4396 comments

• posted by WilliamLor Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 17:12

  New design revealed for Airbus hydrogen plane
  renzo
  
  In travel news this week: Bhutan’s spectacular new airport, the world’s first 3D-printed train station has been built in Japan, plus new designs for Airbus’ zero-emission aircraft and France’s next-generation high-speed trains.
  
  Grand designs
  European aerospace giant Airbus has revealed a new design for its upcoming fully electric, hydrogen-powered ZEROe aircraft. powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
  
  The single-aisle plane now has four engines, rather than six, each powered by their own fuel cell stack.
  
  The reworked design comes after the news that the ZEROe will be in our skies later than Airbus hoped.
  
  The plan was to launch a zero-emission aircraft by 2035, but now the next-generation single-aisle aircraft is slated to enter service in the second half of the 2030s.
  
  Over in Asia, the Himalayan country of Bhutan is building a gloriously Zen-like new airport befitting a nation with its very own happiness index.
  
  Gelephu International is designed to serve a brand new “mindfulness city,” planned for southern Bhutan, near its border with India.
  
  In rail travel, Japan has just built the world’s first 3D-printed train station, which took just two and a half hours to construct, according to The Japan Times. That’s even shorter than the whizzy six hours it was projected to take.
  
  France’s high-speed TGV rail service has revealed its next generation of trains, which will be capable of reaching speeds of up to 320 kilometers an hour (nearly 200 mph).
  
  The stylish interiors have been causing a stir online, as has the double-decker dining car.
  
  Finally, work is underway in London on turning a mile-long series of secret World War II tunnels under a tube station into a major new tourist attraction. CNN took a look inside.

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• posted by Jamesker Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 17:07

  Wellness perfectionism doesn’t exist. Focus on these sustainable habits
  sushiswap exchange
  ou’re scrolling through your phone when you stumble upon the next viral trend: an influencer claiming that following their incredibly strict diet will help you achieve their jaw-dropping physique. Or you see a fresh-faced runner swearing you can run a marathon without any training — just like they did.
  
  Whether or not you’re actively searching for wellness advice, it’s nearly impossible to avoid hearing about the latest health craze making bold guarantees of transformation.
  
  As you wonder if these claims hold any truth, you might also question why people often feel motivated to dive into intense challenges — when seemingly simple habits, such as getting enough sleep or eating more vegetables, often feel much harder to tackle.
  
  Many of us are drawn to these extreme challenges because we’re craving radical change, hoping it will help prove something to ourselves or to others, experts say.
  
  “We always see these kinds of challenges as opportunities for growth, particularly if we’re in a phase of our life where we’ve let ourselves go,” said Dr. Thomas Curran, associate professor of psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science and an expert on perfectionism. “Maybe we feel that we need to be healthier, or we just had a breakup or (major) life event.”
  With social media amplifying these movements, it’s easy to see why people are increasingly drawn to the idea of achieving the “perfect” version of themselves. But before jumping into a new wellness challenge, it’s important to take a moment, reflect on your goals, and consider where you’re starting from.

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• posted by 1win_gtkt Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 16:55

  1-win 1-win .

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• posted by Davidloara Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 16:51

  While the Cumberland sample may contain longer chains of fatty acids, SAM is not designed to detect them. But SAM’s ability to spot these larger molecules suggests it could detect similar chemical signatures of past life on Mars if they’re present, Williams said.
  convex finance
  “Curiosity is not a life detection mission,” Freissinet said. “Curiosity is a habitability detection mission to know if all the conditions were right … for life to evolve. Having these results, it’s really at the edge of the capabilities of Curiosity, and it’s even maybe better than what we had expected from this mission.”
  
  Before sending missions to Mars, scientists didn’t think organic molecules would be found on the red planet because of the intensity of radiation Mars has long endured, Glavin said.
  Curiosity won’t return to Yellowknife Bay during its mission, but there are still pristine pieces of the Cumberland sample aboard. Next, the team wants to design a new experiment to see what it can detect. If the team can identify similar long-chain molecules, it would mark another step forward that might help researchers determine their origins, Freissinet said.
  
