TomoNews US
How Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Works (Animated Explainer)
- Title
- How Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Works (Animated Explainer)
- Runtime
- 5:12
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- NEW YORK — Pfizer and German company BioNTech announced on Monday, November 9, that their coronavirus vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 in those who have not previously been infected with the virus.
Reuters reports that Pfizer and BioNTech said they have found no serious safety concerns and expect to seek U.S. emergency use authorization this month.
Phases 3 clinical trials enrolled 43,000 participants and reported only 94 lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections.
Each vaccine requires two doses. Pfizer and BioNTech said if granted authorization, they could produce up to 50 million doses in 2020. Then they could produce 1.3 billion does in 2021.
This animation explains how the vaccine works.
SOURCES: Pfizer, CNBC, Reuters
https://www.pfizer.com/news/hot-topics/get_the_facts_on_our_covid_19_vaccine_candidates
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/10/pfizers-covid-19-vaccine-is-90percent-effect...
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- US Dumping 5 Times More Plastic than Previously Thought
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- 7:29
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WOODS HOLE, MASSACHUSETTS — America’s contribution to the plastic trash crisis in the world’s oceans is up to five times worse than previously thought.
A follow-up study published recently in Science Advances comes as a sequel to 2015 research, which had given a rough estimate of the waste contribution by the US.
The new study has now revealed that Americans contributed between 1.1 and 2.2 million metric tons of plastic to the oceans in 2016. This is five times more than the lowest estimates from 2015.
The study has revealed that Americans are using more plastic than ever before, and the data included American waste exports that were not accounted for in their previous studies.
About 88% of the country’s waste exports goes to countries with poor recycling infrastructure.
Recent developments have shown that much of the plastic waste that is exported does not go through recycling systems and ends up in the ocean...
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- Research Suggests Women Also Hunted 9,000 Years Ago
- Runtime
- 5:32
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- PUNO DISTRICT, PERU — Researchers digging in a 9000-year-old burial site in Peru found stone projectile points near a woman’s skeleton, and concluded that women hunted animals 9000 years ago.
According to a research article by California-based researchers, the find indicates that modern arguments around gender roles should be updated.
Among the projectile points, the diggers also found stone tools associated with carcass processing, a task that has traditionally been associated with female roles in ancient societies.
“We believe that these findings are particularly timely in light of contemporary conversations surrounding gendered labor practices and inequality,” said paper author and anthropologist Randy Haas of the University of California, Davis. According to the paper, "the findings are consistent with nongendered labor practices in which early hunter-gatherer females were big-game hunters."
SOURCES: New York Times, Scien...
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- Tesla’s Even Bigger Mega Battery for Australia
- Runtime
- 7:26
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- MELBOURNE — The Australian state of Victoria has announced that a massive 300-megawatt battery will be built in partnership with Tesla and French renewable energy company Neoen. The facility will help stabilize the local grid as use of renewable energy increases, the state’s premier said in a press release.
New Atlas reports the Victorian Big Battery will be built near Geelong — roughly 70 kilometers or 43 miles southwest of Melbourne. It is expected to provide surge capabilities up to 300 megawatts and 450 megawatt-hours of energy storage.
It would be triple the size of the original 100-megawatt Tesla facility built at Neoen’s site in Hornsdale, South Australia, which was the largest in the world when it began operations in 2017 and has since been upsized to 150 megawatts.
Geelong is ideally situated near a number of wind farms and solar installations, as well as transmission lines linking much of the state and national power grid. Tesla...
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- Army of Giant Drones to Beam 5G Waves From Stratosphere
- Runtime
- 5:38
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- CAMBRIDGE, UK — Two British firms recently announced their plan to deliver 5G internet to planet Earth from giant drone planes that can fly in the stratosphere for up to 9 hours at a time.
Unlike SpaceX’s Starlink service, which will see thousands of satellites hanging in low Earth orbit, this new concept will require thousands of giant drones taking off and landing all the time, worldwide.
However, the two companies — Cambridge Consultants and Stratospheric Platforms Limited, or SPL — say that as few as 60 drones would be able to cover a country as big as the UK.
The developers say the core of their stratospheric 5G concept is a cutting-edge antenna that can produce 480 steerable 5G beams that create patterns that can be ‘painted’ onto the ground to cover specific areas — such as roads, railway lines or shipping lanes.
The huge antenna would be strapped to a drone that can provide its huge power requirements.
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- ‘Godzilla’ Wasp Dives Underwater to Attack
- Runtime
- 6:45
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- OSAKA, JAPAN — Researchers have discovered a “Godzilla” wasp that deliberately dives underwater to insert parasitic eggs into its prey, according to a research article published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research.
Only a few species of wasps enter water, but the newly found parasitoid wasp, dubbed Microgaster godzilla, not only enters water but dives underwater to search for and attack its prey, larvae of the moth species Elophila turbata.
Elophila turbata larvae make portable cases from fragments of aquatic plants and live inside these cases near the surface of the water.
The female wasp pobes the caterpillar with its antennae and eventually forces it out of its case. Sometimes it dives completely underwater to evict the larvae.
It then paralyzes the larvae with its ovipositor and inserts its eggs into the caterpillar’s flesh. The wasp’s parasitic larvae later consume the caterpillar from the inside until they pupate.<...
