On September 26, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission made history by intentionally colliding with the asteroid Dimorphos, significantly altering both its orbital period and physical shape. This is the first time humanity has purposefully altered the motion of a celestial object, as well as the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.
A new study published in The Astrophysical Journal has provided a complete physical image of the anomalous heating in the upper atmosphere of the Sun, solving one of the eight challenges in modern astronomy.
A study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences has unveiled the unprecedented nature of an anticyclonic anomaly over Northeast Asia in July 2021, which played a key role in both the extreme precipitation in Henan Province, China and a severe marine heat wave in Japan Sea. This phenomenon resulted in significant ecological and economic impacts, including the deaths of 380 people in Zhengzhou and record-breaking losses to Japan’s coastal fisheries.
A recent study challenges the prevailing hypothesis that subducted seamounts are weakly coupled and slide aseismically, suggesting instead that they act as strong asperities causing significant earthquakes. Through modeling and analysis, researchers have debunked the weak asperity model, providing a new explanation for the source of historical tsunami earthquakes along the southern Japan Trench, including the 1677 M8.3–8.6 Enpo Boso-oki event.
Researchers at the International Centre for Earth Simulation Foundation, led by Max Wyss, have developed the Earthquake Fatality Load (EQFL), a new metric for assessing the impact of earthquakes by focusing on human fatalities relative to a country’s population.
A recent study by the University of Oulu, Finland, has revealed a significant connection between the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, and variations in winter temperatures and electricity consumption in Finland, highlighting the role of energetic particle precipitation in affecting regional climate and energy demands.
The Italian Space Agency (ASI) announced the discovery of a rare meteorite containing aluminum-copper alloy quasicrystals in Mount Gariglione, Calabria, marking a significant advancement in planetary sciences.
A new study published in Science Advances by René M. Van Westen, Michael Kliphuis, and Henk A. Dijkstra on February 9, 2024, unveils a physics-based early warning signal indicating the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is on a tipping course towards collapse.
Researchers from Penn State and Brown University have uncovered how rocks from ancient subduction zones can forecast tectonic behaviors between significant earthquakes, enhancing our ability to predict such natural disasters.
A group of geoscientists have recently challenged the conventional understanding of continental formation by presenting evidence that the origins of continents can be explained by internal geological forces alone, without initiating plate tectonics. The study highlights the role of oceanic plateaus in the early Earth’s crustal development.
