Ancient Shipwrecks Discovered at Depths of Black Sea's Dead Zone Perfectly Preserved After Thousands of YearsJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science The Black Sea Maritime Project (MAP)—a two-year investigation of Bulgaria’s Black Sea waters—involved local and international experts who found 60 previously lost shipwrecks spanning 2,500 years in the history of a coastline that has been port to many of Europe’s major empires. Dozens of old ships lie preserved in low-oxygen waters off the coast of Bulgaria, where ships from the Roman Empire, Byzantium and Ottoman ports once docked. The composition of the Black Sea makes it a perfect environment for preserving relics because its anoxic layer prevents the sort of damage that oxygenated water causes to wood, metals and other materials. 'We Get Out Here and Disrupt.' More Than 140 People Arrested Amid Protests in St. LouisJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Protests shut down businesses and large corporate offices Wildlife pays the price of Kenya's illegal grazingJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Months of invasions by sometimes armed semi-nomadic herders, and tens of thousands of their livestock, have had a disastrous impact on the wildlife of a region heralded as a conservation success story. African wild dogs, elephants, buffalo, lions, giraffes, zebra and antelope have all been affected by shooting, starvation and disease, or by being forced out of their usual habitats. Canine distemper, a virus most likely caught from the pastoralists' attendant mongrels, has wiped out scores of endangered wild dogs, including all seven packs studied by Ngatia, an ecologist at Laikipia's Mpala Research Centre. Bill Gates: More Tech Revolutions Are Coming, And They'll Change Everything We KnowJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science An essay by Bill Gates on the revolutionary ideas that will transform the next century. These Two Black Holes Orbiting Each Other Are Surprisingly Close to EarthJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science The pair of supermassive black holes each weighs more than a million times the mass of our sun. Internal watchdog says EPA mismanaging toxic site cleanupsJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science WASHINGTON (AP) — Cleanups at some U.S. hazardous waste sites have stopped or slowed down because the Environmental Protection Agency does not manage its Superfund staff effectively to match its workload, an internal government watchdog said Tuesday. Giant antennas in New Mexico search for cosmic discoveriesJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Astronomers are using an array of giant antennas in the New Mexico desert for a years-long project aimed at producing the sharpest view ever of such a large portion of the sky using radio waves. Scenes From Mexico's Devastating EarthquakeJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Photos show the devastating impact of the deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake that rattled Mexico City, killing more than 220 people Pence presses Myanmar, U.N. to end Rohingya violenceJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, politics Vice President Mike Pence pressed Myanmar’s military to end its violent campaign against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority and urged the U.N. Security Council to respond forcefully to the resulting humanitarian crisis in Southeast Asia. Obama blasts 'aggravating' GOP plans to repeal ObamacareJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, politics Former President Barack Obama mocked Republicans in a speech on Wednesday for repeated efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, his signature health care law also known as Obamacare. Friend of slain Georgia Tech student: 'If Scout was more genderJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, politics Scout Schultz, a Georgia Tech student, was shot by campus police on Saturday night, and a protest two days later led to arrests. In the aftermath of those events, Yahoo Lifestyle talked to a friend of Schultz’s to gain some perspective on what happened and why. Woman: I'd rather go to jail than take down proJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, odd news ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) — A Maine woman says she'd rather go to jail than take down her pro-Donald Trump signs. Remembering '85, Mexico City public leaps into quake rescueJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, world Baruch García stood at an intersection Tuesday afternoon after a deadly earthquake, trying to direct traffic away from a road cutting through La Condesa’s lush Parque México. On the other side of the park, hundreds of volunteers – from a young boy in a yellow soccer uniform, to a woman in slacks and ballet flats, and a man wearing an apron from a nearby café – lined the street for blocks, helping to remove rubble from an eight-story collapsed building with an unknown number of people buried inside. Tuesday afternoon, a 7.1 earthquake in nearby Puebla State rocked Mexico City, some 75 miles away. Lessons in identity from Kurds and CatalansJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, world One of the defining challenges in the 21st century has been how to balance demands for independence by certain peoples with the sanctity of national borders. Just in the coming days alone, two regions with distinct identities, Catalonia in Spain and the Kurdish area in Iraq, plan to stage referendums on independence. The two votes are an echo of demands by several countries for more sovereignty to protest the perceived effects of global or regional institutions that were set up to purposely impinge on national sovereignty. Corporate America doing enough to secure your personal data?JAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science New York proposes regulations to require credit bureaus like Equifax to have the same cybersecurity standards as banks and insurance companies; reaction from cybersecurity analyst Morgan Wright Waymo and Intel Shack Up to Create a SelfJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science The rich Google self-driving car spinoff and the global chipmaker make excellent dance partners. Northrop Grumman’s $7.8B deal to acquire Orbital ATK fuels aerospace consolidationJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Northrop Grumman’s purchase of Orbital ATK for $7.8 billion will create a company involved in projects ranging from America’s next stealth bomber and ballistic missile