Lifeboat Foundation

A fluid dynamics theory that violates causality would always generate paradoxical instabilities—a result that could guide the search for a theory for relativistic fluids.

The theory of fluid dynamics has been successful in many areas of fundamental and applied sciences, describing fluids from dilute gases, such as air, to liquids, such as water. For most nonrelativistic fluids, the theory takes the form of the celebrated Navier-Stokes equation. However, fundamental problems arise when extending these equations to relativistic fluids. Such extensions typically imply paradoxes—for instance, thermodynamic states of the systems can appear stable or unstable to observers in different frames of reference. These problems hinder the description of the dynamics of important fluid systems, such as neutron-rich matter in neutron star mergers or the quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy-ion collisions.

Scientists have used a supercomputer to simulate the dramatic creation of Earth’s Moon following a collision with the Mars-sized body Theia.

Clouds are made of silicate minerals.

The clouds of the distant brown dwarf contain silicate material, making it a quite unusual atmospheric composition.

Peering incredibly far back into time, astronomers found a group of much older stars than they expected.

Astronomers made a new discovery in the very first full-color image released from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Continue reading “Astronomers may have found some of the very earliest stars thanks to James Webb” »

The helicopter has been scouting the red planet for over a year.

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter went from being a proof of concept for off-world flight to becoming a fully-fledged aerial scout for NASA’s Perseverance mission.

The helicopter wasn’t alone, as per a blog post from NASA. Images from the chopper show a flowing debris object, resembling a piece of a plastic bag, for part of its journey.

Continue reading “NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flew with a ‘foreign’ piece of debris attached to its foot” »

New underwater camera could help scientists explore unknown regions of the ocean, track pollution, or monitor the effects of climate change.

More than 95 percent of Earth’s oceans have never been observed, according to estimates by scientists, which means we have seen less of our planet’s ocean than we have the far side of the moon or the surface of Mars.

Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system and the fourth planet from the sun. It is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Iron oxide is prevalent in Mars’ surface resulting in its reddish color and its nickname “The Red Planet.” Mars’ name comes from the Roman god of war.

Is the future of humanity in space or on multiple planets?

You can’t build massive space habitats without harvesting resources from nearby asteroids. The resources of the Moon and asteroids are needed to create their proposed habitats.

The prospects for colonization of other planetary surfaces are unappealing.

Continue reading “Humanity’s future beyond Earth: Multiplanetary or Islands in Space?” »

Drink the forbidden seltzer.

Asteroid Ryugu has some dangerous seltzer for you, according to recent analysis by Japanese scientists on samples returned from JAXA’s Hayabusa2.

The underground ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus may contain significant amounts of phosphorus, which is vital for life as we know it.