Glacial cyclicity of the Earth has often been considered on 100,000 year timescales, particularly for the Late Pleistocene (~11,700 to 129,000 years ago) swapping between periods of extensive polar and mountain glacier ice sheets, to warmer interglacial periods when ice sheets and glaciers retreated, with subsequent sea level rise. This is thought to be related to three key drivers affecting the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth from the sun.

Termed Milankovitch cycles, eccentricity considers the shape of Earth’s orbit changing from circular to more elliptical over 100,000 year timescales, while obliquity refers to the varying ‘tilt’ of the planet’s axis between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees over 41,000 years (contributing to seasons) and precession, which in simple terms is the direction Earth’s axis is pointed and can make the contrast between seasons more extreme in one hemisphere compared to the other.

While the eccentricity cycle has been a major factor thought to drive glacial/interglacial cycles, newer research has suggested that they instead may result from a series of obliquity or precession cycles (especially as the former dominated up to 800,000 years ago). To test this theory, Bethany Hobart, a Doctoral Researcher at the University of California, and colleagues modeled the impacts of glacial termination on 23,000 and 41,000 year cycles.

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The 180-foot blimp will make stops in three U.S. cities in September.

Scientists have designed a fundamentally new way to make light beams collide with each other—by reflecting them both on the same mirror in time. The team also showed off the beam-shaping capabilities of their technique, with possible applications in telecommunications and scientific measurement.

From pv magazine USA

World4Solar, a Nevada-based company, has developed a freestanding solar canopy for residential use.

Known as Dynabeads, a novel optical signature within them confirms a target pathogen’s presence in under a second.

MIT engineers have discovered a new optical signature in a widely employed class of magnetic beads, enabling rapid detection of contaminants in various diagnostic tests.

For instance, their study, accessible on ArXiv (awaiting peer review), highlighted the beads’ newfound capacity to swiftly expose traces of the foodborne pathogen Salmonella.

When what we predict and what we measure don’t add up, that’s a sign there’s something new to learn. Could it be a new fundamental force?

Google Flights today is releasing a new feature that will help travelers better determine the right time to book. Rolling out this week, the company is debuting new insights that will leverage historical trend data that lets consumers see when prices have typically been lowest to their chosen destination on their selected dates.

The addition aims to help consumers answer the question as to whether it’s better to book their flight now or wait for lower prices.

For example, Google explains, the new insights could tell users that the cheapest time to book their trip is currently two months prior to departure or that, typically, prices for their trip have generally declined closer to the date of departure. With this new understanding of whether or not they’re getting the best deal, consumers may chose to either book immediately or wait for a better price.