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Science (General/Chat)

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  • Medieval Ship Discovered in the Ceiling of a German House

    09/28/2026 9:02:44 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 5 replies
    Medievalists.net ^ | prior to August 2026 | editors / unattributed
    Parts of a medieval ship have been discovered in an unlikely place: forming the ceiling of a 13th-century cellar in southern Germany. Researchers say the unusually well-preserved timbers could provide new insights into medieval shipbuilding on Lake Constance. The discovery was made during an architectural investigation of a building on Konradigasse in Konstanz, a southern German city on the shores of Lake Constance. Researchers from the State Office for Monument Preservation (LAD) found that timbers reused to construct the ceiling of a cellar dating to 1244 had originally belonged to a ship... Once the vessel was no longer needed for...
  • The Invasion That Inspired Homer's Iliad [18:55]

    09/28/2026 7:29:52 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 12 replies
    YouTube ^ | August 7, 2026 | Bronze to Byzantium
    Today we cover the Indictment of Madduwatta: a 3,400-year-old Hittite legal complaint that happens to contain the oldest named Greek warrior in the historical record. Long before Homer ever put pen to paper on the Iliad or the Odyssey, a warlord named Attarissiya crossed the Aegean with a hundred chariots, tore through western Anatolia, unseated a Hittite-backed ruler, and fought the empire's own army to a standstill before sailing home. We also trace the wider collapse-era: the Hittite Empire at Hattusa, the Lukka coastal peoples, the Assuwa confederation, and Ahhiyawa. The Invasion That Inspired Homer's Iliad | 18:55 Bronze to...
  • Nereid Could be Neptune's Only Original Moon

    09/28/2026 5:06:38 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 9 replies
    Sky & Telescope ^ | May 22, 2026 | Javier Barbuzano
    New research suggests that Nereid, an unusual moon of Neptune, could be the sole survivor of the satellites that formed with the planet... Nearly half of its 16 known moons travel backwards around the planet. One of them is not like the others: Like a swan chick among ducklings, Triton is six times larger than the system's next-largest moon. Nearly as big as Earth's Moon, Triton has long been considered a Pluto-like world, captured in Neptune's orbit when the planet was still young. Now, research suggests that Triton's arrival -- or perhaps even the arrival of some earlier, Triton-like object...
  • SpaceX Starship rocket flight ends in massive fireball — but still gives internet users massive win as it delivers Starlink satellites

    09/28/2026 3:48:51 PM PDT · by Libloather · 24 replies
    NY Post ^ | 9/28/26 | Ronny Reyes
    SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket erupted into flames as it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, prematurely ending its first successful flight into orbit. The rocket soared into space early Monday but had to cut its scheduled 10-hour flight around the globe short to ensure safety, the company said. The rocket splashed down just north of Hawaii three hours into its flight, with Starship tipping over and getting engulfed in flames in a dramatic end to the mission. SpaceX’s historic launch nearly failed after one of its six engines shut down close to lift off, with flight controllers moving...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Cosmic Latte: The Average Color of the Universe

    09/28/2026 12:31:32 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 12 replies
    NASA ^ | 28 Sep. 2026 | Image Color Credit: Karl Glazebrook & Ivan Baldry (JHU)
    Explanation: What color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted here, is a conditionally perceived shade of beige. In computer parlance: #FFF8E7. To determine this, astronomers computationally averaged the light emitted by one of the larger samples of galaxies analyzed: the 200,000 galaxies of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. The resulting cosmic spectrum has some emission in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, but a single perceived composite color....
  • The Phoenicians Were Stranger Than You Think (No AI) [41:12]

    09/28/2026 6:35:32 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 34 replies
    YouTube ^ | September 21, 2026 | Nils
    Who were the Phoenicians, really? Let’s look at the civilization behind the ancient Mediterranean’s most mysterious seafaring culture. The Phoenicians Were Stranger Than You Think (No AI) | 41:12 Nils | 47.6K subscribers | 353,198 views | September 21, 2026
  • Japan Just Built What ASML Feared Most

    09/27/2026 11:21:19 PM PDT · by SmokingJoe · 23 replies
    YouTube ^ | 09/26/2026 | NihoNix
    This video explores how Canon is challenging ASML's dominant monopoly in the semiconductor industry with its innovative nanoimprint lithography (NIL) technology. Key takeaways: The Challenge: While ASML relies on incredibly expensive and complex Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light systems (costing up to $350 million) (1:26), Canon has developed the FPA-1200NZ2C, a system that uses a physical stamp to pattern chips (0:23, 4:37). This method is significantly cheaper and more energy-efficient (0:23, 7:45). The Technology: Nanoimprint works by pressing a mold directly into a polymer on a wafer (3:13). While historically plagued by contamination issues, Canon—through its 2014 acquisition of Molecular Imprints—has...
  • Flying sports car hides its wings as production gets closer

