Meteor blazes across Australia, leaving skywatchers in awe
Onlookers were stunned by a bright object falling from the sky, followed by a loud bang.
Footage from CCTV and dashcams captured the glowing object illuminating the nighttime sky.
Scientists confirmed the flash was a meteor and suggested the accompanying bang was likely a sonic boom.
Watch the video in full above.
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The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
Researchers discover the immune system's ‘fountain of youth' - but it has a cost
Researchers have discovered the 'fountain of youth' for cells - but it comes with a big cost. Some people over 60 years old were found to have immune systems that appear to much younger in wear-and-tear, Mayo Clinic researchers announced Thursday. The immune system is what protects us from getting sick and promotes healing. With age, the immune system's ability to protect the body from infection and disease can wane. Young immune systems are constantly exposed to new bacteria and viruses, and previous research has shown that infant immune systems beat those of adults at fighting off the invaders. Researchers now say some have immune systems that don't match their age. "We observed that these patients have very young immune systems despite being in their 60s and 70s,' Dr. Cornelia Weyand, a Mayo Clinic rheumatologist and clinician-scientist, said in a statement. 'But the price they pay for that is autoimmunity.' Autoimmunity is what happens when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues and organs. There are more than 100 known autoimmune diseases, according to the Cleveland Clinic, including lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, celiac disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Women are at a higher risk than men, thanks to genetic and hormonal differences, according to Stanford Medicine. Doctors discovered this anomaly in more than 100 older patients who went to the Minnesota clinic to receive treatment for a rare autoimmune disease known as giant cell arteritis. Giant cell arteritis is an inflammation of the lining of your arteries that can affect the arteries in your head, the clinic explained. Untreated, it can lead to blindness, an aortic aneurysm, and, less commonly, stroke. It frequently causes headaches, jaw pain and vision problems. What causes the disorder remains unknown. Studying the diseased tissue of these patients, the researchers found they had specialized cells in their immune system known as 'stem-like T cells.' The cells behave like young stem cells, which are critical for repairing and maintaining a healthy immune system. But, in this case, they were spreading the autoimmune disease. Going forward, the scientists hope to learn more about this link and what they observed from the patients. "Contrary to what one may think, there are benefits to having an immune system that ages in tandem with the body," Dr. Jörg Goronzy, a Mayo Clinic researcher on aging, said. "We need to consider the price to pay for immune youthfulness. That price can be autoimmune disease."
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Mysterious change in Pacific to 'lock' US in megadrought that'll send food prices soaring for DECADES
A troubling shift in the Pacific Ocean has trapped the US in a megadrought, with scientists warning it could drive devastating wildfires, food shortages, and soaring prices for decades. Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have found that a natural Pacific climate cycle, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), is stuck in a 'negative' phase, bringing dangerously dry conditions to much of the US West Coast. The PDO acts like a slow-moving seesaw, swinging ocean surface temperatures between warmer and cooler phases every 20 to 30 years. Its current negative phase cools waters along North America's west coast and warms the central Pacific, a combination that disrupts rainfall patterns, intensifies drought, and fuels heat. Unlike regular droughts that can last months or a few years, a megadrought can linger for decades or more, with extreme dryness and little rainfall drying up the soil, rivers, and local reservoirs. The current megadrought, ongoing since around 2000, has impacted Southwestern states like California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and parts of Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The extreme dryness has already lasted more than two decades, but researchers discovered the PDO shows no signs of changing to a 'positive' phase of wet weather because of a new factor impacting the planet: man-made greenhouse emissions. The extreme conditions in the Southwest are predicted to bring even more devastating fires to several states before the end of 2025 and for years to come. California, the nation's top agricultural state, produces over a third of America's vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts, including almonds, lettuce, and tomatoes. Severe water shortages since 2021 have forced farmers to leave hundreds of thousands of acres unplanted. Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, key dairy and meat producers, are also facing shrinking herds and reduced milk production. All of this leads to small crop yields, higher food prices, livestock struggling to provide enough milk for cheese and butter, and food insecurity for those unable to afford their everyday groceries. The study's findings, published in the journal Nature, challenged the long-held belief that the PDO's regular shifts were only driven by natural processes, such as ocean currents and atmospheric patterns. This new research showed that human-induced changes to the planet now account for more than half (53%) of the variations in the PDO dating back to 1950. Researchers found that the impact of man-made climate change has altered the PDO, essentially locking it into a permanent 'negative' trend since the 1980s, gradually drying out these key regions for food production. Human activities, particularly the emission of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels in cars, factories, and power plants, have trapped heat and warmed the central Pacific more than what naturally occurs every few decades. The dire conditions have also fueled massive wildfires throughout several states from Texas to California, including January's blaze in Los Angeles that destroyed more than 50,000 acres of land and over 16,000 homes. Firefighters have been battling more wildfires throughout the western US as dry conditions have lingered for decades Specifically, high levels of aerosols in the atmosphere before the 1980s fueled a 'positive phase' along the West Coast. During this time, the central Pacific was cooler, and the waters along North America's coast were warmer, often bringing wetter weather to the western US. Aerosols, tiny particles coming from industrial activities like burning coal and manufacturing from the 50s to the 80s, are still a form of human pollution, but they reflect sunlight into space, cooling the Pacific. As the world cut back on this form of pollution, other emissions like carbon dioxide drastically warmed the planet and locked the PDO into a 'negative' trend of dry weather. Study author Jeremy Klavans from the University of Colorado said: 'Climate models taken at face value didn't have the answer for us.' 'They told us it was bad luck,' he told New Scientist. To prove that the phenomenon was man-made and not an unusually long cycle of natural dryness, the scientists used a massive collection of 572 climate model simulations on the PDO. These simulations included various external factors like greenhouse gas emissions, aerosol pollution, volcanic eruptions, and solar changes, covering the period from 1950 to 2014. Researchers were even able to adjust for the impact of El Niño and La Niña events, which can affect the PDO over shorter windows of time. The results of these simulations continued to show that rising greenhouse gas emissions, combined with less aerosol pollution, could keep wetter weather away from the West Coast far beyond what naturally occurs without climate change. Pedro DiNezio, also from the University of Colorado, said: 'We looked into the future, and models make it persist for at least a few more decades.' 'As long as the northern hemisphere continues to warm, the PDO will be stuck in this negative phase,' the study author warned. The ongoing drought could lead to more devastating fires along the West Coast later this year. Meteorologists have forecasted that California could see up to 1.5 million acres of land burn before the end of 2025.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Earthquake swarm rocks California with shaking in Los Angeles
Southern California has experienced three earthquakes in less than 12 hours, with two hitting about 10 minutes apart. The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the first at 4am ET and the others hit at about eight hours later, with the largest measuring a 3.6 magnitude. While the weaker tremors measured a 2.7 magnitude, scientists noted the activity was strong enough to be felt by humans. No injuries or damages have been reported. The seismic activity occurred along the San Jacinto Fault Zone, a major strike-slip fault zone that runs through San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego and Imperial Counties in Southern California. The very active fault is capable of unleashing a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake, but is known to generate moderate earthquakes between magnitude 5.0 and 6.5. This is a developing story... More updates to come.
