Science

Autumn: A Season of Painted Landscape
Whenever September and October arrive, I always find myself feeling nostalgic. I start my travels carrying with me the memories and experiences from my childhood and youth back home in Nepal.
By Krishna Babu Shresthaabout 11 hours ago in Earth
Evolution Against Entropy: Why the Universe Builds Instead of Breaking
• • • Here is a paradox that sits at the heart of modern physics, and it is one that most people have never noticed. The second law of thermodynamics tells us that in an isolated system, entropy tends to increase. Entropy increases. Engines wear down. Bodies age. Stars burn out. Organized structures do not last forever. This is one of the most firmly established laws in all of science.
By Han Elucidationa day ago in Earth
The Galaxy Is Silent. Maybe That’s Not Empty Space.
At 3:17 a.m., a radio telescope in a dry basin records a flat line. The screen is black except for a thin green trace and a column of numbers. A paper cup sits beside the keyboard. The coffee inside has gone cold and formed a dark ring on the bottom. The technician watches the trace for eleven minutes. Nothing rises above the noise floor. She types a note, saves the file, and moves to the next frequency band.
By Jin5 days ago in Earth
Earth Isn’t Late to the Universe. It Arrived Right on Time.
1. The Time Gap Is Not 3.7 Billion Years The universe is about 13.8 billion years old. Earth is about 4.54 billion years old. The Solar System formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
By Jin7 days ago in Earth
We Lost 11.3 Trillion Tonnes of Ice in 44 Years. Greenland Is Why It’s Worse Than It Sounds.
What 11.3 trillion tonnes of ice means From 1979 to 2023, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets together lost about 11.3 trillion tonnes of ice. The study was completed by the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE) team. It draws on 27 satellite missions and 42 independent estimates. It was published in Scientific Data , a Nature sub-journal.
By Jin8 days ago in Earth
The Earth Is Not a Sponge: Why the Oceans Don't Drain Into the Planet
Rain falls into soil and disappears. A river seeps into its bed and disappears. The sea strikes the shore, slips into cracks, and disappears. If this kept up forever, the planet's water should dwindle. The oceans are still here. The waves are still here. The monsoon is still here. The water has not vanished.
By Jin9 days ago in Earth
They Can Dive 70 Meters Without Gear. The Law Says They Don’t Exist.
At five in the morning, the sky was not yet fully light. Amir pushed the lepa boat out from the shore. The wooden hull scraped across the sand of the shallows with a dry, rasping sound. He stood barefoot on the boat’s planks, his toes gripping the grain of the wood as if gripping a familiar stone. There was no diving equipment on board. No fins, no tank, no wetsuit. Only a pair of wooden goggles, the lenses old plastic, the edges wrapped in tape, and a spear gun, its shaft forged by a blacksmith, its head bound with rubber bands.
By Jin9 days ago in Earth
NASA Is Bringing Mars Rocks Back to Earth. Scientists Are Worried About What Else Might Hitch a Ride.
In February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater. It carried drills, cameras, and spectrometers. It drilled into reddish rock layers and sealed rock cores in titanium tubes. Those tubes lie on the Martian surface, waiting for a return mission that has not been determined. Scientists want to know whether the rocks contain traces of ancient life. They are also dealing with another question: if there is life in the tubes, could it make us sick on Earth?
By Jin9 days ago in Earth
A 12,000-Yuan House in the Woods: What the Videos Leave Out
Xiaokui parked her tricycle at the morning market and bought two jin of potatoes. The market opens at seven and closes at twelve. After twelve, there is nowhere in town to buy vegetables.
By Jin12 days ago in Earth
We Are the Last Generation That Can Avoid Climate Catastrophe
Before the Carbon Budget Runs Out On September 23, 2026, at the climate action and transition meeting during the high-level week of the 81st UN General Assembly, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “We are the first generation with the tools to end the fossil fuel era, and the last generation that can avoid a climate catastrophe.”
By Jin12 days ago in Earth
Why Humans Wear Clothes When Every Other Animal Goes Naked
Shave a polar bear and put it in the Arctic. It will die. Put a human in the Arctic with a down jacket, a snow house, fire, and an oil lamp. They can live.
By Jin12 days ago in Earth
Earth Already Has Immortal Creatures. Evolution Still Chose Death.
“Immortality” splits into two meanings. Biology has one. Physics has the other. Biological immortality means no built-in expiry date. If nothing eats it, crushes it, infects it, or drops a catastrophe on it, it will not die of old age. Physical immortality means nothing can kill it at all. No knife. No fire. No radiation. No black hole.
By Jin12 days ago in Earth