NASA successfully shifted an asteroid’s orbit – DART spacecraft crashed into and moved Dimorphos
David Barnhart, University of Southern California NASA recently crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in an attempt to push the rocky traveler off its trajectory. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test – or DART – was meant to test one potential strategy for preventing an asteroid from colliding with Earth. The collision occurred...
Nobel Prize Awarded for ‘Click Chemistry’
The 2022 Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to a trio for developing click chemistry, an environmentally friendly method for rapidly joining molecules to develop cancer treatments, create materials and illuminate the workings of cells. Carolyn R. Bertozzi from Stanford University in the US, Morten Meldal from the University of...
Nobel Prize Honors Groundbreaking Field of Paleogenomics
Mary Prendergast, Rice University For the first time, a Nobel Prize recognized the field of anthropology, the study of humanity. Svante Pääbo, a pioneer in the study of ancient DNA, or aDNA, was awarded the 2022 prize in physiology or medicine for his breathtaking achievements sequencing DNA extracted from ancient skeletal remains...
NASA Crashed a Spacecraft into an Asteroid – Photos Show the Final Moments
David Barnhart, University of Southern California In a world first, NASA has crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in an attempt to push the rocky traveler off its trajectory. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test – or DART – is meant to test one potential approach that could prevent an asteroid from colliding with Earth. David...
Super-Earths are Bigger, More Common and More Habitable Than Earth Itself
Chris Impey, University of Arizona Astronomers now routinely discover planets orbiting stars outside of the solar system – they’re called exoplanets. But in summer 2022, teams working on NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite found a few particularly interesting planets orbiting in the habitable zones of their parent...
Scientists Use Volcano Eruption to Test Warning System, Collect Data
When a volcano in the South Pacific Ocean erupted in January 2022, NOAA researchers were well-equipped to study the multi-hazard event by sky and by sea. Key technologies and strategic partnerships made it possible for NOAA to issue warnings that saved lives around the world, while also collecting scientific data that will improve...
Astronomers Have Found an Especially Sneaky Black Hole
Discovery sheds light on star death, black hole formation and gravitational waves Idan Ginsburg, Georgia State University There is always something new and exciting happening in the field of black hole research. Albert Einstein first published his book explaining the theory of general relativity – which postulated black...
Ice World: Antarctica’s Riskiest Glacier is Under Assault from Below and Losing its Grip
Ted Scambos, University of Colorado Boulder Flying over Antarctica, it’s hard to see what all the fuss is about. Like a gigantic wedding cake, the frosting of snow on top of the world’s largest ice sheet looks smooth and unblemished, beautiful and perfectly white. Little swirls of snow dunes cover the surface. But as you...
50 Years of UN Environmental Diplomacy: What’s Worked and the Trends Ahead
Mihaela Papa, Tufts University In 1972, acid rain was destroying trees. Birds were dying from DDT poisoning, and countries were contending with oil spills, contamination from nuclear weapons testing and the environmental harm of the Vietnam War. Air pollution was crossing borders and harming neighboring countries. At Sweden’s...
Wealthy Nations are Carving up Space and its Riches — and Leaving Other Countries Behind
Theodora Ogden, Arizona State University Satellites help run the internet and television and are central to the Global Positioning System. They enable modern weather forecasting, help scientists track environmental degradation and play a huge role in modern military technology. Nations that don’t have their own satellites...
Astronomy’s 10-Year Wish List: Big Money, Bigger Telescopes and the Biggest Questions in Science
Chris Impey, University of Arizona It takes expensive tools to learn about the universe, but projects like the Very Large Array for radio astronomy in New Mexico and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which orbits Earth, have pushed scientific knowledge forward in ways that would not have been possible without these instruments. Every 10...
3 Tips On How to Create a Smart Laboratory in 2022
If there was a time when the world got to see just how much scientific research can change the odds in our favor, it was during the COVID-19 pandemic. True, it’s not over yet, but due to thorough research and dedicated scientists, we now have several vaccines and even some promising treatments to help us get to the other...
Science, Science Wherever You Go: SciFest All Access
The second running of the virtual SciFest All Access was a spectacular success, featuring the laughs, hands-on programs, personalities and diversity of programs that said one thing: ‘This is your future. And it’s going to be both very important and fun.’ Imagine waking up one morning knowing you’re going to play all day, and...
James Webb Space Telescope Reaches its New Home
Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, at 2 p.m. EST, the James Webb Space Telescope fired its onboard thrusters for nearly five minutes (297 seconds) to complete the final postlaunch course correction to Webb’s trajectory. This mid-course correction burn inserted Webb toward its final orbit around the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2,...
Why the Volcanic Eruption in Tonga Was So Violent, and What to Expect Next
The Kingdom of Tonga doesn’t often attract global attention, but a violent eruption of an underwater volcano on January 15 has spread shock waves, quite literally, around half the world. The volcano is usually not much to look at. It consists of two small uninhabited islands, Hunga-Ha’apai and Hunga-Tonga, poking about 100m above...
How the Earth’s Tilt Creates Short, Cold January Days
Deanna Hence, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Above the equator, winter officially begins in December. But in many areas, January is when it really takes hold. Atmospheric scientist Deanna Hence explains the weather and climate factors that combine to produce wintry conditions at the turn of the year. How does the...
Why Can’t We Throw All Our Trash Into a Volcano and Burn It Up?
Emily Johnson, US Geological Survey Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why can’t we throw all our trash into a volcano and burn it up? – Georgine T. It’s true that lava is hot enough to burn...
How effective are vaccines against omicron? An epidemiologist answers 6 questions
Melissa Hawkins, American University The pandemic has brought many tricky terms and ideas from epidemiology into everyone’s lives. Two particularly complicated concepts are vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. These are not the same thing. And as time goes on and new variants like omicron emerge, they are changing, too. Melissa...
A.I. Could Boost Accuracy of Lightning Forecasts
By HANNAH HICKEY-U. WASHINGTON Lightning is one of the most destructive forces of nature, as in 2020 when it sparked the massive California Lightning Complex fires, but it remains hard to predict. Better lightning forecasts could help to prepare for potential wildfires, improve safety warnings for lightning, and create more...