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Some of China's oldest Homo sapiens remains are about 10 times younger than previously thought.Skeletal remains of a modern human discovered in 1958 were found in southern China's Liujiang District. It was previously thought that the remains were up to 227,000 years old. It is thought modern humans began their trek out of Africa about 300,000 years ago.Now a re-analysis of the bones published in Nature Communications has revised the estimate age of the Chinese remains to between 33,000 and 23,000 years ago."These revised age estimates align with dates from other human fossils in northern China, suggesting a geographically widespread...

A novel warp drive concept that can function without any need for hypothesized exotic or negative forms of energy has been unveiled in a groundbreaking new study by leading propulsion researchers. Dubbed the “Constant-Velocity Subluminal Warp Drive,” the concept, developed by physicists with the Advanced Propulsion Laboratory at the New York-based think tank Applied Physics and from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, offers a theoretical new means of propulsion for space travel that conforms to general relativity, allowing it to operate at constant subluminal speeds with no need for unphysical forms of matter outlined in past concepts. According to...

The Russian borehole, called "the entrance to hell," drilled over 12 kilometers deep and encountered unexpected water. Near the Norwegian border somewhere in the depths of the Arctic Circle in Russia lies the deepest hole ever drilled, once called "the entrance to hell." The hole was a man-made creation through drilling, creating a depth of over 12 kilometers; which is the height of Mount Everest and Mount Fuji combined. According to the BBC, locals say the hole, located near the Kola Peninsula in northwest Russia, is so deep they can hear the screams of souls from hell. This hole is...

We are fast approaching something I have called the “Green Energy Wall.” The “Wall” consists of some combination of real-world obstacles, partly cost and partly physics, that will inevitably end the quest for emissions-free “net zero” electricity generation well before the goal of zero emissions is reached. I first identified the approaching Wall in this post in December 2021, and remarked that it was “gradually coming into focus” in this follow-up post in November 2023. Everyone who pays attention and is capable of doing basic arithmetic knows that the we are approaching this Wall, some jurisdictions much faster than others....

In this video, I visit Avebury Henge and Stone Circle ... the largest in the world 🤩 Built and much altered during the Neolithic period, roughly between 2850 BC and 2200 BC, the henge survives as a huge circular bank and ditch, encircling an area that includes part of Avebury village. Within the henge is the largest stone circle in Britain - originally of about 100 stones - which in turn encloses two smaller stone circles.The history books state it was built for ceremonial purposes, but they forget to take into account the geological data. If they did, they would...

Explanation: For the mostly harmless denizens of planet Earth, the brighter stars of open cluster NGC 2169 seem to form a cosmic 37. Did you expect 42? From our perspective, the improbable numerical asterism appears solely by chance. It lies at an estimated distance of 3,300 light-years toward the constellation Orion. As far as galactic or open star clusters go, NGC 2169 is a small one, spanning about 7 light-years. Formed at the same time from the same cloud of dust and gas, the stars of NGC 2169 are only about 11 million years old. Such clusters are expected to...

It's rarely great news when an area gets blanketed in volcanic ash – but University of Barcelona researchers have discovered it has a rare combination of useful properties, which make it remarkably useful as an energy storage medium. We've written a number of times about super-cheap thermal energy storage, and a number of other times about highly efficient heat batteries operating at super-high temperatures. The cheapest of these 'brick toasters' use the most abundant of materials, and the most efficient can handle extraordinarily high temperatures using materials like liquid tin and carbon materials – but volcanic ash, as it turns...

Report signals concern for Artemis space missions | 3:04WKMG News 6 ClickOrlando | 436K subscribers | 7,082 views | May 10, 2024

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and is improving at an unprecedented pace...But there are risks in embracing any new technology, especially one that we do not fully understand. While AI could be a powerful personal assistant, for example, it could also represent a threat to our livelihoods and even our lives.The various existential risks that an advanced AI poses means the technology should be guided by ethical frameworks and humanity's best interests, says researcher and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) member Nell Watson.In "Taming the Machine" (Kogan Page, 2024), Watson explores how humanity can wield the...

X-ray image of GRB221009A (Credit: NASA/Swift) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope are offering new clues about the nature of a massive supernova associated with GRB 221009A, the brightest gamma-ray burst astronomers have ever recorded. The new research confirms the presence of a supernova linked to this highly energetic source of gamma rays and reveals its comparatively low production of radioactive nickel, findings that challenge our currently accepted models involving these powerful events. Astronomers hope the new findings made possible by NASA’s premier space science observatory will also help to offer unique new views into the processes that...

