Latest news with #PopularMechanics
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Archaeologists Discover 5,500-Year-Old Pyramids in Poland
This year, archaeologists have discovered quite a few old relics. They have discovered 2,200-year-old pyramids in Egypt and also Mayan cities in a Guatemalan jungle. Now, they have discovered more pyramids, this time in Wyskoć, which is in west-central Poland. In a Facebook post, the pyramids were estimated to be 5,500 years old, and photos surfaced of the findings. The original post was written in Polish. "We've discovered "Polish pyramids" dating back 5,500 years! In the General Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park, our colleague Artur Golis discovered mysterious earth mounds during landscape analysis," the post read." Archaeological verification of two structures, including excavation of one of them, confirmed the discoverers' suspicions. These are long earth tombs built 5,500 years ago (!) by the Funnelbeaker culture (late Stone Age/Neolithic)." The post also showed several photos of the findings. The post came from the Team of Landscape Parks of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, and it is the second grouping of such pyramids to be discovered in Poland. The tombs are said to be 650 feet long and 13 feet high. Artur Golis, chief specialist for nature and landscape protection from the park, spoke about the findings. 'These artifacts could provide further insight into the spiritual and daily lives of the Funnelbeaker people," Golis said, per Popular Mechanics. 'Each generation built its own megalith, honoring the deceased who played a vital role in their community." All in all, it's quite the Discover 5,500-Year-Old Pyramids in Poland first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 16, 2025 Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Time keeps on slipping - literally. Why today might have been the shortest day you'll ever experience
Some upcoming summer days are actually getting shorter, literally. Even if it's only by milliseconds. While the change won't be noticeable, Wednesday might technically be the shortest day you'll ever experience. That's because Earth completed its rotation approximately 1.3 to 1.6 milliseconds faster than the average 86,400 seconds. "In other words, we're not traveling back toward the Mesozoic in terms of rotation," Popular Mechanics reports. "The planet will eventually continue its steady deceleration — this is, of course, its natural tendency, but surface changes like polar ice melt can also contribute to the Earth's rotation slowing down." This phenomenon is invisible to daily life but of significant importance to high-precision timekeeping systems such as atomic clocks, GPS, and satellite networks. Scientists at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service attribute the acceleration to a subtle shift in the Moon's orbital alignment, which, orbiting farther from Earth's equator this summer, has reduced the 'tidal braking' effect that normally slows our planet's spin. Others, such as Moscow State University astronomer Leonid Zotov, said the cause of this acceleration is unexplained. "Most scientists believe it is something inside the Earth," he told "Ocean and atmospheric models don't explain this huge acceleration." This spike in rotational speed marks the sixth occurrence of unusually fast days since 2020, with similar events expected to occur on July 22 and August 5. In response to the slight change, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service is now considering implementing a negative leap second, a rare adjustment that subtracts time from Coordinated Universal Time to resynchronize clocks with Earth's rotation. Such a correction has never been made before, but the growing trend may require one around 2029.
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Time keeps on slipping - literally. Why today might have been the shortest day you ever experience
Some upcoming summer days are actually getting shorter, literally. Even if it's only by milliseconds. While the change won't be noticeable, Wednesday might technically be the shortest day you'll ever experience. That's because Earth completed its rotation approximately 1.3 to 1.6 milliseconds faster than the average 86,400 seconds. "In other words, we're not traveling back toward the Mesozoic in terms of rotation," Popular Mechanics reports. "The planet will eventually continue its steady deceleration — this is, of course, its natural tendency, but surface changes like polar ice melt can also contribute to the Earth's rotation slowing down." This phenomenon is invisible to daily life but of significant importance to high-precision timekeeping systems such as atomic clocks, GPS, and satellite networks. Scientists at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service attribute the acceleration to a subtle shift in the Moon 's orbital alignment, which, orbiting farther from Earth's equator this summer, has reduced the 'tidal braking' effect that normally slows our planet's spin. Others, such as Moscow State University astronomer Leonid Zotov, said the cause of this acceleration is unexplained. "Most scientists believe it is something inside the Earth," he told "Ocean and atmospheric models don't explain this huge acceleration." This spike in rotational speed marks the sixth occurrence of unusually fast days since 2020, with similar events expected to occur on July 22 and August 5. In response to the slight change, the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service is now considering implementing a negative leap second, a rare adjustment that subtracts time from Coordinated Universal Time to resynchronize clocks with Earth's rotation. Such a correction has never been made before, but the growing trend may require one around 2029.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Earth's rotation is speeding up for 3 days this summer — starting today
