Latest news with #RiceUniversity
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
The glaciers on the verge of COLLAPSING: As Swiss villages face being wiped out by the Birch Glacier, terrifying interactive map reveals the huge bodies of ice that could be next
Switzerland's Birch Glacier hit the headlines this week, after a huge chunk broke off - partially destroying the village of Blatten. Now, scientists have created an interactive map that reveals the glaciers around the world that could be next in the firing line. The 'Global Glacier Casualty List' documents glaciers that are soon to disappear, or have already melted away. Users can drag the globe to see glaciers from all around the world, including some in Africa, Indonesia and Venezuela – challenging the misconception that these cherished natural landforms are only found at the north and south poles. The tool was created by anthropologists and glaciologists led by Rice University Professors Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer, who warn that over three-quarters of global glacier mass is expected to disappear under present climate policies. Glaciers are considered one of our planet's most precious natural features, as inspiring to behold as cliffs, canyons, valleys or reefs. These slow moving rivers of ice - some hundreds of thousands of years old - reflect the sun's rays back into space and store valuable freshwater. But scientists warn that many glaciers around the world have already disappeared – primarily due to rising global temperatures and climate change. 'Glaciers have literally shaped the ground we walk on, and they provide crucial water resources to about 2 billion people,' said Professor Howe. 'For people who have lived near glaciers, their cultural meanings are often profound, representing the fundamental relationship between social and natural worlds.' The Global Glacier Casualty List features nearly 30 global glaciers that are given the classification 'Disappeared', 'Almost Disappeared' or 'Critically Endangered'. Users can click on one of the existing or pre-existing glaciers to learn more about how they've been affected by global warming. One of those listed as 'Disappeared' is the Baumann Glacier in New Zealand, which vanished in 2020 after decades of shrinkage. The Baumann Glacier measured 0.34 sq mile (0.9 sq km) in 1978, 0.16 sq mile (0.44 sq km) in 2000 and just 0.02 sq mile (0.07 sq km) in 2016 before fading away forever. Meanwhile, Anderson Glacier once flowed through the Olympic National Park of Washington State before disappearing in 2016. When experts studied Anderson Glacier in 1992, they measured its area as 0.14 sq mile (0.38 sq km), which was just a third of the size it had been a century prior. Why are glaciers important? Glaciers are considered one of our planet's most precious natural features. These slow moving rivers of ice, thousands of years old, reflect the sun's rays back into space - helping to keep the planet cooler. Glacier loss also depletes freshwater resources that millions of people depend on for drinkable water. They are also beautiful in their own right, forming some of our world's most inspiring landscapes just as much as canyons, valleys and reefs. But by 2003 the glacier had diminished to 0.1 sq mile (0.28 sq km) and became a series of small disconnected relic glacier ice patches before vanishing entirely. An even more recent one to have disappeared is the Sarenne Glacier, which was in the Grandes Rousses mountain area of southeast France. As recently as the 1980s, Sarenne's ice was still as thick as 260 feet (80 metres) in some places, but its melting accelerated considerably in recent decades leading to its loss in 2023. Among those still in existence – at least for now – are the Yala Glacier of Nepal, which is 'Critically Endangered' and expected to vanish in the 2040s. The area of the Yala Glacier decreased from 0.9 sq mile (2.42 sq km) in 1981 to 0.5 sq mile (1.54 sq km) in 2015 – a decrease of 36 per cent. 'Because Yala Glacier is relatively accessible it's been an ideal research and training site for future glaciologists, but this is no longer the case as it has undergone significant changes in both area and volume,' said Sharad Joshi, a glacier researcher at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal. 'With each visit, I'm left feeling profoundly sad when I see such massive loss on this glacier,' he said. There's also the 'Almost Disappeared' Santa Isabel Glacier in Colombia which is projected to be gone even sooner – by 2030. Since the 1970s, Santa Isabel has been a place for young Colombians to begin practicing ice mountaineering, because of its 'relative accessibility, multiple routes and variety of slopes'. But scientists have observed its rapid diminishment in recent years as Colombia's 'endearing white giant' approaches an 'imminent extinction'. As the tool explains, thousands of glaciers have already disappeared due to human-caused climate change, which is directly linked to fossil fuel use – but there is no comprehensive list of all of them. In an accompanying piece published in the journal Science, Professors Howe and Boyer warn that 'melting glaciers are a signal of climate disruption'. 'Earth has now entered a new period in which glaciers are not simply retreating but are disappearing altogether,' they say. 'Consequences of glacial loss have a variety of effects on natural and social environments on a planetary level.' Glacier melting contributes to rising sea levels, affects water resources downstream, damages ecosystems, increases the risk of natural disasters, and can compound other natural hazards such as increasing the formation of icebergs. HOW IS GLOBAL WARMING AFFECTING GLACIAL RETREAT? Global warming is causing the temperatures all around the world to increase. This is particularly prominent at latitudes nearer the poles. Rising temperatures, permafrost, glaciers and ice sheets are all struggling to stay in tact in the face of the warmer climate. As temperatures have risen to more than a degree above pre-industrial levels, ice continues melt. For example, melting ice on the Greenland ice sheet is producing 'meltwater lakes', which then contribute further to the melting. This positive feedback loop is also found on glaciers atop mountains. Many of these have been frozen since the last ice age and researchers are seeing considerable retreat. Some animal and plant species rely heavily on the cold conditions that the glaciers provide and are migrating to higher altitudes to find suitable habitat. This is putting severe strain on the ecosystems as more animals and more species are living in an ever-shrinking region. On top of the environmental pressure, the lack of ice on mountains is vastly increasing the risks of landslides and volcanic eruptions. The phenomena is found in several mountain ranges around the world. It has also been seen in regions of Antarctica.
