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Imagine harnessing power on a scale almost unimaginable. A cutting-edge laser facility called ZEUS at the University of Michigan has reached a groundbreaking level of power. It generated a brief pulse of light with a power output exceeding the entire world’s electricity consumption by a factor of one hundred. The powerful laser facility has set a new U.S. record by achieving two petawatts (2 quadrillion watts) of peak power, almost doubling that of its closest competitors. Interestingly, the laser’s immense power lasted just a fleeting 25 quintillionths of a second. Yet, in that fleeting moment, ZEUS can unlock profound scientific...

To most observers, the parched, desert-like landscape in eastern Turkey may seem unremarkable, even inhospitable. But that’s not the case if you believe you’re looking at the resting place of a legendary vessel — Noah’s Ark. After years of painstaking research and preparation, a team of scientists is now on the verge of an archaeological excavation at a site believed by many to be the final resting place of the Ark mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures – the Christian Old Testament.

According to the Greek Reporter, archaeologists have discovered the earliest known evidence of human occupation on the island of Sicily in San Teodoro cave near the town of Acquedolci -- finally proving a theory that was first posited over 75 years ago but unable to be confirmed then. Modern dating methods of sediment layers where stone tools, animal bones, and charred wood were found estimated that they were 16,500 years old, revealing that humans inhabited Sicily much earlier than previously thought. Groups of hunter-gatherers likely crossed the sea in small boats from mainland Europe as the last Ice Age was...

Most probably do. So much of our K-12 is conducted at a dumb level, where students and teachers know little. So how's that working out for everyone when suddenly there's a know-it-all machine in the classroom?? The AI is just dripping with factual information. Is each bit true or false or what? Who knows? Teachers are supposed to referee such questions, but the typical teacher has no idea what the AI is talking about. You can't fix this overnight. You have to start educating students and future teachers from the first grade onward. All the best that has been known...

A massive solar storm is heading toward Earth, threatening to disrupt communications, navigation systems, and power grids around the world. NASA issued the warning after a powerful burst of energy from the sun last week, which measured as an X2.7-class solar flare, the highest category for solar flares. Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation that come from sunspots — darker, cooler areas on the sun's surface — and are among the most powerful explosions in the solar system. These flares can last from a few minutes to several hours.

Experts have issued a warning about a potential “mega tsunami” that could sweep away entire communities with its massive waves. Alaska, Hawaii and the West Coast of the mainland US face an ongoing threat due to how close they are to disaster zones — and the West Coast just received a renewed warning. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that an earthquake could erupt along the Cascadia subduction zone, a fault that stretches from Northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino, California. Researchers from Virginia Tech found that a potential powerful earthquake combined...

A University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney mathematician has revealed the first successful solution of an 'impossible' equation once considered unsolvable.Described as algebra's oldest problem, previous efforts to solve 'higher order' polynomial equations have consistently failed, leaving mathematicians without a critical tool. The new method solves that problem, potentially changing mathematics forever."Our solution reopens a previously closed book in mathematics history," said UNSW Honorary Professor Norman Wildberger, who led the research...According to a statement from the University announcing the solution to algebra's oldest impossible equation, polynomials are represented by an established equation. For example, the degree two polynomial would...

Almost 2,000 years ago, a stonemason working in a limestone quarry near the hill of Mǎgura Cǎlanului in current-day Romania left behind his tools. A local resident happened upon the corroded bits of metal in 2022 and brought them to the attention of the Corvin Castle Museum in Hunedoara, according to a La Brújula Verde report. The artifacts turned out to be a complete stonemasonry toolkit, the first of its kind ever found in pre-Roman Dacia and one of the most complete kits from anywhere in Europe. The set consists of 15 different objects weighing a total of 25 pounds,...

There are around 400 caves in France and Spain that contain painted art made between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago. Many of these bear hand prints or paintings created by children between the ages of two and 12. Experts have long wondered why such young children were taken into some of the deepest and darkest caves in Europe on treks that would have been quite treacherous. A new study suggests that children may have played a special role as mediators between the physical and spiritual worlds, according to a statement released by Tel Aviv University. The prevailing hypothesis has been...

A joint Egyptian-French archaeological mission recently made a series of new discoveries at the mortuary temple of the pharaoh Ramesses II, La Brújula Verde reports. Known as the Ramesseum and the "House of Millions of Years," the complex was erected by Ramesses on the Nile's west bank across from ancient Thebes during the thirteenth century b.c. Among the new findings were a series of tombs dating to the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1069–525 b.c.). These contained burial chambers, shafts with canopic jars, sarcophagi, and more than 400 funerary figurines. They also located storerooms for jars of honey, olive oil, animal...

