The magnetic north pole is moving, causing navigation issues
cbc.ca – In recent decades, the Earth's magnetic north pole has drifted rapidly from Canada's coast toward Russia, causing navigation issues. That has prompted the U.S. military to ask scientists to compensate for its changing position.
Source: Alexandra Witze. Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why. Nature, 2019.
Antarctica Is Dumping Hundreds of Gigatons of Ice into the Ocean Right Now
livescience.com – Antarctica is losing ice six times faster than it was four decades ago. That’s not good for our oceans.
Source: Eric Rignot, et al. Four decades of Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance from 1979–2017. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
Alien theories natural after mysterious signals, say scientists
theguardian.com – Fast radio bursts have caused more suspicion about extraterrestrial activity
Source: A second source of repeating fast radio bursts. Nature, 2019.
Broadcasting from Deep Space, a Mysterious Series of Radio Signals
nytimes.com – Astronomers have identified a second set of odd radio bursts from the distant universe. Aliens probably aren’t causing it, but what is?
Source: Observations of fast radio bursts at frequencies down to 400 megahertz. Nature, 2019.
Older People Shared Fake News on Facebook More Than Others in 2016 Race, Study Says
nytimes.com – Users aged 65 and older posted seven times as many articles from fake news sites as adult users 29 and younger, a study published this week found.
Source: Andrew Guess, Jonathan Nagler, Joshua Tucker. Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook. Science Advances, 2019.
A skeleton's blue teeth represent a 'bombshell' discovery for women's history
mashable.com – An ancient woman's teeth held the clues.
Source: A. Radini, et al. Medieval women’s early involvement in manuscript production suggested by lapis lazuli identification in dental calculus. Science Advances, 2019.
Want to improve kids’ test scores? Help them reduce their anxiety, researchers say
zmescience.com – It's a simple thing that can make a big difference -- especially for low-income children.
Source: Christopher S. Rozek, Gerardo Ramirez, Rachel D. Fine, Sian L. Beilock. Reducing socioeconomic disparities in the STEM pipeline through student emotion regulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
Research showing steeper increases in ocean heat is not exactly new. So what's up with all those headlines?
discovermagazine.com – There's been good evidence that the oceans were heating up faster than thought. Now, scientists have fitted the puzzle pieces together.
Source: Lijing Cheng, John Abraham, Zeke Hausfather, Kevin E. Trenberth. How fast are the oceans warming?. Science, 2019.
NASA's New World-hunting Satellite Just Found Two More Exoplanets
discovermagazine.com – TESS has found two intriguing and newfound planets orbiting a small star some 50 light-years away.
Source: Diana Dragomir, et al. The Longest Period TESS Planet Yet: A Sub-Neptune Transiting A Bright, Nearby K Dwarf Star. arXiv, 2018.
The Ocean Is Hotter Than It's Ever Been
livescience.com – The ocean is the hottest it's ever been, and no, this is not normal.
Source: Laure Zanna, Samar Khatiwala, Jonathan M. Gregory, Jonathan Ison, Patrick Heimbach. Global reconstruction of historical ocean heat storage and transport. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019.
