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Science (General/Chat)

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  • ISS astronaut medical evacuation latest news: Crew-11 astronauts prepare for SpaceX Dragon departure

    01/14/2026 4:07:41 AM PST · by Ezekiel · 20 replies
    Space.com ^ | Jan 13, 2026 | By Mike Wall, Tariq Malik, Josh Dinner
    >>>The four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) are officially "go" to return to Earth on Wednesday (Jan. 14).>>> Undocking is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. EST (2205 GMT) on Wednesday, with splashdown expected less than 11 hours later. And it looks like Mother Nature will cooperate with this plan."Weather is looking excellent for Dragon’s parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of California at 3:41 a.m. [EST] on Thursday," NASA officials wrote in the update.
  • The Last Men of the American Revolution | BBC Global [10:33]

    01/14/2026 12:01:34 AM PST · by SunkenCiv · 4 replies
    YouTube ^ | January 14, 2025 | BBC Global
    The Last Men of the American Revolution | 10:33BBC Global | 717K subscribers | 363,677 views | January 14, 2025
  • Trans athlete's attorney suggests sex should not be defined during SCOTUS Title IX case

    01/13/2026 3:01:25 PM PST · by Libloather · 17 replies
    Fox News ^ | 1/13/26 | Jackson Thompson
    During Supreme Court oral arguments for the West Virginia v B.P.J. case on trans athletes in women's sports, American Civil Liberties Attorney Joshua Block suggested that "sex" should not be defined legally. Block then fled questioning when asked to elaborate why after the hearing. Block represents West Virginia trans teen Becky Pepper-Jackson, who in 2021 sued the state to block its law that prohibits biological males from competing in girls' sports. Pepper-Jackson and her mother were in the courtroom on Tuesday to watch the attorney argue the definition of sex should not be used in the court's ruling. Block's statement...
  • The True Miracle of Ivermectin

    01/13/2026 1:42:33 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 41 replies
    MEDPAGE TODAY ^ | January 10, 2026 | Claire Panosian Dunavan, MD
    It's time to celebrate the drug's greatest global winLast year, an inspiring milestone in global health went largely unnoticed in the U.S. How much do you want to bet it was even less on the radar of Americans who still think that ivermectin — a Nobel Prize-winning anti-parasitic drug — can vanquish COVID-19? Sadly, some of them are now embracing another baseless claim: namely, that ivermectin can help cure cancer. Aye yi yi. Will certain people's willing suspension of disbelief never end? But today, instead of angst-ing over dangers of modern "medical freedom," I'm focusing on something else. (Even though...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - A Solar Eruption from SDO

    01/13/2026 11:45:41 AM PST · by MtnClimber · 9 replies
    NASA ^ | 13 Jan, 2026 | Video Credit: NASA, SDO, AIA, Helioviewer; Processing & Text: Ogetay Kayali (MTU)
    Explanation: What just leapt from the Sun? A towering structure of solar plasma suddenly rose from the Sun's surface and unfurled into space -- a structure so large that many Earths would easily fit within it-- marking the onset of a dramatic Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). The event was captured in striking detail in late 2024 by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), whose continuous monitoring improves space weather forecasts and helps humanity better understand how solar activity affects satellites, GPS, radio communications, and power grids on Earth. The featured video blends three extreme-ultraviolet views from SDO’s Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA),...
  • New Federal Dietary Guidelines Somewhat Less Idiotic Than The Previous Versions

    01/13/2026 6:27:43 AM PST · by MtnClimber · 28 replies
    Manhattan Contrarian ^ | 11 Jan, 2026 | Francis Menton
    Do you think that the U.S. federal government might be a good place to seek reasonable guidance on matters involving science? If so, I question your sanity. In recent years the part of the federal enterprise masquerading as “science” has suffered one debacle after another resulting from acceptance and promotion of pseudoscience, examples being Covid lockdowns and school closures, let alone the entire catastrophic climate change fiasco. Do you remember the CDC ordering (on no authority) a nationwide eviction moratorium (until struck down by the Supreme Court)? And of course, the acceptance of pseudoscience by a federal bureaucracy is somehow...
  • Historic NASA test structures demolished at Marshall Space Flight Center