    09/28/2026 4:18:02 AM PDT · by Libloather · 26 replies
    Fox News ^ | 9/25/26 | Kurt Knutsson
    If you have ever been stuck in traffic wishing your car could sprout wings, Samson Sky has been working on something pretty close. Its Switchblade flying car can drive out of your garage and take you to a nearby airport. Once there, the wings come out, the tail extends and the vehicle becomes an airplane. You heard right, an airplane. After landing, everything folds back inside so you can drive the rest of the way. That idea has been around for years. What makes Switchblade worth another look right now is that Samson says it has secured an $80 million...
  • Archaeologists discover 'tomb of the very highest rank' in 2,700-year-old Etruscan cemetery

    09/27/2026 9:33:16 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 7 replies
    Live Science ^ | September 24, 2026 | ristina Killgrove; edited by Laura Geggel, Laura Mondragon
    Archaeologists have unearthed a monumental 2,700-year-old tomb at Vulci, an important ancient Etruscan town north of Rome. Despite repeated attempts by tomb robbers to loot this burial over the centuries, the tomb still contained a massive collection of grave goods, including weapons, gold and bronze plates, chariot parts, a rare pair of women's shoes, and a complete banquet set. The burial, nicknamed the Tomb of the Stone Chamber, was excavated this summer, according to a translated statement from the Italian Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Province of Viterbo and Southern Etruria (SABAP-VT-EM). But the discovery builds...
  • 25,000-Year-Old "Addict" With A Betel Nut Habit Is The Earliest Evidence Yet Of Drug Use In Humans

    09/27/2026 9:06:35 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 13 replies
    IFLS ^ | September 10, 2026 | Benjamin Taub, edited by Laura Simmons
    Analyzing the teeth of a 25,000-year-old skeleton from Sulawesi, Indonesia, researchers have deduced that this individual habitually sucked on betel nuts, and probably developed an addiction to this popular stimulant. Widely consumed across southeast Asia and the Pacific, betel nuts are the world's fourth most popular drug, behind alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. These days, the nuts are typically mixed with slaked lime and chewed as a "quid" in order to release the psychoactive compound arecoline, triggering mild euphoria and heightened alertness. Although the roots of this practice are poorly understood, it is generally assumed that betel chewing does not pre-date...
  • Cleopatra's Final Secret (Full Episode) | Documentary Special | National Geographic [1:06:19]

    09/27/2026 12:58:09 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 17 replies
    YouTube ^ | September 24, 2026 | National Geographic
    Where was Cleopatra buried? In this National Geographic documentary special, lawyer-turned-archaeologist Kathleen Martinez searches for Cleopatra’s lost tomb. After over 20 years of searching, her excavations now lead in an unexpected new direction, a submerged site miles offshore in the Mediterranean. She has enlisted Titanic discoverer Bob Ballard, the Egyptian Navy, and a team of archaeologists and divers to help her explore this mysterious location that may finally answer over a thousand year old secrets. Cleopatra's Final Secret (Full Episode) Documentary Special | National Geographic | 1:06:19 National Geographic | 26.5M subscribers | 717,495 views | September 24, 2026
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Andromeda before Photoshop

    09/27/2026 12:29:58 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 18 replies
    NASA ^ | 27 Sep. 2026 | Image Credit: Kees Scherer
    Explanation: What does the Andromeda galaxy really look like? The featured image shows how our Milky Way Galaxy's closest major galactic neighbor really appears in a long exposure through Earth's busy skies and with a digital camera that introduces normal imperfections. The picture is a stack of 223 images, each a 300 second exposure, taken from a garden observatory in Portugal during 2019. Obvious image deficiencies include bright parallel airplane trails, long and continuous satellite trails, short cosmic ray streaks, and bad pixels. These imperfections were actually not removed with Photoshop specifically, but rather greatly reduced with a series of...
  • The War on Data Centers (Vanity)

    09/27/2026 10:13:13 AM PDT · by piytar · 73 replies
    Here ^ | 27-Sept-2026 | Piytar
    I am sick and tired of the left’s war on data centers. Hey leftist idiot jerks, if you use a mobile device such as your phone, do any online searching, visit any website, have a bank account, or basically interact with the modern world in any way, a data center is not just involved but essential. So the two major Trojan horses are (a) water use and (b) electrical costs. Let’s address each in turn. (a) Water use: Data centers recycle their water. A massive data center fills up with about as much water as two hotel swimming pools. Then...
  • Nor’easter uncovers 19th-century Nantucket shipwreck as storm batters East Coast