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- Visit Titanic’s Giant Wreck, 4km Under the Sea
- Runtime
- 1:14
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- Everett, Washington — The Titanic famously sank in 1912, killing more than 1,500 people, but now one company is giving you the chance to dive down to go and look at the famous wreck.
The Titanic’s wreck was discovered in 1985 during a search for missing nuclear submarines. It was found in water almost 4 kilometers deep, 600 kilometers south of St. Johns in Newfoundland.
Now, a ticket price of “only” 125,000 US dollars will buy you a seat on an expedition to the site. Once at the site, a special submersible will take you 4 kilometers down for a close inspection.
The company, Oceangate Expeditions, uses a Cyclops-class submersible called Titan, which is only one of four submersibles capable of descending to 4000 meters under the ocean.
This special craft’s passenger compartment is a cylinder made of woven carbon fiber, with two titanium hemispheres on both sides. The front hemisphere features a viewing window that’s 53 centi...
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- 'Islamist Terrorist' Guns Down Dozens in Vienna
- Runtime
- 1:22
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- VIENNA — Only four days after churchgoers in France were stabbed to death in their church by an Islamist migrant, an Islamist terrorist on Monday opened fire on citizens in the capital city of Austria, Vienna.
Austrian police were frantically searching for more terrorists after killing the lone gunman, as chaos enveloped the famously beautiful city center. The terrorist killed 4 people and heavily wounded 13 others.
The murderous rampage started around 8pm near the Seitenstettengasse synagogue, when the heavily armed Muslim immigrant opened fire on people dining at pavement cafes and restaurants.
Members of the Austrian police quickly arrived at the scene. One policeman was shot and critically wounded before the perpetrator, armed with an AK-47, a pistol and a machete, was killed around 8:09pm.
Deaths and injuries were reported at 5 other locations in the surrounding area. Namely Morzinplatz, the meat market, the farmer’s market, ...
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- City on Mars: How Elon Plans to Build It and Populate It
- Runtime
- 1:58
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA — SpaceX’s famous CEO, Elon Musk plans to have established a functioning city on Mars by 2050, and here’s how he plans to do it.
Mars and Earth align every 2 years, making the time before these alignment periods the obvious launch windows for missions to Mars.
Musk said in various news conferences that he plans to send two unmanned SpaceX Starships to Mars during the next launch window, which would be in 2022.
These first two autonomous, cargo-carrying spacecraft will carry up to 100 tons of power, mining and life support equipment.
If this mission is successful, the plan is to use the next launch window, in 2024, to send two Starships with human pioneers and another two cargo-carrying Starships.
Musk said this first human mission would not be relaxing at all, as all future missions would depend on the success of what these pioneers can accomplish.
These first Mars pioneers would ...
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- Mediterranean is Filling up with Plastic; Here’s the Culprits
- Runtime
- 5:53
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- GLAND, SWITZERLAND — Plastic pollution is a global problem that is causing an environmental disaster in the world’s oceans.
And scientists have now found that the Mediterranean Sea is also filling up with plastic at a very high rate.
Scientists have previously documented how the Pacific and other oceans are filling up with plastic trash that cover the sea floor or drift on the surface to form floating trash dumps the size of countries.
One of these floating trash dumps is called The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and it’s three times the size of France.
According to Reuters, scientists are now studying where all this ocean-destroying trash comes from, and have found that most of it comes from rivers in Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.
A recent study published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature has now also raised the alarm in the Mediterranean Sea. The study found that around...
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- Workers Hit Themselves in the Face to Please Bosses
- Runtime
- 3:44
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- DONGGUAN, CHINA — Have you ever been approached by a salesperson who really wanted to sell you something you don’t need?
Then you would know why you should run like hell if you see any of the salespeople from this company trying to catch your attention.
That’s right, these poor salespeople are being forced to slap themselves in the face repeatedly, purportedly to motivate themselves to sell more stuff that people don’t want to buy.
Some would say that the genius who organized this ridiculous event just did it for the publicity it would generate.
But then you might think, why would you show the world how desperate you are to sell stuff wouldn’t that just make smart people run away from you when they see you coming?
Nah, it would seem that these organizers don’t have much respect for the intelligence of the people who make up their target market.
The 33-second clip was said to be taken recently in ...
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- What Is the Electoral College and How Does It Work? (Animated Explainer)
- Runtime
- 1:45
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — United States citizens over the age of 18 can choose to vote in presidential elections. This is called the popular vote.
But American voters don’t actually pick the president through a majority vote. That’s the job of the Electoral College. In 2020, a candidate will need at least 270 electoral votes to become president.
This system is strange to many, but it goes back to the earliest days of the founding of the United States of America. The Founding Fathers created the Electoral College — a group of selectors who cast votes as representatives of each state — because they worried states with smaller populations might not be fairly represented. They also didn’t think the “common man” was informed enough to choose a suitable president.
Today, the Electoral College has 538 members. That’s one for every member of the House of Representatives and Senate, representing all 50 states. In addition, Washington, DC has three el...
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- Mayan City Had Sophisticated Water Purification System
- Runtime
- 3:10
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- TIKAL, GUATEMALA — The ancient Mayan city of Tikal, located in Guatemala, has long fascinated scientists with its clues to how the ancient Maya people lived and constructed their cities.
Now a team of researchers found evidence that the Mayans had managed to build a sophisticated water purification system in Tikal — over 2,000 years ago.
