Science & Tech

Climate Change Is Slowing Earth’s Spin, Study Finds—Lengthening Days by Milliseconds

New research links ice melt and sea-level rise to a measurable slowdown in Earth’s rotation, with implications for leap seconds and precision tech.

#climatechange, #earthrotation, #sealevelrise, #leapsecond, #timekeeping

A ‘Phantom’ Climate Preprint Spreads Online, Highlighting the Stakes of Sensitivity Estimates

A rumored arXiv paper touting low climate sensitivity can’t be found—raising alarms about verification, statistics, and how fast “good news” travels.

#climatechange, #arxiv, #misinformation, #statistics, #ipcc

Oven-Hot Exoplanet Near ‘Radius Valley’ Shows How Stars Strip Worlds Bare

TOI-5734 b is a dense, Neptune-size world losing its atmosphere under fierce radiation—an ideal test case for models of planetary erosion.

#exoplanets, #astronomy, #tess, #jwst, #planetaryscience

SpaceX’s Starlink Surpasses 10,000 Active Satellites, Reshaping Low Earth Orbit

Two March 17 Falcon 9 launches pushed Starlink past 10,000 working satellites—about three-quarters of active spacecraft—spurring debates over safety and science.

#spacex, #starlink, #satellites, #spacepolicy, #astronomy

Reanalysis of Landmark LIGO Signal Suggests Black Hole–Neutron Star Crash Had an Oval Orbit

A new study finds GW200105 kept a surprisingly eccentric orbit before merging, pointing to formation in dense clusters or triple-star systems.

#gravitationalwaves, #ligo, #blackholes, #neutronstars, #astrophysics

A ‘Hostless’ Gamma-Ray Burst Traced to a Tiny Galaxy in Tidal Debris, Shedding Light on Gold’s Origins

Astronomers used Chandra and Hubble to trace a 2023 short gamma-ray burst to a faint mini-galaxy in a tidal tail, reshaping ideas on hostless blasts and gold.

#astronomy, #gammarayburst, #neutronstars, #hubble, #chandra

Climate change is measurably slowing Earth’s rotation, researchers find

A new geophysics study links ice melt and sea-level rise to a tiny but measurable lengthening of Earth’s day—at a pace unmatched in 3.6 million years.

#climatechange, #earthrotation, #icemelt, #sealevel, #timekeeping

Net Zero Is Not the Finish Line: Studies Say Carbon Removal Must Continue for Centuries

New IIASA-led research finds that even meeting Paris targets and net zero by 2050 won’t stop sea-level rise and permafrost thaw without centuries of net-negative CO₂.

#climatechange, #netzero, #carbonremoval, #sealevel, #permafrost

Marine heatwaves spread across key oceans, from the Mediterranean to the Southern Ocean

A new Copernicus bulletin shows sustained marine heatwaves intensifying in the Mediterranean, Pacific and Southern Ocean, raising ecological and economic risks.

#climatechange, #oceanwarming, #marineheatwave, #mediterranean, #copernicus

King Penguins Are Laying Eggs Earlier—and Raising More Chicks, Study Finds

A 24-year study on a remote French sub-Antarctic island finds king penguins now breed nearly three weeks earlier, boosting chick survival.

#climatechange, #penguins, #antarctic, #wildlife, #oceans

Scientists Break 33-Year Ambient-Pressure Superconductivity Record, Map Push Toward Room Temperature

Two PNAS papers report 151 K superconductivity at normal pressure via pressure quenching—and propose a coordinated roadmap to reach room-temperature materials.

#superconductivity, #materials, #physics, #pnas, #quantum

New LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Catalog Lists 218 Gravitational-Wave Events, Nearly Doubling Known Cosmic Mergers

GWTC-4 adds 128 new detections from 2023–24, expanding the menagerie of black-hole and neutron-star mergers and sharpening tests of cosmology.

#ligo, #gravitationalwaves, #blackholes, #astronomy, #cosmology

Astronomers Spot a ‘Ghost Galaxy’ Made Almost Entirely of Dark Matter

Using Hubble, Euclid and Subaru, researchers confirmed an ultra-faint Perseus cluster galaxy whose mass appears to be more than 99% dark matter.

#darkmatter, #astronomy, #hubble, #euclid, #galaxies

Study warns electron microscopes may be distorting key images of next-generation battery materials

UChicago-led team finds common TEM workflows can alter lithium and sodium samples, proposes inert-transfer and reporting standards to curb artifacts.

#batteries, #electronmicroscopy, #lithium, #sodium, #materials

Study Finds Global Warming Has Accelerated Since 2015, Raising Pressure on Paris Goals

New research finds global warming nearly doubled in speed since the mid-2010s, potentially pushing the 1.5°C threshold closer and intensifying debate.

#climatechange, #globalwarming, #parisagreement, #temperature, #research