    09/27/2026 12:07:09 AM PDT · by Libloather · 18 replies
    NY Post ^ | 9/27/26 | Nicholas McEntyre
    Strong crashing waves from the violent nor’easter uncovered a 19th-century shipwreck buried under Nantucket sand as the storm battered the East Coast with heavy rain, gale-force winds and coastal flooding. A pallet of waterlogged timber held together by rusted nails and strands of seaweed was discovered on a beach on the south shore of the famed Massachusetts Island Saturday, according to video shared by the Nantucket Current on Saturday. The wooden segment is believed to be from the Warren Sawyer, a New Orleans-bound schooner that crashed on nearby Miacomet Beach in 1884. The ship, carrying cargo consisting of cotton and...
  • Ukraine airdrops killer robots behind enemy lines to take out 3K Russian troops in ‘historic moment’

    09/26/2026 5:10:01 PM PDT · by Libloather · 57 replies
    NY Post ^ | 9/26/26 | Gabrielle Fahmy
    A squad of Ukrainian “kamikaze ground robots” airdropped behind enemy lines have taken out 3,000 Russian soldiers and reclaimed 48 square miles of occupied territory in Donetsk, officials announced. The secretive mission, dubbed “Operation Vivaldi,” began in May and wrapped up last week, when the Third Army Corps of the Ukraine’s Armed Forces made details of the feat public. “An historic moment,” it boasted on Telegram Thursday. “The Third Army Corps has begun a new stage of the war with the landing of ground robots.” The operation recaptured five villages and three settlements in the contested region of Donetsk in...
  • A Political Graph of US Politics to describe reality (VANITY)

    09/26/2026 12:05:39 PM PDT · by rlmorel · 37 replies
    Myself | 9/26/2026 | rlmorel
    I am a graphically minded person, and have struggled with a way to effectively portray the reality of our political system in America, and none of the graphic descriptions I see describe it the way I see it. I have given this much thought over the years, and I have always found this particular question puzzling: why would they have ever given us this model shown below?The only way this graph above (which is the traditional one accepted by the vast majority of Americans) makes any sense is if it were created and pushed by people who were either Communists...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Mirrored Meteor and Milky Way

    09/26/2026 11:02:25 AM PDT · by MtnClimber · 4 replies
    NASA ^ | 26 Sep. 2026 | Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN)
    Explanation: On August 15, this perseid meteor streaked through night skies over the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos at La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. The bright and colorful meteor trail was captured next to the central Milky Way, whose dark interstellar dust clouds and luminous starlight reach above the horizon. In the foreground of this tantalizing celestial scene is the 23 meter diameter mirror of the prototype Large-Sized Telescope (LST-1). LST-1 is the first telescope constructed at the northern hemisphere site of the innovative Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory. With 198 hexagonal mirror segments and a large, high-efficiency, pixelized camera,...
  • Brewery that offered free beer when Trump dies could shut its doors after losing alcohol license

    09/26/2026 4:08:30 AM PDT · by Libloather · 33 replies
    Fox News via NY Post ^ | 9/25/26 | Rachel del Guidice
    The owner of Minocqua Brewing Co. said Monday that the Madison taproom in Wisconsin will likely shut down by the end of the year after state officials revoked the company’s alcohol permits. Channel 3000 reported that Minocqua Brewing Co. owner Kirk Bangstad said the Madison taproom is likely to shut down as the business continues fighting the state’s decision. The brewery has become known for its outspoken messaging against President Donald Trump. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) revoked brewing permits for the company’s Minocqua and Madison locations after alleging violations involving beer transported from Illinois without the required permits...
  • Nor’easter threatens East Coast live updates: State of emergency for NYC, LI, Westchester as 70 mph winds, dangerous flooding loom (only 4.34 years left)

    09/25/2026 1:16:22 PM PDT · by Libloather · 34 replies
    NY Post ^ | 9/25/26 | Kaydi Pelletier, Nadine Bourne, Mary Connelly, Thomas Gamba-Ellis
    A nor’easter is intensifying Friday as it barrels up the East Coast, expected to bring wild winds and potentially dangerous flooding to New York City and the tri-state area this weekend. Residents in New Jersey and Long Island should expect “widespread” power outages, Fox Weather warns — though the entire NYC metro region stands a chance of losing power from wind gusts as strong as 70 mph. The cyclone will also likely bring hazardous coastal flooding, according to the latest forecasts.
  • Gold-digging ‘mole people’ arrested for diving into manhole near NYC hotel

    09/25/2026 12:45:14 PM PDT · by Libloather · 19 replies
    NY Post ^ | 9/25/26 | Joe Marino, Kyle Schnitzer, Amanda Woods
    The moles want gold! Two nitwit nightcrawlers — including a particularly portly “mole person” — were busted Thursday for diving into a Manhattan manhole in a subterranean quest for precious metals, police and law-enforcement sources said. Cops nabbed Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and Samuel Reveron, 25 – both Venezuelan citizens – near their Queens homes in connection to a surreal pre-dawn Wednesday sewer escapade just steps from the Loews Regency New York on the Upper East Side. The strange shenanigans could end up shedding light on the motivations of mysterious “mole people” spotted popping out of sewers — as Reveron admitted...