The team published their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.
According to the lead researcher, Kenneth Tankersley of the University of Cincinnati, the purification system was so advanced that it would still be effective today.
The system used a limestone wall with holes in it, as well as layers of woven plant fibers, to hold back the core filtration system, which is a wall of sand filled with quarts and zeolite particles.
This sandy mixture of quarts and zeolite acts as a very effective molecular sieve, which would trap the harmful heavy metals, microbes and toxins, while letting t...
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- SpaceX to Build Satellite Mega Constellation for Mars Colony
- Runtime
- 1:16
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- HAWTHORNE, CALIFORNIA — Following up on his plans to transport one million people to Mars by 2050, Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, has now declared that it will also send hundreds of satellites to Mars to provide the colonists with space internet.
SpaceX is currently building a Starlink mega constellation of small communication satellites around Earth, and has already launched around 800 of these satellites into low Earth orbit.
This mega constellation of satellites will eventually cover every part of Earth, and Elon Musk said it will give all people on Earth access to low-cost broadband internet.
According to a recent interview with TIME Magazine, the company now plans to build the same mega constellation around Mars, to provide the million future citizens of Mars with space-based internet.
Shotwell said the Starlink concept would also create a robust communication link between Mars and Earth, providing an interplanetary internet br...
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- World’s Largest Solar Farm Would Deliver Power to Singapore
- Runtime
- 3:35
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- TENNANT CREEK, AUSTRALIA — A massive renewable energy project is underway in Australia that would include the construction of the world’s biggest solar farm and the world’s largest battery to deliver electricity using the world’s longest submarine power cable to Singapore, according to a report in Science Alert.
The Australia-ASEAN Power Link would include a 10-gigawatt array of photovoltaic panels spread across 15,000 hectares in the remote Northern Territory town of Tennant Creek.
Sun Cable, the company that owns the project, says on its website that electricity generated by the solar plant would be stored during the Australian day at a gigantic 30 GWh battery in Darwin and transmitted in the evening to Singapore.
The network would transport electricity from the solar farm at Tennant Creek, north to Darwin and then on to Singapore via a 4,500-kilometer high-voltage direct transmission network.
SOURCES: Science Alert, Sun Cab...
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- NASA: Real Water Exists on Moon’s Surface
- Runtime
- 4:45
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — NASA has for the first time confirmed the presence of molecular water on sunlit regions of the Moon, indicating that lunar water is more widespread than previously known.
The results were published in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy, along with a separate study that looked at how regions of permanent shadow on the Moon could keep water trapped on the lunar surface.
The water was detected in Clavius crater, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere and one of the largest craters visible from Earth.
To detect the water, NASA used its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, a modified Boeing 747 that can carry a telescope into the stratosphere.
Before SOFIA’s results, according to a press release published on NASA’s website, scientists had found evidence of hydration in sunlit regions, but it was not clear if they had detected water or hydroxyl.
SOURCES: Reuters, NASA, National G...
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- YouTube Kids Paid Millions to Promote Junk Food
- Runtime
- 1:21
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Youtubers who are kids and have popular Youtube channels are known as “kidfluencers”. And, according to a new study, these “kidfluencers” are being paid very big money to promote junk food and sugary drinks in their videos.
Researchers from the New York University School of Global Public Health looked at the five most-watched YouTube “kidfluencers” and analyzed their most popular videos, focusing on the way branded food products were shown in the videos.
They found that “kidfluencer” videos featuring food and drinks were viewed 1 billion times – and 90 percent of these videos featured junk food from unhealthy brands, such as McDonalds.
These “kidfluencers” are often filmed by their parents conducting science experiments, reviewing toys, celebrating birthdays or trying out new food — and they get paid whopping amounts by advertisers.
The highest-paid YouTube kidfluencer of the past two ye...
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- Scientists Outsmart ‘Murder Hornets,' Find Nest
- Runtime
- 1:33
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- Scientists managed to outsmart the dangerous and highly destructive Asian giant hornet by using a series of clever techniques to find and destroy one of their nests in Washington state.
The Asian giant hornet also goes by the name “murder hornet” and this was the first nest to be found by using dental floss to tie tracking devices on to three of the hornets.
One of the murder hornets then led the tracking team to a tree that contained a whole nest of the species.
The nest of around 200 hornets was then sucked out of the tree with a vacuum hose.
After that, the tree was cut down and destroyed, to make sure no other hornets could survive.
The invasive murder hornet has a powerful sting and can spit venom.
They target honeybees, which pollinate crops, and can destroy a colony of honeybees in just a matter of hours.
Asian giant hornets are among the world's largest wasps. The queens can reach o...
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- How China is Destroying the World's Coral Reefs
- Runtime
- 1:16
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- SPRATLY ISLANDS, SOUTH CHINA SEA — A lot has been said about the damage being done by Chinese poaching boats to the important and very fragile coral reefs of the South China Sea. But seeing how the destruction is caused, is truly shocking.
According to news reports by the BBC, Bloomberg, and the AMTI, THIS is how Chinese poachers who target giant clams are destroying fish-feeding coral reefs close to the Philippines.
This is happening in waters far from China — waters that the UN says belongs to the Philippines.
Under protection of the Chinese Navy, Chinese poaching boats would sail right up to the coast of the Philippines and start to do their destructive work.