  “That’s the most precious sample we have on board … waiting for us to run the perfect experiment on it,” she said. “It holds secrets, and we need to decipher the secrets.”
  
  Briony Horgan, coinvestigator on the Perseverance rover mission and professor of planetary science at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, called the detection “a big win for the whole team.” Horgan was not involved the study.
  “This detection really confirms our hopes that sediments laid down in ancient watery environments on Mars could preserve a treasure trove of organic molecules that can tell us about everything from prebiotic processes and pathways for the origin of life, to potential biosignatures from ancient organisms,” Horgan said.
  
  Dr. Ben K.D. Pearce, assistant professor in Purdue’s department of Earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences and leader of the Laboratory for Origins and Astrobiology Research, called the findings “arguably the most exciting organic detection to date on Mars.” Pearce did not participate in the research.

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• posted by JasonNisse Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 16:49

  Arctic auroras
  ethena
  For getting around during winter, the Inuit here nowadays prefer snowmobiles, although they still keep their sled dogs. During winter they’ll offer intrepid visitors, wrapped up warm against the deep-freeze temperatures, dog-sledding jaunts. These can last either an hour or be part of expeditions over several days, sometimes with the added experience of learning how to build an igloo. Sisimiut on the west coast and Tasilaq in the southeast are active winter centers for dog sledding.
  
  Winter’s most stellar attraction, though, is northern lights watching. With little urban light pollution, Greenland is a dark canvas for spectacular displays, and aurora borealis-watching vacations are becoming more popular.
  
  Staying outdoors, Greenland is developing a reputation among adventure enthusiasts: from long-distance skiing expeditions and heliskiing on the icecap to hiking the 100-mile-long Arctic Circle Trail from Kangerslussuaq, where firearms need to be carried for warning shots in case of polar bear encounters.
  
  Life is definitely changing here. The climate crisis is eating away at its icecap and Greenland may well end up as a pawn in a game of geopolitical chess. But for now, the bright glare of international attention should shine a favorable light on one of the wildest travel destinations on Earth.
  
  Travel writer Mark Stratton is an Arctic specialist who has traveled to Greenland six times and counting. He’s marveled at the aurora borealis, sailed to Disko Island, dog-sledded with the Inuit, and once got stuck in an icefloe.

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• posted by JasonswifF Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 16:11

  Water and life
  stargate finance
  Lightning is a dramatic display of electrical power, but it is also sporadic and unpredictable. Even on a volatile Earth billions of years ago, lightning may have been too infrequent to produce amino acids in quantities sufficient for life — a fact that has cast doubt on such theories in the past, Zare said.
  
  Water spray, however, would have been more common than lightning. A more likely scenario is that mist-generated microlightning constantly zapped amino acids into existence from pools and puddles, where the molecules could accumulate and form more complex molecules, eventually leading to the evolution of life.
  
  “Microdischarges between obviously charged water microdroplets make all the organic molecules observed previously in the Miller-Urey experiment,” Zare said. “We propose that this is a new mechanism for the prebiotic synthesis of molecules that constitute the building blocks of life.”
  
  However, even with the new findings about microlightning, questions remain about life’s origins, he added. While some scientists support the notion of electrically charged beginnings for life’s earliest building blocks, an alternative abiogenesis hypothesis proposes that Earth’s first amino acids were cooked up around hydrothermal vents on the seafloor, produced by a combination of seawater, hydrogen-rich fluids and extreme pressure.
  
  Researchers identified salt minerals in the Bennu samples that were deposited as a result of brine evaporation from the asteroid’s parent body. In particular, they found a number of sodium salts, such as the needles of hydrated sodium carbonate highlighted in purple in this false-colored image – salts that could easily have been compromised if the samples had been exposed to water in Earth’s atmosphere.
  