Planet Earth will spin a little faster on three separate days this summer, starting today. This will technically result in shorter days, but the change will be so minuscule you won't even notice. Several milliseconds will be shaved off of the 24 hours it takes for Earth to complete a full rotation — we're talking even less time than the blink of an eye. Planet Earth is our timekeeper, but it's not perfect. It takes our planet 24 hours — one day — to complete one full rotation on its axis, which breaks down to 86,400 seconds. But Earth's rotation could change by a millisecond (.001 seconds) or two every day. The orbit of the moon can have an effect on how fast the Earth spins around. 'Our planet spins quicker when the moon's position is far to the north or south of Earth's equator,' according to 'Earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal forces, subterranean geology, and many other mechanisms can cause the planet's rotation to slow down or speed up, and those micro-adjustments can trend over time,' Popular Mechanics reported. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 accelerated Earth's rotation, shortening the length of the standard 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds (0.0018 milliseconds). These tiny day-to-day fluctuations in the Earth's spin speed began to be measured in the 1950s with atomic clocks. Any number above or below the standard 86,400 seconds is called the length of day (LOD). The shortest day recorded was on July 5, 2024, when Earth completed its full rotation 1.66 milliseconds faster than the standard 86,400 seconds. There are three days this summer when the moon will be around its furthest distance from Earth's equator, resulting in a minuscule increase in the Earth's spin speed. The following are predictions from scientists: July 9: The day is shortened by 1.30 milliseconds July 22: Earth loses 1.38 milliseconds of the day Aug. 5: The day is shortened by 1.51 milliseconds What feels like the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is known as the winter solstice, when Earth is tilted away from the sun at its maximum. This results in the fewest amount of daylight hours all year and occurs in mid-December. There weren't always 24 hours in a day. Researchers believe that in the Jurassic Period, it took Earth just 23 hours to make a complete rotation around its axis. Scientists have found that the length of a day on Earth is increasing each century by about 1.7 milliseconds. Over time, that adds up. Experts think that 200 million years from now, there will be 25 hours in a full day.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientist Predicts Immortality Might Be Possible In The Near Future
We've all seen the movies. Sometime in a distant future, humans have solved the riddle of aging. The answer usually involves some sort of hard-to-understand science or some kind of mystical magic. However, scientists say that immortality for humans is leaving the world of fantasy and science fiction and becoming a reality. A recent article from Popular Mechanics reported that the key to living forever comes from merging biotechnology and artificial intelligence to make nanotechnology. In the article, futurist Raymond Kurzweil said that this nanotechnology will help 'overcome the limitations of our biological organs altogether.' The required nanotechnology is predicted to become a reality by the year 2030, according to Wired. How does this work? Kurzweil explains in an essay he wrote for Wired that once we reach old age, our bodies spontaneously reach a state in which they just start breaking down. This happens regardless of lifestyle. Kurzweil compares it to the rusting of a car in that 'metabolism creates waste in and around cells and damages structures through oxidation. When we're young, our bodies are able to remove this waste and repair the damage efficiently. But as we get older, most of our cells reproduce over and over, and errors accumulate. Eventually, the damage starts piling up faster than the body can fix it.' This is where the nanobots come in. According to an article from Columbia One, in the near future, humans might have nanobots flowing through our bloodstreams. These nanobots will repair cellular damage and link us to the cloud. The article reports that this will allow humans to increase their life expectancy for 'more than a year every year, thus allowing humans to become essentially immortal." At this time, nanobots solving the riddle of human aging is just one theory amongst many. However, Kurzweil has been known for making other accurate predictions about the future. In his book written in 1990, The Age of Intelligent Machines, Kurzweil predicted that by 2009, we'd all be using portable, personal computers and that most reading would be done on screens. As we can all attest to, this prediction was spot on. Will Kurzweil's predictions about nanobots stalling human aging be as accurate? Only time will Predicts Immortality Might Be Possible In The Near Future first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 7, 2025