They can be this brazen because China simply claims most of the South China Sea for itself, and it meets all competition with intimidation and aggression.
To get to the giant clams, the poachers would anchor small boats over the fragile reefs, stick their long...
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- Oil Tanker With Massive Oil Cargo Tilting Dangerously
- Runtime
- 4:41
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- GULF OF PARIA, VENEZUELA — Shocking images show a massive Venezuelan oil tanker tilting dangerously near the island of Trinidad, in the West Indies.
According to CBS News, the giant ship is carrying more than 300 million liters of oil and is anchored in the Gulf of Paria, a gulf only around a 100 kilometers across, between Venezuela and the country of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Venezuelan tanker has been parked in the gulf for nearly two years, carrying around 1.3 million barrels of oil. That's about five times the amount of oil that the Exxon Valdez famously spilled in 1989.
Environmentalists and scientists are extremely concerned that a storm at sea could cause the oil in the unstable ship to slosh around.
Such a situation could cause the ship to flip over, which would lead to an oil spill much bigger than the disastrous Exxon Valdes oil spill.
If this happens, the entire region will be covered in sticky oil for decade...
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- ‘Boaty McBoatface’: RSS Sir David Attenborough sets sail for the first time
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- 4:48
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BIRKENHEAD, ENGLAND — The cutting-edge polar research ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough — which the British public attempted to name “Boaty McBoatface” — has set sail for the first time, in an event widely covered by the British media.
The 122-meter-long vessel will conduct sea trials before being handed over to the Natural Environment Research Council in November. In 2021 it will embark on its maiden voyage to the Antarctic to study the effects of climate change.
The British Antarctic Survey originally put the Attenborough’s name up for a public vote and the public responded by choosing "Boaty McBoatface." The British government did not like that name, but it has instead been given to the ship’s long-range unmanned submarine.
SOURCES: Reuters, Natural Environment Research Council, BBC News, The Independent, Marine Technology News
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-boat-attenborough-idUSKBN2761YV
https://nerc.u...
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- South China Sea Fish Ecosystem on Verge of Collapse
- Runtime
- 5:14
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- SOUTH CHINA SEA — Tensions in the South China Sea are escalating, as China and its neighbors increasingly use commercial fishing vessels and warships to stake hotly disputed territorial claims and harvest one of the world’s most fragile fishing grounds.
China claims more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, and it bases that claim on a 70-year-old map that marks its territory with nine dashes that reaches down 1,800 kilometers from its southern island of Hainan. The UN has recently ruled that this claim is invalid but this has only made China more aggressive in enforcing its claim.
This claim-staking contest is now having severe repercussions, as fishermen are reporting dwindling fish stocks after China subsidized its massive fishing fleet with billions of dollars, which led to overfishing and the destruction of coral reefs — which are vital to the fast regeneration of fish stocks.
The South China Sea is believed to be the area with the m...
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- DOJ Sues Google, Says Tech Giant Acts as Gatekeeper to the Internet
- Runtime
- 1:34
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — On Tuesday the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of illegally creating and maintaining monopolies in search and search advertising.
The DOJ’s lawsuit is the result of more than a year of investigating alleged anticompetitive practices at the company, and the first such antitrust case in the tech world in decades.
The landmark lawsuit alleges that Google violated antitrust laws to act as a "gatekeeper" to the internet.
The complaint says the company unlawfully blocked out competitors by reaching deals with phone makers including Apple and Samsung to be the preset, default search engine on devices.
The DOJ lawsuit alleges that Google also abused the dominance of its Android operating system to strong-arm manufacturers to preload Google's apps onto phones.
The tech giant denied that it has engaged in anticompetitive behavior. Google's senior vice president o...
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- China Is Targeting the Moon for Exploration
- Runtime
- 6:05
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BEIJING — While the world dreams about getting to Mars, China is targeting the moon for exploration. This means that the moon could soon be a source of conflict between Earth’s superpowers because of possible future questions regarding who controls the mining rights to different parts of the moon.
China’s space administration, the CNSA, currently has a rover exploring the far side of the moon as part of its Chang’e 4 mission. It is also preparing to launch the Chang’e 5 mission this year to collect lunar samples and bring the samples back to Earth.
The nation plans to add to its impressive list of lunar projects with a new set of missions to explore the moon's south pole. Chang'e 6, a backup mission for this year's sample-return launch, is scheduled to head to the moon in 2023 or 2024.
Chang'e 7 is scheduled to launch around 2024 with the dual aims of landing on the south pole of the moon and closely studying the region from orbit. The C...
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- ‘Super-Earth’ and ‘Sub-Neptune’ Found Orbiting Red Dwarf
- Runtime
- 7:27
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BERN, SWITZERLAND — Scientists have found two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf around 120 light-years from Earth, including a “super-Earth.”
The research, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, notes that exoplanets TOI-1266 b and TOI-1266 c are so close to their star that it takes them just 11 days and 19 days to orbit it.
The inner planet, TOI-1266 b, is considered a “sub-Neptune” as it measures around two-and-a-half times the Earth’s diameter.
The outer planet, TOI-1266 c, is just over one-and-a-half times the size of our planet, landing it in the “super-Earth” category.
Both TOI-1266 b and c have similar temperatures and are believed to be of similar densities and comprised of about half of rocky and metallic material and half water, the researchers suggested.
