Plastic debris in the marine environment is well known and widely documented, but the quantity of plastic making its way into the world’s oceans and from where it originates has been a mystery until now.A new study published today in the journal Science, quantifie
The small eastern European nation of Croatia has decided to let Christmas come early for its poorest citizens: Under a new initiative aimed at giving them a fresh start, the government is wiping out their debts, leaving some observers to relate the move to an ancient Bi
After a few days of delay, the Deep Space Climate Observatory or DSCOVR was finally launched at 23:03 UTC on Wednesday, February 11, 2015.DSCOVR was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and
New activity was observed at 9 volcanoes from February 4 – 10, 2015. During the same period, ongoing activity was observed also at 9 volcanoes.New activity/unrest: Colima, Mexico | Fuego, Guatemala | Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) | Klyuchevskoy, Central Kamchatka
February 11, 2015 marks five years in space for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which provides incredibly detailed images of the whole Sun 24 hours a day.Capturing an image more than once per second, SDO has provided an unprecedentedly clear picture of how massiv
A very strong and deep earthquake measuring M6.7 hit Jujuy, Argentina at 18:57 UTC on February 11, 2015. USGS is reporting depth of 190.8 km (118.5 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.6 at a depth of 180 km (111 miles).Epicenter was located 93 km (58 mi) W of El Aguilar, 128 k
Bright lights and sonic booms in the night sky above North Island, New Zealand have been reported on February 11, 2015.The event, which illuminated the sky and later shook doors and windows, happened around 22:00 local time (09:00 UTC). Descriptions of the light ranged
Seismic waves are helping scientists to plumb the world’s deepest mystery: the planet’s inner core.Thanks to a novel application of earthquake-reading technology, a research team at the University of Illinois and colleagues at Nanjing University in China hav
A huge solar filament is facing Earth today and, if it doesn't erupt, will continue to do so in the coming days. Stretched out, it would be more than 857 780 km or 533 000 miles long, which is more than 67 Earth diameters. Image below shows this filament as…
The US Midwest and surrounding states have endured increasingly more frequent flood episodes over the past half-century, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Iowa.The UI researchers based their findings on daily records collected by the USGS at