Explanation: Have you ever seen the band of our Milky Way Galaxy? In a clear sky from a dark location at the right time, a faint band of light becomes visible across the sky. Soon after your eyes become dark adapted, you might spot the band for the first time. It may then become obvious. Then spectacular. One reason for your growing astonishment might be the realization that this fuzzy swath, the Milky Way, contains billions of stars. Visible in the featured image, high above in the night sky, the band of the Milky Way Galaxy arcs. Also visible are...

In the windswept reaches of northern Scotland, where jagged cliffs meet the crashing waves of the Atlantic, a discovery has emerged that challenges long-held assumptions about human history at the icy edge of Europe.Archaeologists have unearthed stone tools on the far northern coast of the Isle of Skye, suggesting that humans thrived at what was once considered the bleak and uninhabitable margin of the world during the final throes of the last Ice Age.The study, published in The Journal of Quaternary Science, details the finding of Late Upper Paleolithic (LUP) tools at South Cuidrach on the Isle of Skye. These...

At this site, when I have written about countries and states seeking to be among the leaders in eliminating fossil fuels from their electricity supply, I have generally focused on the larger jurisdictions, like Germany and the UK in Europe, and California and New York in the U.S. But there is one much smaller country that puts all of those bigger ones to shame: Denmark. With a population of only about 6 million, Denmark has pushed the “renewable” electricity generation thing well beyond what others have been able to accomplish. According to its official statistics, in 2024 Denmark got some...

Fossil pollen from the end-Permian extinction reveals increased UV-B protection compounds, linking volcanic activity, ozone loss, and ecosystem collapse during Earth's most severe mass extinction.Scientists from China, Germany, and the UK led by Prof. LIU Feng from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) have revealed that pollen preserved in 250-million-year-old rocks contains abundant compounds that function like sunscreen but are produced by plants to protect themselves from harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation.The presence of these compounds suggests that a pulse of UV-B played an essential role in the end-Permian mass extinction event...Accompanying this...

Explanation: What if you could fly over Pluto's moon Charon -- what might you see? The New Horizons spacecraft did just this in 2015 July as it zipped past Pluto and Charon with cameras blazing. The images recorded allowed for a digital reconstruction of much of Charon's surface, further enabling the creation of fictitious flights over Charon created from this data. One such fanciful, minute-long, time-lapse video is shown here with vertical heights and colors of surface features digitally enhanced. Your journey begins over a wide chasm that divides different types of Charon's landscapes, a chasm that might have formed...

Cutting-edge technology has been used to redate the world-famous Schöningen spears that were discovered in the mid-1990s, according to a statement released by the University of York. At the time, experts estimated that 10 wooden weapons were around 400,000 or 300,000 years old, making them among the oldest hunting weapons ever found. However, scientists recently used a dating method known as amino acid geochronology, which analyzes amino acids locked in snail shells buried in sediment layers, to determine that the spears were around 100,000 years younger. This likely means that the weapons were created and wielded by Neanderthals and not...

Paulerspury – Development and HeritageBoudicca's last stand is believed to have taken place within the Parish, since Tacitus' history accurately describes local geographical features. Suetonius Paulinus's forward base was probably Lactodorum since it was not sacked. Boudicca with her forces and supporters swept up Watling Street from St Albans and the final battle was likely fought on the slopes below Toothill, opposite Cuttle Mill. Tactical clearing of trees by the Romans funnelled the Britons and led to an impasse, creating confusion and Boudicca's defeat.Mid 5th century, at the time most of the Romans were leaving Britain, a massacre of Britons...

In 1958 the leader of the Chinese Communist Party set his country on a "great leap forward". The intention was for China to catch up with the west as an industrial powerhouse, bringing prosperity to China. Instead the economic chaos of this great leap started a famine which killed over 45 million innocent people. How Mao's 'Great Leap Forward' Killed 45 Million People | Mao's Great Famine | 52:26 Silk Road - Asian History Documentaries | 22.2K subscribers | 85,653 views | July 3, 2024

People who ink may be in for more than just body art.. “I got tattooed during a time in my life when I wasn’t fully informed about what was going into my body or what I was allowing onto my skin. Back then, it was about art, self-expression, and creative identity.” “Today, I see it differently. Tattoos are not harmless,” Ellie Grey a book author, .. Like Grey, many people choose to get tattoos as self-expression, acts of remembrance, or transformation. But even when the meaning runs deep, tattoos can have consequences—some only now coming to light. The Link Between...

Haaretz reports that archaeologists uncovered rare and somewhat perplexing figurines from two 1,500-year-old Christian burials at the site of Tel Malhata in the Negev Desert. The discovery was made during salvage excavations on the grounds of the Nevatim airbase, where previous archaeological work has revealed a rich history of human occupation from the Bronze Age through the Byzantine period. During the latest excavations, teams located some 155 tombs, but two burials contained objects different from anything else found at the site -- bone and wooden figurines with facial features resembling Africans. Two of them were carved from ebony, a rare...