Their host star, TOI-1266, is a red dwarf. Red dwarfs are the smallest and coolest kind of star, which the researchers note could allow for liqui...
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- Voyager 2 Finds Space Is More Dense Outside the Solar System
- Runtime
- 7:46
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- PASADENA, CALIFORNIA — The Voyager spacecraft have found that space is more dense outside the Solar System, according to research published in the journal Astrophysical Letters.
NASA’s Voyager 2 crossed into interstellar space in November of 2018 after a 41-year voyage. Its twin, Voyager 1, entered interstellar space at a different location in 2012.
The authors of the study write that the increase in density detected by the Voyager spacecraft could be due to interstellar magnetic fields becoming stronger as they approach and drape over the heliopause.
Alternatively, the material blown by the interstellar wind might slow down and build up as it approaches the heliopause.
More data is needed from the two Voyagers to try to untangle this mystery. However, as the authors of the study note, “It is not certain whether the Voyagers will be able to operate far enough to distinguish between these two classes of models.”
...
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- Japan to Dump Radioactive Fukushima Water Into the Pacific
- Runtime
- 4:45
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN — Today, almost ten years since a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan in 2011, the country is still struggling to decontaminate the radioactive mess that is the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.
Three of the plant’s nuclear reactors went into meltdown when the tsunami broke through a sea wall and flooded the plant.
As the facility's cooling systems failed in the days that followed, the reactors melted down and tonnes of radioactive material were released. Much of that radiation was trapped in floodwater and water used to cool the runaway nuclear reactions.
Most of the radioactive isotopes have been removed from the water by using a complex filtration process. But one isotope, tritium, cannot be removed so the water has been stored in huge tanks which will fill up by 2022.
Japan’s government has now announced that it will have to release the 1.23 million tonnes of radioactive water into the ocean when its ...
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- Fossilized Tracks Show Woman and Child’s Harrowing Journey
- Runtime
- 1:26
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WHITE SANDS NATIONAL PARK, NEW MEXICO — An amazing trove of fossilized footprints in New Mexico tells the harrowing story of a woman and a 2-year-old child’s dangerous journey around 13,000 years ago. This according to a study published in Quaternary Science Reviews.
Scientists who analyzed the footprints can see that the woman was carrying the child most of the way, and that she was walking very fast and very straight in muddy sludge. She later returned the same way, this time without the child.
After studying the 1.5-kilometer-long track of fossils, the researchers concluded that the woman must have been walking fast because of the many dangerous animals that frequented the area — including saber-tooth cats, dire wolves, and mammoths.
In fact, a remarkable set of footprints shows that a group of mammoths and a giant sloth stepped into her tracks in the period between her first and second trip. Amazingly, she then stepped into the tracks of...
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- This Tardigrade Has a New Superpower
- Runtime
- 4:13
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BENGALURU, INDIA — Researchers in India have discovered a species of tardigrade that absorbs UV radiation and emits blue light.
Writing in the journal Biology Letters, scientists at the Indian Institute of Science describe how they discovered a new species of tardigrade on a moss-covered concrete wall at the institute.
The scientists found that when they exposed this species, called Paramacrobiotus BLR strain, and another species, H exemplaris, to 15 minutes of germicidal levels of UV exposure, Paramacrobiotus survived. H exemplaris did not. When treated with a dose four times as strong, 60 percent went on to live for 30 more days.
The scientists found that the reddish brown tardigrade used a protective fluorescent shield that absorbs the damaging ultraviolet radiation and emits it back out as harmless blue light.
SOURCES: CNN, BBC
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/07/world/water-bear-space-intl-scli-scn/index.html
https:/...
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- Moon Had ‘Magnetic Field That Protected Earth’
- Runtime
- 5:28
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — Scientists have long wondered how life could have evolved on Earth if the sun’s radiation flares were so much more powerful billions of years ago.
According to planetary scientists, the Earth’s magnetic field could not have protected living organisms around 4 billion years ago, when these organisms were supposed to have formed out of Earth’s primordial soup.
Now a group of NASA scientists say they have found some evidence that might support a theory that would explain this mystery.
The researchers took another look at moon rocks that were brought to Earth by the Apollo missions.
The NASA study’s results were published in the journal Science Advances. According to the study, the researchers found evidence in the moon rocks that the moon probably did have a stronger magnetic field back then.
Researchers theorize that this moon magnetosphere could have been quite strong, and that the Earth was much closer to...
- Title
- Trump Selling Drones and Missiles to Taiwan
- Runtime
- 11:06
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will seek to sell Taiwan at least five and possibly seven advanced weapons systems, according to recent reports by Reuters and the New York Times.
Reuters reports the administration on Monday, Oct. 12 and Tuesday, Oct. 13 notified Congress of its intention to sell five weapons systems to Taiwan.
The multi-billion dollar deal would include the M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), SLAM-ER long-range air-to-ground missiles, external sensor pods for Taiwan’s F-16s, MQ9 drones and Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles.
Under the Taiwan Relations Act passed by Congress in 1979, Washington is committed to providing self-defense weapons to Taipei.
SOURCES: Reuters, New York Times, CNN, Defense News, Lockheed Martin, U.S. Navy, Royal Australian Navy, General Atomics
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-taiwan-arms-idUSKBN26X240
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-taiwan-arms-i...
