Cool Science

For a long time, predicting the future has been known to be almost impossible. In fact, apart from weather forecasting, the task of predicting future events has largely been left to fortunetellers, who have seemed to delight in the fact that little progress has been made by scientists in this field.

However, a recent study published in February could prove to be a groundbreaking study in the search for a scientific formula for examining imminent system collapse. This study seeks to ascertain when a system of a certain level of complexity is headed towards collapse.Using math principles, the research tries to help people to get an understanding of systems even when there is little data available to make any complex computations.Perhaps the background of a study of this nature would have to be the apparently numerous ecological systems and other systems that seem to be collapsing at an unprecedented rate. The need to have a scientific manner of analyzing system collapse is perhaps at its highest now. Continue Reading

The North Star, also known as Polaris, is slowly losing its mass and shrinking. After 160 years of monitoring the star which has been used for navigation purposes since the early days of human civilization, scientists have concluded that it is indeed becoming smaller each year.

Polaris is a pulsating star, which means that it runs through a cycle, becoming brighter and dimmer over a standard amount of time. In the case of Polaris, it has been a four day long cycle. Since detailed analysis and documentation began on the North Star more than 160 years ago, the so-called pulse of the star has slowed by 12 minutes. By simple calculations, this means that the star reaches its peak brightness 4.5 seconds slower each year during its four day pulse cycle. Continue Reading

One concept that eludes all scientists is the black hole because it is of heavy mass and it is believed to absorb everything that comes in its way. Scientists have discovered a new thing that shows that very soon astronomical crackers are going to burst as a mass of cloud and gas is heading towards the center of the galaxy Milky Way where the black hole is believed to be there.

The name of the black hole as kept by scientist is Sagittarius A*. It has weight as compared to the 4 Million solar weights. The distance between this black hole and our earth is about 27,000 light years. Sun is believed have a turnaround time of around 230 Million years in the orbit around the black hole but there is another star which has a turnaround time of around 16 years. Max plank institute of extraterrestrial physics in Germany has been keeping a close tab on the black hole and its surroundings. Continue Reading

Google Earth Satellite images are available to anyone with computer access. For many years, meteorologists have utilized satellite images to predict weather. Global Positioning System (GPS) devices use satellites to ascertain a certain geographical location. With Google Earth satellite images, scientists can observe objects, landmarks, animal populations, and remote areas all over the world for their research.

One recent scientific study involved an analysis of grazing halos, around the Great Barrier Reef, that were discovered via satellite images. Grazing halos are rings of sand in the ocean, where the vegetation has been stripped bare due to over-grazing by the local marine life. The study was completed by marine biologist Dr. Elizabeth Madin and her team from University of Technology, in Sydney, Australia. The research was conducted at Heron Island, in the Great Barrier Reef. The focus of the study was to observe the behavior of the marine life on the reef to determine why they did not venture far from the reef to forage for food. The scientists hypothesized that fear of predators limited their search for food and led to over-grazing.

The research team determined that the herbivores living in the coral would only forage in areas where shelter could be quickly obtained. As the distance from the reef was increased, their shelter decreased, ergo the decimation of the vegetation decreased and the vegetation canopy increased. The scientist concluded that their research did confirm the hypothesis. The herbivore marine life caused the halos because of their fear of predators. They would only graze in a safe area close to the reef. This discovery and research were all made possible because of the Google Earth satellite images.

Satellite-image-based research is an important new tool that is beneficial to the public and to scientists in all genres. Studying the satellite images over a period of time could reveal important changes in the Earth’s ecosystems. Monitoring the migration habits, of various land and sea animals, could also be accomplished by satellite image tracking. Satellite images are available, free-of-charge on Google Earth to anyone, anytime, or anywhere on the Earth. All that is needed is to access Google Earth. The possibilities, for satellite image-based research, are unlimited!

In the absence of gravity, surface tension dominates the physics of fluids. Here, in an image taken on the International Space Station, it causes water to extend from a metal loop as if it were stirred by an invisible spoon. Continue Reading