Portal:Science
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Scientists maintain that scientific investigation must adhere to the scientific method, a process for properly developing and evaluating natural explanations for observable phenomena based on empirical study and independent verification. Science typically, therefore, rejects supernatural explanations, arguments from authority and biased observational studies.
Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines: Natural sciences, which study natural phenomena; and Social sciences, which study human behavior and societies. Whether mathematics is a science is a matter of perspective.
Fields of science can be further distinguished as pure science or applied science. Pure science is principally involved with the discovery of new truths with less (or no) regard to their applications. Applied science is principally involved with the application of existing truths in new ways.
Erosion is an intrinsic natural process but in many places it is increased by human land use. Poor land use practices include deforestation, overgrazing, unmanaged construction activity and road or trail building. However, improved land use practices can limit erosion, using techniques like terrace-building and tree planting.
A certain amount of erosion is natural and, in fact, healthy for the ecosystem. For example, gravels continually move downstream in watercourses. Excessive erosion, however, can cause problems, such as receiving water sedimentation, ecosystem damage (including fish kills) and outright loss of soil.
The far side of the Moon as photographed by the crew of Apollo 11. The largest crater is Daedalus crater.
Her parents were Quakers who, unconventionally for their time, insisted on giving her the same quality of education that boys received. She worked as a librarian and also pursued astronomy at her father's observatory.
Using a telescope, she discovered "Miss Mitchell's Comet" (Comet 1847 VI, modern designation is C/1847 T1) in the autumn of 1847. Some years previously, King Frederick VI of Denmark had established gold medal prizes to each discoverer of a "telescopic comet" (too faint to be seen with the naked eye). The prize was to be awarded to the "first discoverer" of each such comet (note that comets are often independently discovered by more than one person). She duly won one of these prizes, and this gave her worldwide fame, since the only previous woman to discover a comet had been Caroline Herschel.
...that Abbott Lawrence Rotch established the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory in 1885, which maintains the longest-running meteorological record of any observation site in the United States?
...that silica aerogel holds 15 entries in the Guinness Book of Records for material properties, including best insulator and lowest-density solid?
...that acoustic levitation is a method for suspending matter in a fluid by using acoustic radiation pressure from intense sound waves in the medium?
...Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare infection of subcutaneous tissues that results in the necrosis of the flesh?
...Napalm-B used in the Vietnam War was synthesized with only three ingredients: polystyrene, gasoline, and benzene?
...that a laser harp is an electronic musical instrument consisting of several laser beams that are blocked to produce sound?
- December 10: Space shuttle Discovery launches from Cape Canaveral on its mission to the International Space Station (BBCNews)
- December 8: A reinforcing linkage between Malaria and HIV infections is proposed as an explanation for the fast spread of both diseases in Africa. The study is published in Science. (BBCNews)
- December 7: The launch of space shuttle Discovery is scrubbed due to low clouds and rescheduled for December 10 (local time: December 9). (Spaceflight Now)
- December 6: A study by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Denmark does not produce any statistically significant link between cancer and cell phone use. It is based on about 400,000 cell phone users. (Reuters)
- December 6: Scientist working for the Malin Space Science Systems present pictures of newly formed features on Mars that indicate erosion by liquids in recent years. NASA members interpret these features as being created by liquid water. (BBCNews)
- December 5: NASA announces that it plans to build a permanently occupied station on the Moon, and shuttle persons to it regularly by 2020. (BBCNews) (Reuters)
- December 1: Science publishes a study of a meteorite found at Tagish Lake. It describes small cavities that have organic molecule on their surfaces. (BBCNews)
- November 29: Ultrasound acoustic levitation is used to float such animals as ants, ladybugs, and fish in Northern China. (Nature)