- Title
- New Parrot-Like Dinosaur’s Fossils Found in Gobi Desert
- Runtime
- 1:24
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND — A while ago a research team from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland invested in an archaeological dig in the Gobi Desert. And now that investment in time, money and effort has paid off big time.
The team’s efforts were richly rewarded when they found a brand new type of dinosaur from the dinosaur branch called oviraptors. The species were named Oksoko avarsan and are thought to have lived around 68 million years ago.
This newly discovered dinosaur species would have been around 2 meters long and were first introduced to the world of humans a few days ago when the researchers found the well-preserved fossils of a group of four juvenile Oksoko avarsans.
This rare find showed that the avarsans had feathers and two finger-like digits, as well as large beaks that look a bit like the beaks of parrots. Scientists find it interesting that they had only 2 finger-like digits, as all other oviraptors had three such digits.
- Title
- Green and Beautiful: Hong Kong’s Eco-Friendly Office Tower
- Runtime
- 5:51
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s fascinating Central Island is about to get one of the world’s greenest and most captivating tower buildings to add to its collection of skyscrapers.
The new project has already broken ground and will stand at 2 Murray Road, in the heart of the central island’s central business district.
The 36-story tower was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and its energy-efficient design has already earned the building L.E.E.D. Platinum and W.E.L.L. Platinum pre-certification, as well as the highest 3-Star rating of China’s Green Building Rating Program.
Inspired by the layered structure of a Bauhinia bud — the flower from the Bauhinia blakeana orchid tree featured on Hong Kong’s flag — the glass skyscraper features a curved glass facade that will stand out from its more traditional boxy neighbors.
The insulated glazing that wraps the building can withstand the region’s powerful summer typhoons while reduc...
- Title
- Black Hole Sucks Star Like It’s Spaghetti
- Runtime
- 1:40
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- BIRMINGHAM, UK — Scientists had a rare look at a black hole pulling a star apart over the last six months.
Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory observed a black hole sucking in a faraway star, shredding it into thin strands of stellar material.
This process, known as "spaghettification," happens because of black holes' powerful gravitational force.
Observed in the Eridanus constellation, about 215 million light-years away from Earth, this was the closest such event astronomers have ever observed.
“When an unlucky star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy, the extreme gravitational pull of the black hole shreds the star into thin streams of material’” said the study’s author, Thomas Wevers, in a press release about the discovery.
When these strands get sucked into the black hole, they release a powerful flare of energy that astronomers can detect, even from hundreds...
- Title
- North Korea Parades ‘Monster’ New Missile
- Runtime
- 16:16
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- PYONGYANG — North Korea unveiled a new intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, in a military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party at the stroke of midnight on Saturday, Oct. 10.
According to North Korea analysts 38 North, the Hwasong-16 is estimated to be 25 meters to 26 meters in length and 2.5 to 2.9 meters in diameter. That’s about 4 to 4.5 meters longer and about half a meter wider in diameter than the Hwasong-15 ICBM, which was flight tested only once in November of 2017.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington estimates the range of Hwasong-15 at 8,500 to 13,000 kilometers. Experts believe the Hwasong-16 has a similar range, meaning it could hit anywhere in the continental U.S.
SOURCES: Bloomberg, 38 North, Aviation Week, BBC, CSIS, Center for Strategic and International Studies
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-12/kim-jong-un-s-monster-icbm-meant...
- Title
- NASA Spacecraft Ready to Grab Sample from Spinning Asteroid
- Runtime
- 1:37
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, MARYLAND — Nasa’s OSIRIS REx spacecraft is about to become the first American spacecraft to grab a piece of an asteroid and bring it back to Earth.
During its many months of orbiting and analysing the asteroid, the spacecraft found signs that the asteroid might contain water and organic compounds.
Nasa’s OSIRIS REx spacecraft has been orbiting around asteroid Bennu for almost two years and is scheduled to grab a sample from the 500-meter-wide space rock on October 20.
Having spent months analyzing the composition and surface of the asteroid, the spacecraft is now ready to fold up its solar panels, unfold its sampling arm, and slowly descend to touch the asteroid’s surface.
When its probe touches the surface, it will blow high-pressure nitrogen gas into the soil, stirring up loose material. A filter within the sample head will trap rocks and dirt, while allowing the gas to escape into space.
...
- Title
- NASA & ESA to Slam Spaceship Into Asteroid for Planetary Defense Mission
- Runtime
- 2:32
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — NASA and the European Space Agency plan to stage a planetary defense mission called the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment, or AIDA, collaboration, beginning in 2021.
The mission will hit and study the Didymos pair, a near-Earth asteroid orbited by a smaller moon called Dimorphos. The larger asteroid is about 780 meters, or 0.48 miles, in diameter. The smaller body is 163 meters in diameter, or 535 feet.
The binary system is not on a collision course with Earth. Instead, it is being targeted to provide a baseline for planning planetary defence strategies if a real threat were to occur, including how much force is needed to shift the orbit of an incoming asteroid.
NASA’s component of the mission is an asteroid impactor called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, which will launch in a window opening on July 22, 2021. It will reach the Didymos system in late September of 2022.
The European Space Agency...
