New images from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile showed the massive “Pillars of Destruction” in the Carina Nebula, some 7,500 light years from Earth:
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The images revealed a “nursery” of new stars, which were wiping out the very clouds from which they formed.
“In an ironic twist, one of the first consequences of the formation of a massive star is that it starts to destroy the cloud from which it was born,” the ESO wrote in a news release.
That destruction led to scenes that looked like the cover of a 1960s psychedelic album. Some of the nicknames even sounded like the titles of those albums, such as the Mystic Mountain, a formation of gas and dust that spans more than three light years:
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ESOA McLeod
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On Nov. 14, skywatchers will be treated to a supermoon so big and bright that it’s being billed as a “super-dupermoon” or an “extra-supermoon.”
Supermoons aren’t especially uncommon, but this will be the nearest that a full moon has come to Earth since January 26, 1948. The full moon won’t get this close again until November 25, 2034.
The term supermoon refers to a full moon that occurs when our planet’s natural satellite is at its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit. Astronomers call that point perigee, and so “perigee moon” is another term for supermoon. (The point at which the moon is most distant from Earth in its orbit is known as apogee.)
A supermoon can appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than an apogee full moon, according to NASA. The effect is most pronounced when the moon is viewed near the horizon.
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pjsells via Getty Images
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Scientists believe they have gotten one step closer to cracking the mystery of Amelia Earhart’s 1937 disappearance.
Measurements indicate that a partial skeleton found on a remote Pacific island in 1940 could have belonged to the pilot, researchers with The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery announced on Oct. 22.
The bones’ potential connection to Earhart was dismissed at the time because a British doctor said they belonged to a male. It wasn’t until 1998 that TIGHAR reviewed the doctor’s records and determined that they appear “consistent with a female of Earhart’s height and ethnic origin.”
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Researchers believe measurements taken of skeletal remains found on a Pacific island are “virtually identical” to those of long-lost aviator Amelia Earhart.
When it comes to preventing pregnancy, there are plenty of contraceptive options — like birth control pills, implants and IUDs — designed for people with female reproductive systems. But for people with male reproductive systems? Sadly, not so much.
But that could change. An injectable contraceptive — the latest in a series of forays into birth control for people with penises — proved highly effective at preventing pregnancies in a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Despite various side effects — including mood disorders, acne and erectile dysfunction — a majority of the participants were happy with the birth control method, and said they’d use it if it were available.
“The study found it is possible to have a hormonal contraceptive for men that reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancies in the partners of men who use it,” researcher Mario Festin said, according to the BBC.
If the idea of deep space travel conjures up mental images of a winged shuttle — or simply a dusted-off Apollo capsule — your imagination could use a little recalibration.
Not since the Moon landing have humans ventured beyond “Low Earth Orbit.” That means, to travel beyond the Moon, considered by NASA to be “deep space,” you’d need a spacecraft that builds on the best of previous space programs while developing new systems.
Instead, you’d need something like NASA’s Orion spacecraft designed and built by Lockheed Martin.
Through this partnership, Orion will transport the first crewed mission to deep space within a year or two, and one day, it will support the first human exploration mission at Mars.
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The most-advanced-spacecraft
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With five more states voting on whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana come November, millions more Americans are closer than ever to being able to smoke pot freely and legally. This makes it a perfect time to take another look about some of the facts about marijuana’s effects.
Mic has done extensive reporting on the positive and negative effects of weed. For those interested in marijuana’s effects on the body — from your brain to your heart to your uterus.
We often use phrases or words that we don’t fully understand. Sometimes we even use words or phrases the meanings of which we are totally clueless. As people with a passion for words and language, that is generally not viewed as a desirable trait. Yet, the plain fact is we can’t have a detailed understanding of every word or phrase…particularly when the word belongs to the jargon of a larger body of knowledge.
However, when that jargon is in use as often and frequently as the phrases “Gen X” or “Baby Boomer”, it seems especially important we have some reasonably good idea of what these terms actually mean. Although these phrases, as jargon, stem from the larger discipline of demographics, and are used most frequently by market researchers, the fact is everybody uses these words and phrases. In effect, these cue words or phrases for the subcomponents of society demarcated by age are not only useful, but are generally the language used by non-demographers and society as a whole when discussing the current spectrum of population cohorts.
For most people, learning they have a 90 percent chance of developing cancer would be devastating. But for 17-year-old Casey Longstreet, it was a call to action.
“I’m not living in fear. I don’t want to live my life in fear. I want to go out and make a difference in this world,” Casey said.
Casey has a rare mutation of the TP53 gene — a gene that provides the body with instructions for suppressing tumors. Having this mutation gives her a chance of more than a 90 percent of developing cancer.
Her little brother, Tanner Longstreet, had the mutated gene, too. Tanner died from a glioblastoma brain tumor when he was 11.
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The Longstreet family (clockwise from top left): Greg, Marlo, Tanner and Casey. Photo courtesy of Marlo Longstreet
If a person is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, their loved ones don’t rush to write an obituary and plan a funeral. Likewise, species aren’t declared extinct until they actually are.
In a viral article entitled “Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016),” however, writer Rowan Jacobsen proclaimed ― inaccurately and, we can only hope, hyperbolically ― that Earth’s largest living structure is dead and gone.
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XL Catlin Seaview Survey via Associated Press
This photo on the left shows bleached coral at Lizard Island in March. The second image, taken in May, shows the same formation dead.
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This September ends with the eerily named black moon rising.
On Friday night, watch for this relatively rare lunar event ― something that hasn’t happened since March 2014, according to AccuWeather.
So you’re probably wondering what a black moon is. It actually has a few definitions. The one we’re using here is a second new moon in a calendar month ― not to be confused with a blue moon, which is the second full moon in a calendar month.
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Jeff Foott/Getty Images
This is a full moon — not a new moon, black or otherwise.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
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Generations X,Y, Z and the Others
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James' World 2 