NASA: "Giant Mars Volcano and Earth's Dinosaurs Went Extinct About the Same Time"

 

"We estimate that the peak activity for the volcanic field at the summit of Arsia Mons probably occurred approximately 150 million years ago--the late Jurassic period on Earth--and then died out around the same time as Earth's dinosaurs," said Jacob Richardson, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It's possible, though, that the last volcanic vent or two might have been active in the past 50 million years, which is very recent in geological terms.

Law Controlling Bizarre Behavior of Black Holes --"Points to a Deeper Understanding of Realty"

 

 

A team of scientists has discovered that a law controlling the bizarre behavior of black holes out in space—is also true for cold helium atoms that can be studied in laboratories. "It's called an entanglement area law," says Adrian Del Maestro, a physicist at the University of Vermont who co-led the research. That this law appears at both the vast scale of outer space and at the tiny scale of atoms, "is weird," Del Maestro says, "and it points to a deeper understanding of reality."

Mars, The Ringed Planet? --"Had Them in the Distant Past and May Again With the Disintegration of Its Mystery Moon, Phobos"

 

 

It's possible that Mars had rings at one point and may have them again someday. That's the theory put forth by Purdue University scientists have developed a model that suggests that debris that was pushed into space from an asteroid or other body slamming into Mars around 4.3 billion years ago and alternates between becoming a planetary ring and clumping up to form a moon.

Source of Colossal Black Holes of the Early Universe Revealed --"A Cosmic Miracle!" (Today's Most Popular)

 

 

 

"It's a cosmic miracle," said Volker Bromm of The University of Texas at Austin, referring to the precise set of conditions present half a billion years after the Big Bang that allowed these behemoths to emerge. "It's the only time in the history of the universe when conditions are just right" for them to form.

StarTalk Radio with Neil DeGrasse Tyson --"SpaceX Founder Elon Musk Explores the Future of the Human Species"

 

 

 

Neil deGrasse Tyson explores the future of humanity with one of the men forging that future: billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors. Join us as Neil and Elon talk about NASA funding, getting humans excited for the colonization of Mars, and why Elon feels it’s important to not be stuck here on Earth.

NASA Astronomers: "Pluto is a Planet, So is Jupiter's 'Ocean' Moon Europa"

 

 

Johns Hopkins University scientist Kirby Runyon wants to make one thing clear: Regardless of what one prestigious scientific organization says to the contrary, Pluto is a planet. So, he says, is Europa, commonly known as a moon of Jupiter, and so is the Earth's moon, and so are more than 100 other celestial bodies in our solar system that are denied this status under the prevailing definition of "planet."

China Takes Giant Step Toward Launching Its Space Station --"Will It Replace the ISS When Its Retired in 2024?"

 

 

In 2024, China's space station will become operational at the same time when the International Space Station (ISS)  shown above will retire, according to its current plans on development. The ISS is the most well-known artificial science laboratory on a worldwide scale, but China is currently working on taking its place with a space-based science lab. It's currently unknown if China is going to be the only country in the world to detain such a facility by that time.

ESO --"Dark Matter Halos of Early Galaxies Much Larger and Diffuse" --Dominated By Normal Matter (VIDEO)

 

 

 

New observations indicate that massive, star-forming galaxies during the peak epoch of galaxy formation, 10 billion years ago, were dominated by baryonic or 'normal' matter. This is in stark contrast to present-day galaxies, where the effects of mysterious dark matter seem to be much greater. This surprising result was obtained using ESO's Very Large Telescope and suggests that dark matter was less influential in the early universe than it is today.

"Andromeda Once Flew Past Our Milky Way Galaxy At Close Range" --New Discovery Upends Einstein's Theory of Gravity

 

 

Einstein's theory of gravity may have to be rewritten, after researchers at the University of St Andrews found a gigantic ring of galaxies darting away from us much faster than predicted. This 10 million light year-wide ring made up of small galaxies is expanding rapidly like a mini Big Bang. The team believe our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, once flew past our own galaxy at close range, creating a sling-shot of several small galaxies.

Stellar Nursery Roars to Life --"An Intense, Dramatic Growth Spurt"

 

 

A massive protostar, deeply nestled in its dust-filled stellar nursery, recently roared to life, shining nearly 100 times brighter than before. This outburst, apparently triggered by an avalanche of star-forming gas crashing onto the surface of the star, supports the theory that young stars can undergo intense growth spurts that reshape their surroundings.