- Title
- Asteroid to Make ‘Near Earth’ Approach at 56,080mph
- Runtime
- 2:33
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- PASADENA, CALIFORNIA — A half-kilometer-wide asteroid named (153201) 2000 WO107 will zoom past Earth on Nov. 29, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
It will be one of the biggest asteroids to pass near Earth in 2020. Travelling at speeds of 90,252 kilometers per hour or 56,080 miles per hour, it will also be one of the fastest.
2000 WO107 is estimated to be about 510 meters wide. Its orbital period is similar to Earth’s, taking 318 days to orbit our Sun. But its orbit is highly elliptical, coming as close as 0.20 AU and reaching as far as 1.62 AU from the Sun.
According to NASA’s Asteroid Watch, 2000 WO107 will pass Earth at a distance that is 11.19 times more than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. On subsequent flybys it will come even closer, eventually passing at about half the Earth-Moon distance on Dec. 1, 2140.
SOURCES: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, EarthSky...
- Title
- Megalodon Reached 50 Feet Because of ‘Cannibalism in Womb’
- Runtime
- 2:14
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — Scientists have calculated that the prehistoric — and thankfully extinct — megalodon shark could have grown much bigger than previously estimated.
According to a study led by paleobiologist Kenshu Shimada of DePaul University in Chicago, some megalodon sharks could have grown to as long as 15 meters.
That’s 50 feet, or twice the length of a double-decker bus. At this length the ocean monster would have weighed close to a 100 tons.
Previous estimates of the megalodon’s length put it at about 33 feet, or 10 meters, based on fossilised teeth, but the new study says that estimate was too low.
Shimada’s research team said the new estimate of up to 15 meters was made after a more accurate equation was applied, based on the size sharks can grow to today if they develop in favorable water temperatures.
The findings of the DePaul University research team have been published in the journal Histori...
- Title
- How CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing Works: Animated Explainer
- Runtime
- 5:39
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- STOCKHOLM — The 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to two women who developed CRISPR/Cas9, a tool that allows scientists to cut parts of the genome like a pair of molecular scissors.
Emmanuelle Charpentier, 51, and Jennifer A. Doudna, 56, were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday, Oct. 7, becoming only the sixth and seventh women ever to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry and the first all-female team to win the award, according to Science Magazine.
Charpentier is the Founding, Scientific and Managing Director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin. Doudna is a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley.
This animation explains how the CRISPR/Cas9 method for gene editing works.
SOURCES: The Nobel Prize, Science Magazine, The Harvard Gazette
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/press-release/
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry...
- Title
- Trump’s Coronavirus Treatment Explained
- Runtime
- 6:14
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump announced early on the morning of Friday, Oct. 2, that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, had tested positive for coronavirus.
Speaking to the press, Trump’s doctors and the White House confirmed that the president has received a number of different treatments for COVID-19, including investigational drugs.
This animation explains the medications Trump’s doctors say the president has been taking.
- Title
- New Space Telescope Shows Alien Planet’s Bizarre Behavior
- Runtime
- 2:16
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- TORREJÓN DE ARDOZ, SPAIN — Since its launch in December 2019, Europe’s Cheops space telescope has gathered some very interesting information about a very strange planet, far outside our solar system. The Cheops space telescope is basically a satellite that orbits 700km above earth, and it’s packed with sensitive optical equipment.
The first extra-solar planet that Cheops has focused on is called WASP-189b. This planet was first detected in 2018. It’s a gas giant like Jupiter and it’s situated 322 light-years away. That’s more than 3000 trillion kilometers from earth.
Cheops found that WASP-189b is about 22,400 kilometers in diameter. That’s almost 18 times larger than Earth, and 1,6 times larger than Jupiter. At the same time, this large planet orbits much closer to its star. Where it takes Earth 365 days to orbit our sun, this faraway planet takes only 2,7 Earth days to orbit its huge star.
The star around which this exo-planet or...
- Title
- Meteor Killed Dinosaurs With Dust, Not Wildfires, Study Finds
- Runtime
- 5:28
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- CHICXULUB, MEXICO — Scientists previously believed that the giant meteor that hit Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula killed off the dinosaurs by igniting massive wildfires up to thousands of miles away.
It was believed that, 66 million years ago, these wildfires caused the thick haze that theoretically covered the earth and blocked out the sun, causing cooling and starvation of plants and animals.
However, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found evidence that suggests the mass extinction was caused by a different mechanism, which was also caused by the massive impact that created the Chicxulub crater.
The team of scientists analyzed sediment samples from within the Chicxulub crater and from other ocean sites near the crater.
In their analysis, the researchers focused on hydrocarbons called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can provide evidence of the sources of black carbon.
T...
- Title
- Did Turkey Shoot Down an Armenian Su-25 Warplane?
- Runtime
- 6:40
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- YEREVAN, ARMENIA — The Turkish government has denied claims by the Armenian defense ministry that one of its F-16s shot down an Armenian warplane, Reuters reports, citing Turkey’s communications director Fahrettin Altun.
Fighting erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Sunday, Sept. 27 over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Nagorno-Karabakh lies inside Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians backed by the Armenian government since the 1988-94 war between the two former Soviet republics. Armenia also controls Azeri territory connecting the region to Armenia.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, an Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman said a Turkish F-16 jet shot down an Armenian Su-25 ground attack plane 60 kilometers inside Armenia proper, killing its pilot. The Drive’s War Zone blog reports that Armenia did not provide substantial evidence of the loss of an Su-25 or the presence of a Turkish F-16 in the area.
