STOP calling 911 About PLANETS #SHORTS

STOP calling 911 About PLANETS #SHORTS

A dozen residents in California’s Central Valley called 911 to report “lights in the sky.” Those lights in the sky weren’t Chinese spy balloons, the FortNite Battle Bus, or UFOs.

On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, Venus and Jupiter appeared unusually close in the Western sky after sunset. Also known as a conjunction in astronomy.

For those not familiar with the planetary neighborhood, Venus is next door to Earth and appears larger in the sky. Jupiter, the largest plane in the solar system, is a few doors over from Earth and appears smaller in the sky.

Stop calling 911 on your planetary neighbors

The Earth’s Inner May Have Stopped Spinning #SHORTS

The Earth’s Inner May Have Stopped Spinning #SHORTS

Research suggests that the Earth’s solid inner core may have stopped spinning and could spin backwards. The inner core spins independently of the liquid outer core and the planetary rotation.

The core spins one way for a while, stopping, and spins the other way for a while. A complete rotation takes 70 years. The last rotation change took place in the 1970s and the next rotation change will be in the mid-2040s.

Some media outlets ran headlines that skipped the “inner” part of the Earth’s core. Some people may translate that as, “We’re all gonna to die!” Those kinds of headlines will get clicks.

For the non-scientist reading those articles, there’s not a whole lot of there there. Few people will bother to click on the link to the research report. Fewer people will pay ten bucks to rent the report for 48 hours and read beyond the first page.

Unless you’re a geophysicist, it’s all gobbledygook anyway.

NOTE: Check out the longer version of this short video.

The Earth’s Core Stops Spinning (Movie vs Science)

The Earth’s Core Stops Spinning (Movie vs Science)

You may have missed the recent science news that the Earth’s core is slowing down and may stop spinning. What could go wrong if the Earth’s core stops spinning?

The electromagnetic field around the Earth would collapse and all life burns to a crisp by solar radiation. If that sounds like a bad science fiction movie, “The Core” with Aaron Eckhart and Hillary Swank came out in 2003.

How does a 20-year-old science fiction movie stack up against today’s science news?

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What 56% Of Americans Don’t Know About Arabic Numerals

A survey question by Civic Science found that 56% of Americans are against teaching Arabic numerals to kids. What are Arabic numerals? Zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine. The everyday numbers that schools have taught kids in the West for the last 800 years.

Snopes weighed in with a “true” rating, noting that the survey was like another viral survey question from December 2015. Public Policy Polling found that 41% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats were in favor of bombing “Agrabah,” the fictional city of Disney’s Aladdin. I very much doubt that Will Smith will be singing “bomb, bomb, bomb, Agrabah,” in the live action version of Disney’s Aladdin at the movie theaters this week.

What does the survey questions about Arabic numerals and Aladdin reveal about Americans?

Read more “What 56% Of Americans Don’t Know About Arabic Numerals”