In The News: College of Sciences
The universe is an infinite abyss filled with curiosities that have been puzzling humankind since we first craned our necks to the moonlit sky. Among these mysteries, the origins and mergers of supermassive black holes hold a special place. Imagine a celestial entity with mass a million times that of the sun, tucked away in the center of a galaxy. That’s not just any old space mystery – it’s one of the grandest enigmas of the cosmos.
The Big Basin Redwood State Park in Santa Cruz, California, is home to some of the tallest and oldest redwood trees on Earth. The towering trees reach heights of over 300 feet (91 m) and have an incredibly thick bark. This natural armor usually protects their upper branches and needles from wildfire damage. However, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire that burned 97 percent of the park in August 2020, was so intense that it even scorched these ancient giants.
Earth has one of the most interesting weather systems. Its atmosphere is ideal for moving hot and cold air around, and a hydrological cycle allows for precipitation. But throughout our solar system, there are other planets that have more extreme and also fascinating weather patterns worth exploring.
Lightly frosted with snow, the peaks of Red Butte look particularly beautiful today, remarks Dianna Sue White Dove Uqualla, an elder of the Havasupai Tribe. This land near the south rim of the Grand Canyon is sacred to her people as the place where their creation story says life began. It was once a hub of ceremony and prayer, but tribal members rarely visit now—not since the Pinyon Plain Mine started to extract uranium just 10 kilometers away.
We’re interested in the moon because it’s close enough to Earth to allow us to practice setting up a base camp in preparation for Mars. In fact, Artemis III will send the first crewed spacecraft to the moon’s South Pole to set up camp by 2034.
Three years after a wildfire burned 97% of California's Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the forest — or at least several parts of it — is making a remarkable resurgence. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported on the new developments in the park, citing researchers who spoke at a scientific symposium hosted by environmental nonprofit Santa Cruz Mountains Bioregional Council.
Three years after a wildfire burned 97% of California's Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the forest — or at least several parts of it — is making a remarkable resurgence. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported on the new developments in the park, citing researchers who spoke at a scientific symposium hosted by environmental nonprofit Santa Cruz Mountains Bioregional Council.
When Earth and our moon were much closer together than they are now, the duo could have had tiny companions, or a disk revolving around them in orbits around the pair's poles, a new study finds. These findings suggest that similar moonlets could orbit distant exoplanets and their moons, researchers said.
Researchers in China claimed to have captured a ray from the biggest explosion since the Big Bang. A new study done by a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences suggests that a massive cosmic explosion, possibly the largest since the Big Bang, occurred when matter and antimatter collided at nearly the speed of light.
Drylands, found across every continent, cover about 45% of the Earth's land surface and support 38% of the human population. In these regions, precipitation is low and evaporation rates are typically high, leading to an arid or semi-arid climate. Due to scarce water resources and sparse vegetation, drylands present formidable challenges for agriculture and human habitation. As the climate continues to warm, drylands are rapidly expanding.
Researchers in China claimed to have captured a ray from the biggest explosion since the Big Bang. A new study done by a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences suggests that a massive cosmic explosion, possibly the largest since the Big Bang, occurred when matter and antimatter collided at nearly the speed of light.
As Nevada prepares for the next few years of its lithium boom, a new study is drawing attention to what's at stake: water. Lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries, is considered a critical mineral for the transition from fossil fuels to greener energy sources. Only one lithium mine is fully operational in the country, in the Silver Peak mountain range in Nevada’s Esmeralda County.