The War Zone cited specu...
- Title
- Mystery of Elephant Mass Die-off Finally Uncovered
- Runtime
- 1:42
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- OKAVANGO PANHANDLE, BOTSWANA — Botswana is a country known for its pure African landscapes filled with most of Africa's most impressive animals.
The country boasts huge national parks filled with a large number of animals like lions, hippos, crocodiles, hyenas, and also hundreds of elephants.
However, something had recently killed almost 400 of the country's elephants. And this time it wasn't poachers.
Botswana conservationists call it one of the biggest disasters to impact elephants this century, and it happened right in the middle of one of Africa’s top tourism destinations.
According to the BBC, investigations into the disaster had been severely hampered by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Scientists have been trying to find out what caused so many elephants to die in such a short time, and now they have found the culprit.
More than two months after the mass die-off was discovered, investigations have now finally reveale...
- Title
- Water on Mars: Network of Lakes Found Beneath Surface
- Runtime
- 8:00
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- ROME — Scientists have found a network of salty liquid water lakes on Mars beneath the planet’s south pole, according to new research published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.
An international team examined radar data from MARSIS, short for Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding. This instrument on the Mars Express orbiter bounces radio waves off the surface and measures their echoes to image geological structures.
Two years ago, these investigations revealed a subglacial lake 1.5 kilometers below the surface. The lake is in a region called Ultimi Scopuli near the red planet's south pole and measures about 20 kilometers across. Further investigations and analysis of new data from Mars Express have found three additional salty lakes, each a few kilometers wide.
This water would likely be saturated with salts, which would keep it liquid at temperatures as low as 150 degrees Kelvin. Life exists in subglacial lakes on E...
- Title
- New Hydrogen Planes Will Leave Only Water in Their Wake
- Runtime
- 2:23
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS — Airbus has unveiled a groundbreaking project to develop three new planes that will run on hydrogen and leave only water vapor in their wake. One of these zero-emission planes will also feature a revolutionary blended-wing design, while the other two would be conventionally shaped airplanes with game-changing hydrogen engines.
Currently, jet engines — like less powerful turboprop engines — use a highly flammable fossil fuel called kerosene. Kerosene is made from oil and is injected directly into jet engines, where it explodes, heating and expanding air that has been compressed by the engine.
This explosive process creates enormous thrust, which pushes huge airplanes forward at very high speeds. Unfortunately, kerosene is a fossil fuel, so it produces a lot of greenhouse gases like CO2 when it burns, creating quite a lot of air pollution.
For these revolutionary new planes, Airbus plans to develop a gas-turbine engine th...
- Title
- New Mass Extinction That Helped Dinosaurs Rise to Power Discovered
- Runtime
- 1:29
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- WUHAN, CHINA — Scientists say they have evidence that points to a cataclysmic mass extinction event that helped the dinosaurs to rise to dominance.
The theory states that the Carnian Pluvial extinction event was triggered by a massive volcanic eruption that lasted 5 million years.
This is called the Wrangellian Eruption, which happened around 234 million years ago in an area that is now western Canada.
This 5-million-year-long eruption piled lava up to 6 kilometers high and caused the Earth's atmosphere to become 3 to 10 degrees warmer.
Eventually, this global warming heated the oceans — and the ocean water evaporated much faster, causing 2 million years of incessant rain across the planet.
Scientists call this 2 million years of rain the Carnian Pluvial Event. They say this over-abundance of rain turned the Earth from a dry shrubland into a wet hothouse filled with rain forests.
The extreme humidity an...
- Title
- How Britain’s Coronavirus App Works
- Runtime
- 7:31
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- LONDON — England and Wales launched an app for tracking and tracing the coronavirus on Thursday, September 24, BBC News reports.
The NHS COVID-19 app is available for smartphones running Android 6.0 or iOS 13.5 and Bluetooth 4.0 or higher. It is not available for tablets or other devices.
It can be downloaded from the Google Play or Apple's App Store.
When two phones running the app are close to each other, they exchange anonymous Bluetooth keys. The distance and duration of the contact is measured in five-minute intervals.
The NHS app will regularly check a database of anonymous keys for nearby positive tests. If someone tests positive, they will be given a unique PIN which they can enter into their phone to register the test result. If an app user is assessed as having been in a “high-risk encounter” with someone who tested positive, they will be notified and asked to self-isolate.
However, the system is not perfe...
- Title
- Walmart Is Using Drones to Deliver COVID Tests to Homes
- Runtime
- 5:21
- Date posted
- 6 years ago
- Description
- NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — Walmart on Tuesday, September 22 announced it is testing contactless drone delivery of “at home Covid-19 self-collection kits,” the retail giant’s latest drone-delivery project.
Walmart is working with Quest Diagnostics, which makes the tests, and DroneUp, a drone services provider, to launch trial deliveries of collection kits.
Walmart senior vice president of customer product, Tom Ward, said in a company announcement Tuesday that the kits will be delivered “on the driveway, front sidewalk, or backyard of the customer’s home, depending on where there are cars and trees.
The trial started at a Walmart Supercenter in North Las Vegas on Tuesday. It will expand to a Walmart Supercenter in Cheektowaga, New York early next month.
Participating customers must live in a single-family residence within a one-mile radius of one of the two Walmart stores.
Earlier this month, Walmart announced dr...
