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Review: Dropnauts – J. Scott Coatsworth

Dropnauts - J. Scott Coatsworth

Genre: Sci-Fi LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Bi, Trans MTF Reviewer: Olivia Universal Buy Link | Bookshop.Org About The Book Life after the Crash.Over a century after the end of the Earth, life goes on in Redemption, the sole remaining Lunar colony, and possibly the last outpost of humankind in the Solar System. But with an existential threat burrowing its way into the Moon’s core, humanity must recolonize the homeworld. Twenty brave dropnauts set off on a mission to explore the empty planet. Four of them—Rai, Hera, Ghost and Tien—have trained for two-and-a-half years for the Return. They’re bound for Martinez Base, just outside … Read more

WHAT IF: The Earth Wasn’t Tilted?

Earth - pixabay

Every Wednesday, we’re asking a what-if question – how would our world be different if something were changed? Today’s question is from QSFer Julie Garrett: What if the Earth didn’t have an axial tilt? Share your serious scientific analyses, your off-color jokes, and random thoughts on the topic on our FB and MeWe Groups: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABV MeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf

SPACE: Asteroid Bennu Totally Won’t Hit Earth in 2035. Probably.

Asteroid Bennu

An asteroid known as Bennu will pass within half the distance of the Earth to the Moon in the year 2135 but the probability of an impact with our planet in the coming centuries is very slight, scientists said Wednesday. OSIRIS-REx, a NASA spacecraft, spent two years near Bennu, an asteroid that is about 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide, observing its size, shape, mass and composition and monitoring its orbital trajectory around the sun. Using its robotic arm, the spacecraft also collected a sample from the surface of the asteroid that will help researchers determine the future trajectory of Bennu. … Read more

What If: The Earth Was Really Flat?

Flat Earth - Deposit Photos

Earth — the blue marble — is our spherical home. But what if Earth were flat? After all, some people truly believe in this retrograde idea. How would everyday life function? Would it function at all? We explore how much of an oddball, or “oddslice” Earth would be if it were flat and whether there are any advantages to living on a strange disk with the sun and moon rotating overhead like a cosmic carousel. Say goodbye to gravity (at least as we know it) On spherical Earth, gravity tugs equally on objects no matter where in the world they … Read more

WHAT IF: Earth Stopped Spinning?

Earth - pixabay

Earth is steadily spinning like a top, even if we can’t see, touch, hear or feel it. So, what would happen if Earth were to abruptly stop rotating?  If the spinning were to stop, the angular momentum of every object on Earthwould rip the surface apart, resulting in a really, really bad day. “This is just a thought experiment,” said James Zimbelman, senior geologist emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. “There is no natural force that would stop the Earth from spinning. That is part of why the planet has been spinning since it formed, … Read more

What If: The Moon Were Twice as Close to the Earth?

moon - pixabay

In the 2003 Jim Carrey movie “Bruce Almighty,” Carrey’s character suddenly acquires God-like powers, and uses those powers to lasso the full moon and pull it closer to Earth to woo his beloved. Later in the movie, background shots show TV news reports about massive, unprecedented flooding around the world. While the film is obviously fantastical, it does raise a question: What would happen if the moon were twice as close to Earth than it is today? In fact, the flooding scenario from the movie isn’t far from what might actually happen if the moon were suddenly much closer to … Read more

SPACE: Lots of Alien Worlds Could Know We’re Here

alien - Deposit Photos

At least 1,715 nearby star systems sat at a perfect angle to view Earth during the past 5,000 years, meaning aliens living in those systems, if they exist and have the right technology, could have watched our planet from afar as early human civilizations first emerged. Of those star systems, 313 exited the special viewing zone, known as the Earth transit zone (ETZ), sometime in the past few thousand years, leaving 1,402 star systems capable of providing a glimpse of our planet today, according to a new study, published Wednesday (June 23) in the journal Nature. And over the next … Read more

How Do You Fight Space Junk? With Lasers, Of Course!

Earth space junk - Pixabay

Telescope operators figured out years ago how to make the stars stop twinkling. Now, a team of Australian scientists wants to use the same technology to track space junk and blast it out of space. The problem is Earth’s atmosphere: It’s uneven and distorts light passing from space to Earth, and Earth to space. That’s a problem, because the nice twinkly effect Earth’s atmosphere gives stars makes it difficult for ground-based telescopes to accurately observe the heavens. It’s also a problem for efforts to lower the risk of space junk, which threatens satellites and crewed spaceflight, as Live Science previously … Read more

Is There a Protoplanet Inside the Earth?

planet collision - pixabay

A protoplanet slammed into the Earth about 4.5 billion years ago, knocking loose a chunk of rock that would later become the moon. Now, scientists say that remnants of that protoplanet can still be found, lodged deep inside Earth, Science Magazine reported. If remains of the protoplanet, known as Theia, did stick around after the impact, that may explain why two continent-size blobs of hot rock now lie in the Earth’s mantle, one beneath Africa and the other under the Pacific Ocean. These massive blobs would stand about 100 times taller than Mount Everest, were they ever hauled up to … Read more

What if Earth’s Magnetic Field Flips Again?

Earth's magnetic field - NASA

A reversal in Earth’s magnetic field thousands of years ago plunged the planet into an environmental crisis that may have resembled “a disaster movie,” scientists recently discovered. Our planet’s magnetic field is dynamic and, numerous times, it has flipped — when the magnetic North and South Poles swap places. In our electronics-dependent world, such a reversal could seriously disrupt communication networks. But the impact could be even more serious than that, according to the new study. For the first time, scientists have found evidence that a polar flip could have serious ecological repercussions. Their investigation connects a magnetic field reversal … Read more