I have had several posts on a collection of related cases that I have called “The Stupidest Litigations In The Country.” These are cases where climate hysterics have sued oil and gas producing companies, or the federal government, or both, seeking various extreme punishments ranging from massive damages up to and including an order to end all production of fossil fuels. The asserted grounds vary somewhat from case to case, but a central theme is a claimed constitutional right to a “clean and healthy environment.” My last update on these cases was a post on April 9. A main subject...

A woman in Wisconsin who survived a harrowing brush with death is celebrating a major milestone this year. Jeanna Giese became the first person in the world to survive rabies without receiving the life-saving vaccine 20 years ago. “It’s almost surreal to think, ya know, 20 years,” she said. “My life changed completely when I got sick.” In 2004, Giese was 15 years old and living in Fond du Lac. She was attending church one Sunday morning with her mother when a bat was seen flying around during the service. “It flew to the back of the church and one...

Deep in the heart of China's karst landscapes, scientists have discovered immense sinkholes that appear to contain ancient forests that are teeming with life, according to the Debrief. These sinkholes are known as karst tiankengs — and they appear to be a hotbed of genetic diversity and home to endangered species like the Manglietia aromatica. A recent study was published in the March issue of Forests, which appeared to provide evidence that these sinkholes have conserved long lost DNA. In the introduction to the study, researchers stated: "China has the most extensive distribution of karst terrain globally, covering an area...

Explanation: Northern lights don't usually reach this far south. Magnetic chaos in the Sun's huge Active Region 3664, however, produced a surface explosion that sent a burst of electrons, protons, and more massive, charged nuclei into the Solar System. A few days later, that coronal mass ejection (CME) impacted the Earth and triggered auroras that are being reported unusually far from our planet's north and south poles. The free sky show might not be over -- the sunspot rich AR3664 has ejected even more CMEs that might also impact the Earth tonight or tomorrow. That active region is now near...

Predictions that the U.S. and the world would run out of fossil fuels go back decades, and these predictions have so far turned out to be wrong. A new report shows the U.S. has 227 of oil, 130 years of gas, and 485 years of coal. or years, activists argued for an energy transition away from fossil fuels because, they said, we were hitting “peak oil,” the point at which we can no longer produce oil because there’s little left in the ground or it’s too expensive to recover. In 2023, the U.S. produced nearly 13 million barrels per day,...

Explanation: Right now, one of the largest sunspot groups in recent history is crossing the Sun. Active Region 3664 is not only big -- it's violent, throwing off clouds of particles into the Solar System. Some of these CMEs are already impacting the Earth, and others might follow. At the extreme, these solar storms could cause some Earth-orbiting satellites to malfunction, the Earth's atmosphere to slightly distort, and electrical power grids to surge. When impacting Earth's upper atmosphere, these particles can produce beautiful auroras, with some auroras already being reported unusually far south. Pictured here, AR3664 and its dark sunspots...

Quick synopsis of this 5min. video: Liquid fuel is far more efficient than batteries. It's not even close.

Explanation: Relax and watch two black holes merge. Inspired by the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, this simulation plays in slow motion but would take about one third of a second if run in real time. Set on a cosmic stage, the black holes are posed in front of stars, gas, and dust. Their extreme gravity lenses the light from behind them into Einstein rings as they spiral closer and finally merge into one. The otherwise invisible gravitational waves generated as the massive objects rapidly coalesce cause the visible image to ripple and slosh both inside and...

Harnessing these molecules can significantly impact agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and electronics. Chemists at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities College of Science and Engineering have successfully synthesized a highly reactive chemical compound that has eluded sicentists for over 120 years. This breakthrough may pave the way for the development of innovative drug treatments, safer agricultural products, and enhanced electronics. For decades, researchers have been investigating molecules called N-heteroarenes, which are ring-shaped chemical compounds that contain one or more nitrogen atoms. Bio-active molecules having a N-heteroarene core are widely used for numerous medicinal applications, lifesaving pharmaceuticals, pesticides and herbicides, and even electronics....

Carbon capture and underground storage (CCUS) tops the list of silly schemes “to reduce man-made global warming.” The idea is to capture exhaust gases from power stations or cement plants, separate the CO2 from the other gases, compress it, pump it to the chosen burial site, and force it underground into permeable rock formations. Then hope it never escapes. An Australian mining company who should know better is hoping to appease green critics by proposing to bury the gas of life, CO2, deep in the sedimentary rocks of Australia’s Great Artesian Basin. The people running this company have chosen the...