Wally

The rate at which carbon is now accumulating in the atmosphere appears to be without precedent in the geological record. That makes it hard to find situations analogous to the current changing climate. Likely the closest analog occurred over 55 million years ago and has been termed the Paleocene/Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). During the PETM, there was a geologically rapid change in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, which was followed by an equally sudden change in temperatures. The change upset ecosystems across the planet and led to a major extinction event in the oceans. While these features are relatively easy to determine from the geological and fossil records, there's one major aspect of the PETM that has remained uncertain: where the carbon came from. While various plausible ideas have been floated, there was no definitive evidence backing up any of them. A few years back, a couple of researchers from Rutgers University suggested that the carbon literally showed up from … [Read more...] about Researchers push argument that comet caused ancient climate change

Physicists at York University in Toronto have spent the last eight years meticulously conducting a sensitive experiment to measure the charge radius of the proton in hopes of resolving conflicting values obtained by several similar experiments performed over the last decade. That conundrum has been dubbed the "proton radius puzzle." The new results, published in a new paper in Science, confirm a 2010 finding that the proton is significantly smaller than scientists previously believed. Most popularizations discussing the structure of the atom rely on the much-maligned Bohr model, in which electrons move around the nucleus in circular orbits. It's fine as a gateway drug to physics, so to speak, but quantum mechanics gives us a much more precise (albeit weirder) description. The electrons aren't really orbiting the nucleus; they are technically waves that take on particle-like properties when we do an experiment to determine their position. While orbiting an atom, they exist in a … [Read more...] about Physics not “broken” after all? We’re close to resolving proton radius puzzle

I'm surprised it has taken this long for Tom Cruise to tank an otherwise decent film. His Scientology-related controversies haven't been followed by any big film failures—far from it, considering that he has multiple decent Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher films under his belt at this point. So I went into his reboot of The Mummy hoping Cruise would continue his surprising streak of floating atop incredible action setpieces and delightful ensemble casts. Not so much. In fact, Cruise is the primary reason this first entry in the Dark Universe stinks, and he drags an otherwise fine-to-solid film down to his underwhelming level. Hangin’ at The Max Cruise's smartest move in recent years has been to pass the "characters with actual personality" buck to castmates, but The Mummy doesn't afford him this luxury. Cruise stars as Nathan Drake—er, I mean, Nick Morton, a globe-trotting, double-crossing treasure hunter. (His opening-scene … [Read more...] about Don’t change your plans to not see