  Related article
  Yet another hypothesis suggests that organic molecules didn’t originate on Earth at all. Rather, they formed in space and were carried here by comets or fragments of asteroids, a process known as panspermia.
  
  “We still don’t know the answer to this question,” Zare said. “But I think we’re closer to understanding something more about what could have happened.”
  
  Though the details of life’s origins on Earth may never be fully explained, “this study provides another avenue for the formation of molecules crucial to the origin of life,” Williams said. “Water is a ubiquitous aspect of our world, giving rise to the moniker ‘Blue Marble’ to describe the Earth from space. Perhaps the falling of water, the most crucial element that sustains us, also played a greater role in the origin of life on Earth than we previously recognized.”

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• posted by JesseTor Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 16:11

  Josh Giddey hits halfcourt buzzer-beater over LeBron James to cap wild finale as the Bulls stun the Lakers
  quickswap exchange
  Josh Giddey hit a game-winning, halfcourt buzzer-beater over LeBron James as the Chicago Bulls stunned the Los Angeles Lakers in one of the wildest endings to an NBA game you are ever likely to see.
  
  Trailing 115-110 with 12.6 seconds remaining, Giddey’s inbound pass found Nikola Vucevic, who pushed the ball to a wide-open Patrick Williams for a corner three-pointer.
  
  James then fluffed the Lakers inbound pass from the baseline, allowing Giddey to steal the ball and find Coby White for a second Bulls triple in quick succession to put Chicago up 116-115 with 6.1 seconds remaining.
  Austin Reaves then made a driving layup to put the Lakers ahead 117-116 with 3.3 seconds left, but the game wasn’t done yet.
  
  With no timeouts remaining, Giddey inbounded the ball to Williams from the baseline, got the pass back, took one dribble and launched a shot from beyond halfcourt.
  
  Supporters in the stands seemed frozen in anticipation as the ball sailed through the air, and the United Center then erupted as it fell through the net. After the dramatic win, Giddey found himself being swarmed by his teammates.
  
  “Special moment to do it with these guys, this team,” Giddey said, per ESPN. “We’ve shown over the last month to six weeks that we can beat anybody. The way we play the game, I think it wears people down.
  
  “We get up and down. We run. We put heat on them to get back. A lot of veteran teams don’t particularly want to get back and play in transition.”
  
  Giddey later told the Bulls broadcast that he’d “never made a game-winner before.”
  
  The ending capped an incredible couple of games for the Lakers, who had themselves won their last game against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday with a buzzer-beating tip-in from James.

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• posted by Rogertaf Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 16:01

  Siham Haleem, a private tour guide for 15 years, says that Doha now has many world-class, modern museums — the National Museum of Qatar being a firm personal favorite. And yet he says that visiting Sheikh Faisal’s museum should still be on everybody’s to-do list.
  simpleswap
  “For those eager to learn about Qatar’s — and the region’s — heritage and beyond, the museum is an ideal destination,” he says. “Personally, I’m captivated by the car collection, the fossils, and especially the Syrian house, painstakingly transported and reassembled piece by piece.”
  
  Stephanie Y. Martinez, a Mexican-American student mobility manager at Texas A&M University in Qatar likes the museum so much she includes it on all of her itineraries for students visiting from the main campus in Texas.
  
  “The guided tours are very detailed, and the collections found at the museum have great variety and so many stories to unfold,” she says. “Truly, the museum has something to pique everyone’s interest. My favorites are the cars and the furniture exhibits showcasing wood and mother-of-pearl details. Definitely one of my favorite museums in Qatar, every time I visit I learn something new.”
  
  Raynor Abreu, from India, also had praise for the unusual and immense collection.
  
  “Each item has its own story, making the visit even more interesting,” he says. “It’s also impressive to know that Sheikh Faisal started collecting these unique pieces when he was very young. Knowing this makes the museum even more special, as it reflects his lifelong passion for history and culture.”
  
