and machismo. Hundreds of bikers turned out for the regular “First Thursday” event in south Minneapolis to show off their Harley Sportsters and Ducati Monsters and talk shop. While others revved their engines, Kelvie used bungee cargo nets to secure a single change of clothes, a toothbrush and a walking cane to his moped. A red plastic gas can was strapped to the front fender. Passersby in leather vests paused to gaze at the 5-foot-4 man in polyester pants with a...

Submitted by Brendan Brown via the Ludwig von Mises Institute, It is not too early to ask how the present US business cycle expansion, already more than five years old, will end. The history of the last great US monetary experiment in “quantitative easing” (QE) from 1934-7 suggests that the end could be violent. Autumn 1937 featured one of the largest New York stock market crashes ever accompanied by the descent of the US economy into the notorious Roosevelt Recession. Should we take comfort from the fact that Friedman and Schwartz, in their epic monetary history, claim to have discovered...

Early Tuesday morning (August 9, 2011,) the Sun erupted with the largest solar flare of Cycle 24, registering as an X7-class flare. This flare had an X-ray magnitude of X6.9, meaning it was more than 3 times larger than the previous largest flare of this solar cycle – the X2.2 that occurred on Feb 15, 2011, NASA said. The source was Sunspot 1263 which is nearing the western limb of the Sun, and because of its location, scientists do not anticipate that this explosion will hit Earth directly. Therefore, the impact on communications and electric grids will likely (and luckily)...

At face value, a recent study clearly shows Section 8 housing participants are arrested at a higher rate than other renters and homeowners in Dubuque. Even before the study was released, waiting list preferences were tightened and the types of crimes resulting in dismissal from the rental voucher program had increased. But there is more to Section 8. With three part-time jobs and two children -- one with a medical condition that requires frequent trips to Iowa City -- Shannon Backeburg and Matt Murray live in a small but comfortable apartment in Dubuque's Point area with assistance from the Section...

OGDEN -- Was it a friendly group bicycle ride through downtown Ogden or a confrontational melee that included obstructing traffic, assault, obscenities and alcohol? Depends on who you talk to. Numbers vary from 35 to 70, but a large group of cyclists, referred to as Critical Mass, was taking a monthly ride to celebrate cycling and assert their rights to the road on Friday when Ogden police say things got out of hand. Four individuals were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and public intoxication. Matt Hasenyager, owner of Skyline Cycle and one of the bicyclists, said...

Take a minute to think about your view of human history, and our continued progression as a species. Do you believe human history is linear, always getting better, onward and upwards to a better existence? Is it chaotic, stuff happens, people react, then more stuff happens, but there's no pattern to it? Or, is human history cyclical...with those who neglect history destined to repeat it? Most of the Western world subscribes to the linear school of thought. Things are always moving in a general direction - sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always moving. And I'd assume that most people believe...

Mark your calendar for Judaism's once-in-28-year special event.The fact that you're reading this article is a minor miracle. Think of all the things that needed to fall into place: the computer, the hard drive, the labyrinth of the Internet, the web browser -- even the electrical power driving it all. There is incredible complexity built into the simple act of reading this article. And yet, we sit before these machines every day without giving them a moment's thought. Until they stop working. When that blue screen appears and the computer freezes, we hold our breath hoping that nothing has failed,...

"Yesterday's sunspot (NOAA 1011) has rapidly faded away. The sunspot's low latitude suggests it may have been a member of old Solar Cycle 23; the sunspot's magnetic polarity was unusual and did not clearly identify it as a member of either Cycle 23 or Cycle 24."

http://www.spaceweather.com/ PROTO NEW-CYCLE SUNSPOT: A sunspot from the next solar cycle could soon appear in the sun's northern hemisphere. SOHO magnetograms show an emerging magnetic dipole with the telltale polarity of Solar Cycle 24: So far this is merely a proto-sunspot; the magnetic fields have not coalesced to form a truly dark sunspot core. Nevertheless, the little active region is significant. It is a herald of new Solar Cycle 24, and a sign that the solar cycle, while seemingly stuck in endless minimum, is actually progressing normally. The calm won't last forever! Readers with solar telescopes, keep an eye on...

Where are the Sunspots? Are we in for a Quiet Solar Cycle?Written by Ian O'Neill So what's up with our Sun? Is it going through a depression? It seems as if our closest star is experiencing a surprisingly uneventful couple of years. Solar minimum has supposedly passed and we should be seeing a lot more magnetic activity, and we certainly should be observing lots more sunspots. Space weather forecasts have been putting Solar Cycle 24 as a historically active cycle… but so far, nothing. So what's the problem? Is it a ticking bomb, waiting to shock us with a huge...