Troy Oakes

310 Million-Year-Old Tiny Footprints Found in Grand Canyon

Hundreds of hikers each day pass by the fallen boulder along the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park. It might otherwise go unnoticed except for the 28 indentations — sloping tiny footprints left behind by a small, reptile-like creature about 310 million years ago — that cover the rock’s expansive surface. Steve Rowland, ...

Troy Oakes

Evidence of Outburst Flooding Indicates Plentiful Water on Early Mars

The presence of water on early Mars has been theorized for centuries. Early telescopes revealed ice caps, and early astronomers noted channels that were hypothesized to be natural rivers or creature-created canals. Over the past two decades, rovers Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity have sent back invaluable data to scientists who are trying to interpret ...

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Astronomers Discover Giant That Shaped Our Milky Way

Some 10 billion years ago, the Milky Way merged with a large galaxy. The stars from this partner, named Gaia-Enceladus, make up most of the Milky Way’s halo and also shaped its thick disk, giving it its inflated form. A description of this mega-merger, discovered by an international team led by University of Groningen astronomer ...

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Fracking Wastewater Found in Freshwater Mussel Shells

Elevated concentrations of strontium, an element associated with oil and gas fracking wastewater, have accumulated in the shells of freshwater mussels downstream from fracking wastewater disposal sites, according to researchers from Penn State and Union College. Nathaniel Warner, assistant professor of environmental engineering at Penn State, said: “Freshwater mussels filter water and when they grow ...

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A freshwater mussel.

Researchers Confirm Earth’s Inner Core Is Solid

A new study by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) could help us understand how our planet was formed. Associate Professor Hrvoje Tkalčić and Ph.D. Scholar Thanh-Son Phạm are confident they now have direct proof the Earth’s inner core is solid. They came up with a way to detect shear waves, or “J waves,” ...

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New Research Finds 2 Types of Drought Across China and How They Evolve

Flash drought across China is a rapidly intensifying the water deficit process accompanied by high temperatures over a short period of time. Recently, heat extremes have become more frequent in a warming climate, and have substantially increased the occurrence of two types of flash drought, which threatens crop yields and water supply. Dr. Linying Wang ...

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Confirmed Collision Between 2 Milky Way Satellite Galaxies

If you’re standing in the Southern Hemisphere on a clear night, you can see two luminous clouds offset from the Milky Way. These clouds of stars are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, called the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Large Magellanic Cloud, or SMC and LMC. Using newly released data from a new, powerful ...

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A collision between two Milky Way satellite galaxies.

Study Reveals Not Enough Fruits, Vegetables Grown to Feed the Planet

If everyone on the planet wanted to eat a healthy diet, there wouldn’t be enough fruit and vegetables to feed the planet, according to a new University of Guelph study. A team of researchers compared global agricultural production with nutritionists’ consumption recommendations and found a drastic mismatch. Study co-author Prof. Evan Fraser, holder of the ...

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Mysterious Source of Banned Ozone-Depleting Substance Uncovered

A potent ozone-depleting substance from eastern China has been found as ongoing significant emissions by researchers from the University of Bristol. The compound, carbon tetrachloride, contributes to the destruction of the Earth’s ozone layer, which protects us from harmful ultraviolet radiation. As a result, the production of carbon tetrachloride has been banned throughout the world ...

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Q&A With the Scientists Behind OSIRIS-REx’s ‘Eyes’

Using its multipurpose camera designed at the UA, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spied its target asteroid for the first time from about 1.4 million miles away. How did the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft take the first image of the target asteroid Bennu? UANews spoke with three OSIRIS-REx mission scientists who planned the first-light image of Bennu: Bashar Rizk, senior staff scientist ...

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