    01/13/2026 3:19:11 AM PST · by Ezekiel · 22 replies
    WAFF.com ^ | Jan. 10, 2026 | Liz Hurley
    NASA’s massive Dynamic Test Stand and the “T-Tower” were demolished at Marshall Space Flight Center on Saturday.HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - The landscape at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has changed forever.Two very large and critical structures during the Apollo and Shuttle eras were demolished Saturday morning.Their “leveling” is part of MSFC’s “modernization plan” to eliminate 25 buildings or facilities considered obsolete.NASA’s massive Dynamic Test Stand and the “T-Tower” are National Historic landmarks, but that designation won’t save them.The last critical tests done on the Saturn V and the space shuttle to make sure they were spaceworthy were done on these...
  • Discovering the secrets of Portugal's 7,000-year-old cromlech - BBC REEL [7:10

    01/12/2026 6:11:58 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 6 replies
    YouTube ^ | January 1, 2022 | BBC Global
    The Cromlech of the Almendres is a megalithic complex in Evora, Portugal, dating back 7,000 years ago. This makes the sacred stone sites 2,000 years older than the world’s most famous Neolithic monument, Stonehenge. The Portuguese megalithic structure is believed to have been used for religious or ceremonial purposes as well as an astronomical observatory. Discovering the secrets of Portugal's 7,000-year-old cromlech | 7:10 BBC Global | 730K subscribers | 235,991 views | January 1, 2022 Video by Izabela Cardoso & Fernando Teixeira | Executive Producer: Camelia Sadeghzadeh
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Meteor Dust

    01/12/2026 11:40:23 AM PST · by MtnClimber · 8 replies
    NASA ^ | 12 Jan, 2026 | Image Credit & Copyright: Xu Chen
    Explanation: What's happening to this meteor? It is shedding its outer layers as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere and heats up. The sudden high temperatures not only cause the bright glow along the dramatic streak but also melt and vaporize the meteor's component rock and ice, creating dust. Wind in the atmosphere typically blows this dust away over the next few seconds, leaving no visible trace after only a few minutes. Much of this dust will eventually settle down to the Earth. The featured image was captured in mid-December, coincident with the Geminids meteor shower. On the upper left...
  • The 'universal language' that could let us speak to aliens: Researchers reveal the best way to communicate with extraterrestrial life

    01/12/2026 9:52:47 AM PST · by DFG · 53 replies
    UK Daily Mail ^ | 01/12/2026 | William Hunter
    A group of Australian scientists have revealed how we may be able to learn to speak with aliens, and the answer is found right here on Earth. If we do make contact with extraterrestrial life, it will likely require sending messages across vast distances of interstellar space. The question for astronomers looking out for distant civilisations is how this communication would even be possible if we don't share a language. Now, scientists say we might be able to develop a 'universal language' with an unlikely inspiration: The humble honeybee. With six legs, five eyes, and a radically different social structure,...
  • Hands on History: Rare Viking Treasure [36:53]

    01/11/2026 7:11:30 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 11 replies
    YouTube ^ | October 7, 2024 | History Hit
    A unique discovery, a glittering hoard of beautifully crafted objects in silver, gold and crystal, buried in the ground and forgotten 1100 years ago. Hands on History: Rare Viking Treasure | 36:53History Hit | 1.83M subscribers | 1,547,432 views | October 7, 2024
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - M104: The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared

    01/11/2026 12:26:52 PM PST · by MtnClimber · 13 replies
    NASA ^ | 11 Jan. 2025 | Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, SSC, R. Kennicutt (Steward Obs.) et al.,
    Explanation: This floating ring is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it is a galaxy -- or at least part of one: the photogenic Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in visible light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The featured image, digitally sharpened, shows the infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in visible light. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as...
  • An Archaeological Tour of Olympia [10:13]

    01/11/2026 5:06:39 AM PST · by SunkenCiv · 5 replies
    YouTube ^ | January 9, 2026 | Scenic Routes to the Past (Garrett Ryan, Ph.D)
    A short of tour of the archaeological site of Olympia, home of the Olympic Games for more than a millennium. An Archaeological Tour of Olympia | 10:13 Scenic Routes to the Past | 54.2K subscribers | 7,791 views | January 9, 2026 0:00 Introduction 0:55 Gymnasium and Palaestra 1:39 Philippeion 2:09 Temple of Hera 2:35 Temple of Zeus 4:52 Workshop of Phidias 5:37 Leonidaion 6:12 East side structures 6:56 Treasuries and Metroon 7:42 Nymphaeum of Herodes Atticus 8:24 Stadium
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Jupiter with the Great Red Spot