system to the International Space Station and the James Webb Space Telescope. The deal, previewed in news reports over the weekend and announced today, is part of a trend toward greater consolidation in the defense and aerospace industry. Virginia-based Orbital ATK itself was part of that trend back in 2014, when it was formed through the merger of Orbital Sciences Corp. and Alliant Techsystems’ aerospace and defense groups. More recently, United Technologies announced its $30 billion… Read More Here's How the Latest Attempt to Repeal Obamacare Would WorkJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science The Senate has until the end of the month to pass the controversial Graham-Cassidy act At Least 226 Dead After 7.1JAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science The quake hit on the same day as another major earthquake in 1985 The Sex Trafficking Fight Could Take Down a Bedrock Tech LawJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science A new bill would change part of the Communications Decency Act, which protects site operators for content posted by others. Scramble for survivors as quake flattens Mexico City buildingsJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science When the earthquake hit, it sent panicked people running into the street but many weren't so lucky. The dust settled minutes later to reveal a landscape of flattened buildings and rubble in the heart of Mexico City. Puerto Rican astronaut affected by double hurricanesJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Space station's Joe Acaba had home flooded by one hurricane, family's homeland hit by another White House says Trump didn't apologize to Turkey's Erdogan for D.C. clash with protestersJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, politics "President Trump … said that he was sorry, and he told me that he was going to follow up on this issue,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told PBS in reference to the incident, which resulted in charges against 15 Turkish security officers. Kimmel: Cassidy 'lied to my face' on health care; Cassidy: 'I'm sorry he does not understand'JAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, politics Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., says Jimmy Kimmel “does not understand” the new health care legislation he and Sen. Lindsey Graham are co-sponsoring after the late-night host blasted their proposal and accused Cassidy of lying to his face. Presidential paranoia: Does Mueller have a mole in the White House?JAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, politics President Trump has long spoken in conspiratorial terms about a range of topics. It appears this is partly responsible for fostering a culture of distrust and paranoia in the White House. Tractor trailer makes wrong turn, gets stuck on boardwalkJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, odd news VENTNOR, N.J. (AP) — A tractor trailer apparently made a wrong turn and got stuck on a boardwalk at the New Jersey shore. Chocolate overload: Rig chockJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, odd news GORDONSVILLE, Va. (AP) — The scene was a chocoholic's delight: a rig full of candy bars overturned on a road in Virginia. Kremlin frets as Russia's once restive Islamist region takes up political IslamJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, world Russia fought two bloody wars in its Caucasus republic of Chechnya, ostensibly to crush an emerging threat of Islamist extremism on its own soil. Mr. Kadyrov is imposing sharia (Islamic law) on his population – and lately, even defying the Kremlin's foreign policy – with an apparent eye on a global, Islamic stage. “He has introduced politicized Islam in Chechnya, and this is definitely a problem for the Kremlin. Terminator moves step closer to reality as scientists create synthetic muscle that can lift 1,000 times its own weightJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science An artificial muscle that can lift 1,000 times its own weight has been created, laying the groundwork for Terminator-like humanoid robots. Scientists used a 3D printing technique to create the rubber-like synthetic muscle that expands and contracts like its biological counterpart. Heated by a small electric current, the material was capable of expanding to nine times its normal size. This is a big piece of the puzzleProfessor Hod Lipson, Columbia University In tests it demonstrated enormous strength, having a strain density - the amount of energy stored in each gram of a stretched elastic body - 15 times greater than natural muscle. The device, described as a "soft actuator", was able to lift 1,000 times its own weight, said the researchers whose work is reported in the journal Nature Communications. Professor Hod Lipson, from the Creative Machines laboratory at Columbia University in New York, said: "We've been making great strides toward making robot minds, but robot bodies are still primitive. "This is a big piece of the puzzle and, like biology, the new actuator can be shaped and reshaped a thousand ways. We've overcome one of the final barriers to making lifelike robots." Artificial muscles may not only be used in robots but also sensitive surgical devices and a host of other applications where gripping and manipulation is important. Co-author Dr Aslan Miriyev, also from the Creative Machines lab, said: "Our soft functional material may serve as robust soft muscle, possibly revolutionising the way that soft robotic solutions are engineered today. "It can push, pull, bend, twist, and lift weight. It's the closest artificial material equivalent we have to a natural muscle." The long-term aim is to accelerate the artificial muscle's response time and link it to an artificially intelligent (AI) control system, said the researchers, who were part-funded by the Israeli defence ministry. Finally, an Online Course for Aspiring Flying Car EngineersJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Sebastian Thrun's online education company, Udacity, is starting the Flying Car Nanodegree Program. NASA’s Cassini captured an unexplained Saturn ‘glitch’ before its fateful diveJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science NASA's Cassini spacecraft completed its incredibly successful extended mission last week, punctuated by a fiery death at the hands of Saturn's upper atmosphere. But just before the orbiter bid farewell it captured an image of an area of Saturn's rings that scientists still can't fully explain, and it's a tantalizing glimpse at one of the planet's most puzzling features.