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Science
- Perth Now
Planet Nine may exist
Planet Nine may exist Scientists at Rice University in Houston, Texas, have shared new research that supports the idea of the large distant planet that may lurk at the edge of the solar system. Planet Nine – which is thought to be five to ten times the mass of Earth - is a theoretical planet first suggested in 2016 by astronomers at the California Institute of Technology. According to their study of complex simulations, there is up to a 40 per cent chance of its existence. If Planet Nine is real, it could help explain the unusual orbits of objects in the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune. The team hopes the planet – which would orbit the sun on a distant path far beyond Pluto - can be detected by the largest camera built inside the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on the El Penon peak of Cerro Pachon mountain in Chile. Doctor Andre Izidoro, the study's lead author, is quoted by MailOnline: 'When giant planets scatter each other through gravitational interactions, some are flung far away from their star. 'If the timing and surrounding environment are just right, those planets don't get ejected, but rather they get trapped in extremely wide orbits. 'Our simulations show that if the early solar system underwent two specific instability phases - the growth of Uranus and Neptune and the later scattering among gas giants, there is up to a 40 per cent chance that a Planet Nine-like object could have been trapped during that time.'
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump shouldn't be able to tax colleges he doesn't like
Rice University could go from owing the federal government $9 million to $87 million, Princeton from $39 million to $586 million, Harvard from $57 million to a whopping $849 million. In its first four months back in office, the Trump administration has relentlessly attacked prestigious colleges. They have been stripped of billions in federal funding, unfairly accused of antisemitism and repeatedly investigated on legally dubious grounds. Now, congressional Republicans are joining the administration in its latest attack on these colleges: a massive, permanent increase on the tax rate of university endowments. This proposal will hurt not only students and faculty at those schools but the country overall.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
A Magnet Floating in a Superconductive Chamber Could Change Physics Forever
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Dark matter is thought to make up a little over a quarter of the universe, but it has never actually been detected. Researchers repurposed an experiment originally intended to detect gravity, which involved a floating magnet in a superconductive trap, predicting that gravity exerted by dark matter would interact with the magnet. The experiment is now being upgraded from a gravity detector to a dark matter detector, so expect version 2.0 soon. What we think of as 'the unknown' isn't always some hypothetical wormhole or alternate dimension. A lot of times, the 'unknown' is something real, but whose existence is impossible to prove even with the most advanced technology. We're talking about dark matter, which remains infamously elusive. From huge, hypersensitive underground detectors to the search for bizarre signatures in comic rays, it seems we have tried everything within our current capacity to directly observe even one particle of dark matter. But we do know a few things about this mystery matter—namely, that it exerts gravity, and therefore (supposedly) has mass. When gravitational forces exerted by bodies in space are beyond what is expected, dark matter is the explanation (but never the evidence). Maybe, however, dark matter could make its presence known another way. Astroparticle physicist Christopher Tunnell, of Rice University in Houston, saw an alternative method of detecting ultralight dark matter by repurposing what was originally a precise method of measuring gravity. This method uses a magnet floating in a chamber made of superconductive material. When cooled enough to transition to a state in which they can conduct electricity without resistance, superconductors expel magnetic fields and therefore repel magnets. This explains why a magnet in the middle of a superconductive trap will float right in the middle. It is being repelled in every direction, and there is nowhere else it can possibly go. Tunnell and his research team predicted that dark matter could be detected this way because of its quantum nature, meaning that it is thought to behave as both a particle and a wave. Dark matter can only interact with baryonic (normal) matter through gravity. If any dark matter came close to the levitating magnet—whether it behaved like a particle meandering around or a wave flowing through—the force of gravity it exerted should give the magnet an almost negligible shake. A quantum device known as a SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) was used to detect any shifting of magnetic fields that would happen if gravity from an unseen source interacted with the magnet. 'We detect the motion of the particle using a superconducting pick-up loop at the top of the trap,' Tunnell said in a study recently published in Physical Review Letters. 