Sometimes, nature just gives us the weird. While clouds are an important topic of research for climatologists and meteorologists, sometimes the atmosphere churns up peculiar-looking cloud formations that are as notable for aesthetic reasons as they are for scientific ones. That was the case in May when this circular swirl of clouds drifted over Lake Balkhash in eastern Kazakhstan. In…
Study suggests Facebook, Twitter sentiments correlate with weather patterns – no mention of climate linked sentiments Sentiments expressed on Facebook and Twitter may be associated with certain weather patterns, according to a study published April 25, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONEby Patrick Baylis from the Vancouver School of Economics, Canada, Nick Obradovich from the…
Surprising sight seen by airplane pilots and passengers on “red eye” flight Last night, April 19-20, a shock wave in the solar wind hit Earth’s magnetic field, sparking a moderately strong G2-class geomagnetic storm and rare “electric blue” auroras seen from airplanes in flight over Canada. Northern Lights spilled across the Canadian border into a…
Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach A recent article has discussed how Elon Musk’s “Boring Company” has raised $113 million dollars in startup capital. This is the company Musk formed to drill the tunnels for his proposed “Hyperloop” transportation system. It has encouraged me to discuss some of the engineering and practical problems with his LA-to-San…
From NASA and the “I’m sure there’s a snowflake joke in there somewhere” department. NASA Visualizes the Dance of a Melting Snowflake NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the model provides a better understanding…
Unique diamond impurities indicate water deep in Earth’s mantle Scientific analysis of diamond impurities — known as inclusions — reveal naturally forming ice crystals and point to water-rich regions deep below the Earth’s crust UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS A UNLV scientist has discovered the first direct evidence that fluid water pockets may exist as…
Forget searching for The Fountain of Youth, all you need is right here in the bottle, which is being dubbed as the new Elixir of Life. From the UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO and the “overworked kidneys: department comes this odd study with an even odder claim. I don’t know about you, but bottled water has been solely…
From the New University of Halle and the “best infection ever” department comes this bit of weird science that I found interesting. These bacteria produce gold by digesting toxic metals High concentrations of heavy metals, like copper and gold, are toxic for most living creatures. This is not the case for the bacterium C. metallidurans, which has…
Guest essay by Eric Worrall So much for fire control – JoNova reports that raptors have been photographed congregating on the edge of large Australian bushfires, picking up burning sticks, and deliberately setting new spot fires in advance of the main blaze to flush out small mammals and other prey. This discovery potentially has profound…
From the “this is likely to push out chemtrails as the next big conspiracy theory” department. I posited back in 2009, when I first covered this story, that the huge vertical electric charge differentials in Earth’s atmosphere acted like a particle accelerator. It seems the researchers here agree with me. Lightning, with a chance of…