your science briefing for 01.31.2025
Watching planets getting eaten by stars, why our oceans are heating up so quickly, the search for the world's oldest butthole, and more...
Perhaps one of the most surprising discoveries in astronomy was that of Hot Jupiters, gas giants orbiting so close to their stars, their orbital periods are measured in days. It upended our ideas of how solar systems can form, and showed us just how often the gravitational interactions between young planets can send them flying away into the dark void of interstellar space to become rogue worlds, or send them spiraling to their doom into their parent stars. Now, we’re studying what happens in their final days as they’re consumed by the stellar infernos… (Universe Today)
Norway is famous for picturesque villages with breathtaking views, salmon, being cold and dark, and vast oil and natural gas reserves which helped its sovereign wealth fund balloon to over $1.7 trillion. But in its bid to transition away from a petro-economy, the country is rapidly transitioning to all electric vehicles and is close to making gasoline powered cars obsolete in its new auto market… (CNBC)
As our planet continues to get warmer, basically speed-running our way to reenacting full blown mass extinction, our reflectivity is dropping as glaciers and polar ice melts. And as more light is being trapped, our oceans are rapidly warming, which means we are on track for more devastating storms that will cause trillions of dollars in damage and accelerated warming… (Grist)
Who knew that putting a weird anti-vaccine zealot in charge of vaccination schedules would result in absurd edicts like demanding vaccination schedules based on race, as well as potentially eliminating critical shots from the required list, rather than science, evidence, and logistical ease for both doctors and patients? Just a very exclusive and small club known as everyone paying attention… (Yahoo)
Look, there’s no delicate way to put this. Some people are just really into buttholes, as a certain very popular section of every porn site will attest to. And scientists are not an exception to this interest, although in this case, their anal fixation is not on humans but comb jellyfish. You see, these comb jellies have been around for 700 million years, making them some of the oldest animals to exist. It also turns out that they don’t use their mouths as excretory organs either, but actually have a mouth and an anus. This means studying them can yield genetic and biomechanical insights into how our guts evolved, and better understand our gut biomes… (Atlas Obscura)