  It takes time and dedication to truly examine the many collections within the museum — especially since most of them are simply on display without explanation.
  
  Eclectic it may be, but it’s hard to fault the determination of Sheikh Faisal, who has brought together items that tell the story of Qatar and the Middle East.
  
  Sarah Bayley, from the UK, says she visited the museum recently with her family, including 16 and 19-year-old teenagers, and was won over by its sheer eccentricity.
  
  “Amazing. Loved it. It is a crazy place.”

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• posted by RodgerCam Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 15:47

  Remote and rugged
  eigenlayer
  A more organic way to see this coast is by the multi-day coastal ferry, the long-running Sarfaq Ittuk, of the Arctic Umiaq Line. It’s less corporate than the modern cruise ships and travelers get to meet Inuit commuters. Greenland is pricey. Lettuce in a local community store might cost $10, but this coastal voyage won’t break the bank.
  
  The hot ticket currently for exploring Greenland’s wilder side is to head to the east coast facing Europe. It’s raw and sees far fewer tourists, with a harshly dramatic coastline of fjords where icebergs drift south. There are no roads and the scattered population of just over 3,500 people inhabit a coastline roughly the distance from New York to Denver.
  
  A growing number of small expedition vessels probe this remote coast for its frosted scenery and wildlife. Increasingly popular is the world’s largest fjord system of Scoresby Sound with its sharp-fanged mountains and hanging valleys choked by glaciers. Sailing north is the prosaically named North East Greenland National Park, fabulous for spotting wildlife on the tundra.
  
  Travelers come to see polar bears which, during the northern hemisphere’s summer, move closer to land as the sea-ice melts. There are also musk oxen, great flocks of migrating geese, Arctic foxes and walrus.
  Some of these animals are fair game for the local communities. Perhaps Greenland’s most interesting cultural visit is to a village that will take longer to learn how to pronounce than actually walk around — Ittoqqortoormiit. Five hundred miles north of its neighboring settlement, the 345 locals are frozen in for nine months of the year. Ships sail in to meet them during the brief summer melt between June and August.
  
  Locked in by ice, they’ve retained traditional habits.
  
  “My parents hunt nearly all their food,” said Mette Barselajsen, who owns Ittoqqortoormiit’s only guesthouse. “They prefer the old ways, burying it in the ground to ferment and preserve it. Just one muskox can bring 440 pounds of meat.”

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• posted by ChesterHig Domenica, 30 Marzo 2025 15:45

  Curiosity has maintained pristine pieces of the Cumberland sample in a “doggy bag” so that the team could have the rover revisit it later, even miles away from the site where it was collected. The team developed and tested innovative methods in its lab on Earth before sending messages to the rover to try experiments on the sample.
  changelly
  In a quest to see whether amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, existed in the sample, the team instructed the rover to heat up the sample twice within SAM’s oven. When it measured the mass of the molecules released during heating, there weren’t any amino acids, but they found something entirely unexpected.
  
  An intriguing detection
  The team was surprised to detect small amounts of decane, undecane and dodecane, so it had to conduct a reverse experiment on Earth to determine whether these organic compounds were the remnants of the fatty acids undecanoic acid, dodecanoic acid and tridecanoic acid, respectively.
  
  The scientists mixed undecanoic acid into a clay similar to what exists on Mars and heated it up in a way that mimicked conditions within SAM’s oven. The undecanoic acid released decane, just like what Curiosity detected.
  
  Each fatty acid remnant detected by Curiosity was made with a long chain of 11 to 13 carbon atoms. Previous molecules detected on Mars were smaller, meaning their atomic weight was less than the molecules found in the new study, and simpler.
  “It’s notable that non-biological processes typically make shorter fatty acids, with less than 12 carbons,” said study coauthor Dr. Amy Williams, associate professor of geology at the University of Florida and assistant director of the Astraeus Space Institute, in an email. “Larger and more complex molecules are likely what are required for an origin of life, if it ever occurred on Mars.”

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