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Astronomers Uncover New Evidence of Baby Planet in the Making

Lead Image: Artist’s illustration of a small Saturn-like planet discovered in the system LkCa 15. The planet resides within dense rings of dust and gas that surround a bright yellow star. Material accumulates in a clump and arc-shape, about 60 degrees away from the planet. Note: This illustration is not to scale. Credit: M.Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian A new technique has been developed by astronomers to identify small planets hidden in protoplanetary disks. According to astronomers and astrophysicists, planets are born in protoplanetary disks — rings of dust and gas that surround young, newborn stars. Although hundreds…

Risk of a Catastrophic Volcano Eruption Is Startlingly High – And the World Is “Woefully Unprepared”

Experts believe a magnitude seven volcano eruption would cause damages comparable to the pandemic. Experts say that the risk of a catastrophic eruption is “a roll of the dice”. According to experts from the University of Birmingham and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge, the world is “woefully underprepared” for a catastrophic volcanic eruption and its expected effects on global supply networks, the climate, and food. They claim that there is a “broad misconception” that the likelihood of massive eruptions is low and call the government’s current lack of investment in monitoring…

Stanford Scientists Discover Crucial Missing Component of Sea-Level Rise

Lead Image: Researchers have identified an additional process that could have a significant effect on an ice sheet’s future: thawing of the bed, where the ice sheet touches land. Scientists seeking to understand how melting ice in Antarctica will impact the planet’s oceans often use computational modeling. Their recent efforts have focused on ice-sheet geometry, fracture, and surface melting – processes that could potentially trigger or accelerate ice-sheet mass loss. Now, an additional process that could have a similarly significant effect on the ice sheet’s future has been identified by researchers: thawing of the bed, known as basal thaw, at…

A Biodiversity Crisis: Food Webs Worldwide Are Collapsing

Lead Image: An illustration depicts the lost animal diversity of central Colombia. Credit: Oscar Sanisidro/University of Alcalá The scale of the biodiversity crisis is shown by recreating 130,000 years of mammal food webs. A recent study, published in the journal Science, provides the clearest picture yet of the long-term effects of land mammal declines on food webs. It’s not a pretty sight. “While about 6% of land mammals have gone extinct in that time, we estimate that more than 50% of mammal food web links have disappeared,” said ecologist Evan Fricke, lead author of the study. “And the mammals most likely to…

Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to a Dramatically Increased Risk of Dementia

Lead Image: They discovered that substituting ultra-processed foods with healthy foods such as fresh fruit was associated with a 19% decreased incidence of dementia. The study also found that replacing these foods with healthier options can lower your risk of dementia. According to recent research published in the journal Neurology, those who consume the highest amounts of ultra-processed foods, such as soft drinks, chips, and cookies, may have a greater chance of developing dementia than those who consume the lowest amount. Researchers also discovered that substituting ultra-processed foods for unprocessed or minimally processed foods in a person’s diet was connected…