'The motion of the magnet induces a change in flux in the loop, causing a superconducting current to run in the circuit.' Spoiler alert: dark matter has not been detected with this method so far. But it has potential. Tunnell plans to update the experiment and optimize it specifically for detecting dark matter instead of gravity. Some of the changes that could make it more sensitive include maximizing sensitivity to mass while reducing noise, using a heavier magnet, reducing vibrations in the trap, and upgrading the SQUID so it can more accurately detect changes in the magnetic field. This new proposed experiment will be named POLONAISE, after a Polish dance Tunnell and a colleague were doing to keep warm at an outdoor climate protest. 'Our result highlights the promise of this quantum sensing technology in the hunt for dark matter,' he said. 'We hope that it fuels initiatives in advancing experimental designs of magnetically levitated setups for astroparticle physics.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Planet Nine really DOES exist, scientists say - as they reveal exactly how we could find the secret world
It's a question that has baffled scientists around the world for years. Is there really a ninth planet hiding in our solar system? And if so, how do we find it? Now, researchers from Rice University claim to have fresh evidence of Planet Nine - as well as a method to find it. Based on complex simulations, the team says there's around a 40 per cent chance that a Planet Nine-like object is hiding in our solar system. And if it does exist, it could be discovered using the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, they say. Located on a mountaintop in Chile, this observatory features the largest camera ever built - and is set to send back its first images within weeks. 'With its unparalleled ability to survey the sky in depth and detail, the observatory is expected to significantly advance the search for distant solar system objects, increasing the likelihood of either detecting Planet Nine or providing the evidence needed to rule out its existence,' the researchers said in a statement. Planet Nine is a hypothetical planet, first theorised by astronomers from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) back in 2016. Said to have a mass about five to 10 times that of Earth, this hypothetical, Neptune-sized planet would circle our sun on a highly elongated path, far beyond Pluto. If it does exist, Planet Nine could help to explain the unique orbits of some smaller objects in the Kupier Belt - a region of icy debris that extends far beyond the orbit of Neptune. In their new study, the team set out to understand whether or not Planet Nine could really exist. Using complex simulations, the team showed that wide-orbit planets like Planet Nine are not anomalies. Instead, they're natural by-products of a chaotic early phase in planetary system development, according to the team. 'Essentially, we're watching pinballs in a cosmic arcade,' said André Izidoro, lead author of the study. 'When giant planets scatter each other through gravitational interactions, some are flung far away from their star. 'If the timing and surrounding environment are just right, those planets don't get ejected, but rather they get trapped in extremely wide orbits.' The simulations showed that planets are pushed into these wide orbits by internal instabilities, before being stabilised by the gravitational influence of nearby stars. 'When these gravitational kicks happen at just the right moment, a planet's orbit becomes decoupled from the inner planetary system,' explained Nathan Kaib, co-author of the study. 'This creates a wide-orbit planet—one that's essentially frozen in place after the cluster disperses.' As for what this means for Planet Nine, the researchers say there's now a 40 per cent change that the world exists. 'Our simulations show that if the early solar system underwent two specific instability phases—the growth of Uranus and Neptune and the later scattering among gas giants—there is up to a 40% chance that a Planet Nine-like object could have been trapped during that time,' Dr Izidoro said. The team now hopes to use the Vera C. Rubin Observatory to prove the existence of Planet Nine once and for all. 'As we refine our understanding of where to look and what to look for, we're not just increasing the odds of finding Planet Nine,' Dr Izidoro added. 'We're opening a new window into the architecture and evolution of planetary systems throughout the galaxy.' PLANET NINE: ORBITS OF OBJECTS BEYOND NEPTUNE SUGGEST 'SOMETHING LARGE' IS THERE Astronomers believe that the orbits of a number of bodies in the distant reaches of the solar system have been disrupted by the pull of an as yet unidentified planet. First proposed by a group at CalTech in the US, this alien world was theorised to explain the distorted paths seen in distant icy bodies. In order to fit in with the data they have, this alien world - popularly called Planet Nine - would need to be roughly four times the size of Earth and ten times the mass. Researchers say a body of this size and mass would explain the clustered paths of a number of icy minor planets beyond Neptune. Its huge orbit would mean it takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make a single pass around the sun. The theoretical Planet Nine is based on the gravitational pull it exerts on these bodies, with astronomers confident it will be found in the coming years.