It's called Peggy, and it's a shifting spot on the edge of one of Saturn's rings that breaks up its otherwise perfect appearance. In photos, it appears as a bright bump, causing a disturbance in the smooth ring edge, but researchers still haven't agreed on an actual explanation for what it is or why it's there.
The feature was named for the mother-in-law of Cassini team member Carl Murray, due to its initial discovery landing on Peggy's birthday back in 2013. Speaking with Gizmodo, Murray explains the team's fascination with the odd disturbance.
“What is it? Where did it come from? Where is it going? We’ve been tracking it almost ever since,” Murray says. “We’ve never actually resolved the object. All we can do is track the glitch.”
One of the early guesses was that the bumps could be the result of a moon or other large object messing with the materials in the ring, but that theory was abandoned due to the fact that the object would have to be so large it would have caused even more chaos. At the moment, the most likely alternative is that the disturbance is the result of a chunk of debris that is traveling throughout the ring, messing up its perfect appearance.
Cassini's final snapshot of the feature is the best look scientists have ever had at the glitch, and will remain so for some time. For now, the mystery will have to remain unsolved. Parasitic sea lice are causing a global salmon shortageJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Salmon stocks across the world are reportedly being depleted after the hugely popular fish became affected by a surge of parasitic sea lice. William Shatner's return to space is a thrillerJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Actor William Shatner, "Zero-G: Green Space" author, talks about his new book, science fiction as a prediction of the future and the race to space. President Trump’s U.N. Speech Is Exactly What Kim Jong Un Wanted to HearJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Trump is playing into the hands of the Stalinist regime’s victim complex by threatening its annihilation. Trump fires back after Clinton calls U.N. speech 'dangerous'JAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, politics President Trump lashed out at Hillary Clinton on Twitter after his former election opponent called his speech to the United Nations General Assembly “very dark” and “dangerous.” White House says Trump didn’t apologize to Turkey’s Erdogan for D.C. clash with protestersJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, politics In this frame grab from video provided by Voice of America, members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoganâ s security detail are shown violently reacting to peaceful protesters during Erdogan’s trip last month to Washington. House Republican and Democratic lawmakers are expected to approve overwhelmingly a resolution that calls for members of Erdoganâ s security detail who were involved in the incident to be brought to justice. WASHINGTON — The White House is rejecting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s claim that President Trump said he was “sorry” for a May incident in which security personnel from Turkey attacked protesters in Washington, D.C. Diamond on the highway: Officer comes to driver's rescueJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, odd news PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — A police officer has come to the rescue of a New Jersey woman who lost her diamond engagement ring on a highway while changing a flat tire. Police: Man steals green chile burger after slapping victimJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, odd news SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico man is facing charges after police say he randomly slapped a customer and then stole the man's green chile cheeseburger before dashing away. Glowing SlinkyJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science A massive, glowing, Slinky-like "creature" photographed by a scuba diver off the coast of Australia has spurred intense speculation about what the mystery beast could be. Speculation swirled that the psychedelic creature was a giant pyrosome, a free-floating sea squirt made of thousands of tiny clones. But if people look closely at the video, they'll see that the mass does not have a solid exterior as those two animal types have, but is instead incredibly transparent, Helm said in an earlier blog post about squid egg cases. Here Are All the Times Donald Trump Bashed the United Nations Before Speaking ThereJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science "The United Nations is not a friend of democracy" Look up! The moon is in very rare formation right nowJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science In the latest lunar rarity since August's total solar eclipse, the moon is busy covering for a half dozen other heavenly bodies in a single day. Opioid Overdoses Are Shortening Overall Life ExpectancyJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science The scope of the opioid epidemic is so large that opioid-related deaths are decreasing life expectancy almost as much as HIV did at the peak of the AIDS crisis Watch Live: President Trump Delivers His First U.N. General Assembly SpeechJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science The President is expected to discuss both Iran and North Korea Colorado cops search for poopJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, odd news COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Police in Colorado are looking for a jogger they say is repeatedly interrupting her runs to defecate in public in one neighborhood. Nancy Pelosi Gets Shut Down by Young Immigrants Over DACA DealJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science Protesters called for reform that gives legal status to all immigrants in the country, not just young people. Blaming 'Bad Dudes' Masks the Role of Women in the History of White NationalismJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science The president’s choice of words—placing blame on “bad dudes”—sheds light on the forgotten role of women in the history of white nationalism. Giant sea snail plan to rescue Great Barrier ReefJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science A giant starfish-eating snail could be unleashed to help save the Great Barrier Reef, officials said Monday, with a trial underway to breed thousands of the rare species. Now Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) research has shown they avoid areas where the Pacific triton sea snail -- also known as the giant triton -- is present. The snails -- which can grow to half a metre -- have a well developed sense of smell and can hunt their prey by scent alone. Here's the age you peak at everything throughout lifeJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science What are you the best at RIGHT NOW? These are the ages when you peak at everything. From 7 - 8... Read President Trump's Speech Threatening to 'Totally Destroy' North KoreaJAY GORY, MANAGING EDITOR, science He also called the country's leader "Rocket Man" |