    01/10/2026 12:17:36 PM PST · by MtnClimber · 17 replies
    NASA ^ | 10 Jan, 2026 | Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Go
    Explanation: Jupiter reaches its 2026 opposition today, January 10. That puts our Solar System's most massive planet opposite the Sun and near its closest and brightest for viewing from planet Earth. In fact, captured only 3 days ago this sharp telescopic snapshot reveals excellent details of the ruling gas giant's swirling cloudtops, in light zones and dark belts girdling the rapidly rotating outer planet. Jupiter's famous, persistent anticyclonic vortex, known as the Great Red Spot, is south of the equator at the lower right. But two smaller red spots are also visible, one near the top in the northernmost zone,...
  • The Real Horrors of the ‘Scromiting’ Weed Disorder Plaguing ERs — From Dwindling to 87 Pounds to ‘Nonstop Puking’ for a Week

    01/10/2026 11:40:35 AM PST · by nickcarraway · 42 replies
    New York Post ^ | Dec. 29, 2025 | Rachel Sacks
    Not even a month in the hospital on a feeding tube was enough to make Sydni Collins quit pot. Collins had reached for her weed pen most days since she turned 16, even as waves of extreme nausea and vomiting overtook her. One particularly brutal episode left her vomiting nonstop during a flight in the spring break of her senior year. “There were some days when it lasted until noon and I would not go to school because of how bad it was,” Collins, 23, told The Post. “I would be puking all morning. I would let out yells or...
  • House Democrats launch probe into Trump officials and oil companies

    01/10/2026 6:44:50 AM PST · by Libloather · 42 replies
    MS.now ^ | 1/09/26 | Jacqueline Alemany, Mychael Schnell
    House Democrats on Friday launched a probe into possible conflicts of interest following the U.S. military incursion into Venezuela last weekend, seeking to learn whether Trump administration officials or oil companies have or will benefit from the situation. Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee, led by ranking member Robert Garcia, D-Calif., on Friday sent letters to the chief executives of four major oil companies — Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Continental Resources — ahead of a meeting with oil executives at the White House that afternoon. Democrats requested the businesspeople provide information to help lawmakers determine “who stands to privately...
  • ‘Doomsday Plane’ spotted at LAX sparking panic online

    01/10/2026 3:14:40 AM PST · by Libloather · 61 replies
    NY Post ^ | 1/09/26 | Zain Khan
    The mysterious “flying Pentagon” was spotted in Los Angeles, igniting a flurry of social media speculation and conspiracy theories about serious trouble ahead. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was aboard the aircraft, commonly known as the “Doomsday Plane” when it touched down at Los Angeles International Airport Thursday night. Hegseth is currently traveling on his “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, which aims to spotlight the U.S. defense industrial base and boost military recruiting, the Department of Defense confirmed to the Post. Also aboard the plane was right-wing internet personality Laura Loomer. Posting on social media, Loomer said Hegseth called enlistees at...
  • Wx Info: What is the dendritic growth zone?

    01/09/2026 6:07:10 PM PST · by kawhill · 4 replies
    NickelBlock Forecasting We've got you covered ^ | Published: 2/15/2014 at 10:00am | Nick Lilja
    The types of snowflakes you see in the air while you’re out trying to catch them on your tongue are based on a few different factors, but the main one is the “dendritic growth zone.”
  • A Humble Vegetable Sprout Shows Outsized Effects on Blood Sugar, New Research Finds

    01/09/2026 2:37:31 PM PST · by nickcarraway · 35 replies
    Food & Wine ^ | January 2, 2026 | Roxana Ehsani, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN
    Researchers tracked what happens when the vegetable’s natural compounds are activated during digestion, offering new insight into glucose metabolism.Key points: -Broccoli sprouts may be small, but they’re loaded with glucoraphanin — a nutrient that converts to sulforaphane, known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. -Research shows they may help support healthy blood sugar levels, particularly in people with certain beneficial gut bacteria, such as Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium. -Since broccoli sprouts are usually eaten raw, they retain their active enzymes, allowing your body to fully activate their beneficial compounds. Wandering through the produce department, you might stumble upon broccoli sprouts —...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Ice Halos by Moonlight and Sunlight

    01/09/2026 12:30:48 PM PST · by MtnClimber · 14 replies
    NASA ^ | 9 Jan, 2026 | Image Credit & Copyright: Antonella Cicala
    Explanation: Both Moon and Sun create beautiful ice halos in planet Earth's sky. In fact, the two brightest celestial beacons are each surrounded by a complex of ice halos in these photos of the sky above Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in France. The panels were recorded one night (left) and the following day at the end of December 2025. Similar ice halos appear in moonlight and sunlight because they are all formed through the geometry of flat, hexagonal ice crystals. The ice crystals reflect and refract light as they flutter in the cold atmosphere above the mountain resort. In the pictures both Moon...