All posts tagged: Earth

Earth Tones Down Xenomorph Gore, Embraces Wide Shots & Tension

Earth Tones Down Xenomorph Gore, Embraces Wide Shots & Tension

Published by Daniella Wilson

Writer-director Noah Hawley has a style he’s developed over the past 16 years working with editor Regis Kimble across their FX shows Fargo, Legion and, now, Alien: Earth: What is the lowest number of cuts they can get away with? “Noah’s totally into trying to tell the story with the least amount of cuts,” Kimble says. “He likes to give the audience an opportunity to extract what they want from [a scene], instead of force-feeding people coverage.” Another stylistic preference: holding wide shots and rarely indulging in close-ups. “We stay wide in a lot of places and sit in shots for quite a long time,” he explains. “We do use close-ups, but they’re earned by the time we land on them, rather than having every line of dialogue in a close-up.” It’s a style that’s somewhat similar to that of Stanley Kubrick, as well as the Coen brothers (the latter whom, of course, created the original theatrical version of Fargo). It’s also quite suitable for an outright horror series like Alien: Earth. There is something …

Move over, giant meteor. Here’s what the largest comet would do to Earth

Move over, giant meteor. Here’s what the largest comet would do to Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

Out there, in the farthest recesses of the Solar System, a great existential threat lies in wait: the Oort cloud. Formed at the same time as the protostar that would become our Sun and the protoplanetary disk that would give rise to the planets, asteroids, and moons, it largely consists of the remnants of that same primitive material. Whatever wasn’t either boiled off by the Sun or locked up into the planetary, lunar, asteroidal, or Kuiper belt objects we have today persisted in series of objects, ranging from tiny to planet-sized, in a spheroidal cloud. The closest Oort cloud objects might “only” originate from a thousand times the Earth-Sun distance, but the full extent of this cloud reaches up to one or two light-years away. Today, these bodies, mostly a mix of ice-and-rock, remain in slow, quasi-stable orbits in the deepest recesses of our Solar System. But every once in a while, a chance gravitational encounter will perturb the orbit of one of those objects, and either eject it from the cloud into interstellar space …

Rare lunar meteorite was smacked three times before finally hitting Earth

Rare lunar meteorite was smacked three times before finally hitting Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. A rare type of meteorite discovered in Mali is revealing a multibillion-year tale of lunar catastrophes. With its unique composition, astronomers are beginning to better understand the processes that shaped not only the moon and Earth, but the solar system itself. The study recently published in the journal Geology is nearly 10 years in the making and focuses on a meteorite classified as NWA 12593. Found in the west African nation in 2017, experts soon recognized the space rock as an especially unique specimen. NWA 12593 is one of only 53 known lunar breccia—a meteorite formed by the amalgamation of multiple moon fragments during separate impacts billions of years ago.  “Breccias are similar to what you would see if you went and chipped …

10 big questions about the search for life beyond Earth

10 big questions about the search for life beyond Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

In our quest to understand what’s out there in the Universe, one cosmic unknown looms larger than all the rest: are there other examples of life, complex life, intelligent life, and technologically advanced life out there beyond planet Earth? And if there are other examples out there, a slew of follow-up questions seem inevitable. How common, uncommon, or rare are those types of life? Are there other technologically advanced, or even spacefaring, civilizations out there, perhaps even within our own Milky Way? Where, and under what conditions, have other forms of life arisen? Are the chemical and biological pathways that life took on Earth universal, and if not, what are the variations that are out there? And is life on Earth the pinnacle of what life in the Universe can become, or are there even grander examples of biological (or technological) success out there, perhaps for us to learn from as well? It was only a short while ago that I took stock of where we are today — and where we’d like to go …

ESA and EBRD expand Earth observation data use in development finance

ESA and EBRD expand Earth observation data use in development finance

Published by skeptic

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have signed a new cooperation agreement to increase the use of Earth observation data in development and impact finance projects. The agreement was formalised during the EBRD Annual Meeting in Riga, Latvia, on 6 June, with the partnership building on nearly two years of exploratory work between the organisations, including pilot activities linked to the EBRD Green Cities programme. By combining satellite-derived insights with development financing initiatives, both institutions aim to improve project planning, implementation and long-term outcomes. The expected result is greater integration of space-based technologies into sustainable development programmes, enabling more accurate monitoring, stronger decision-making and enhanced measurement of environmental and social impacts. Commenting on the collaboration, Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said: “This partnership with the EBRD reflects the strength of European cooperation in addressing global challenges. “By working together, we can further unlock the potential of Earth observation data and services, ensuring they are fully integrated into development initiatives that deliver real-world impact. “ESA’s …

Tessera AI model opens new era for Earth observation research

Tessera AI model opens new era for Earth observation research

Published by skeptic

Researchers at the University of Cambridge and international partners have expanded access to the Tessera AI model, a foundation model built using Earth observation data from the European Copernicus programme’s Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites. The system has now been formally introduced to the scientific community through a peer-reviewed paper presented at the 2026 IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). The Tessera AI model transforms massive volumes of satellite imagery into compact datasets known as embeddings, allowing scientists to analyse environmental change without processing raw imagery. By combining radar and optical satellite observations, the model creates detailed annual representations of Earth’s surface at a 10-metre resolution. The result is a significantly more accessible way to work with Earth observation data. Researchers can generate maps, track environmental change and develop predictive models using far less computing power and labelled training data than traditional approaches require. The Tessera AI model explained Tessera, short for Temporal Embeddings of Surface Spectra for Earth Representation and Analysis, is an AI foundation model designed specifically for Earth observation applications. …

New Yorkers go scorched earth on Trump attendance at Knicks-Spurs Game 3: ‘Selfish weirdo’

New Yorkers go scorched earth on Trump attendance at Knicks-Spurs Game 3: ‘Selfish weirdo’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Fans of the New York Knicks are begging Donald Trump to stay away from Game 3 of the NBA Finals after his plan to attend has prompted enhanced security measures and concerns of courtside tension. The president, a longtime Knicks fan, confirmed last week that he will be at Madison Square Garden for Monday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs, which will mark the first NBA Finals game in New York since 1999. The announcement led the Knicks to announce Saturday that a strict no-bag policy will be enforced at the iconic venue, along with “TSA-style screening procedures.” The team warned fans to bring as little as possible to the game, and encouraged them to arrive at least two hours before the scheduled 8:40 …

Earth, Wind & Fire’s music is universal

Earth, Wind & Fire’s music is universal

Published by Sam Flores

There’s an Earth, Wind & Fire song to suit every mood and memory.  Hip-hop artist and producer Anderson .Paak associates their music with childhood road trips. R&B singer-songwriter H.E.R. says her dad taught her to play the bass line of “Shining Star.” Mine marks a turning point for the band explored midway through “Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s The Weight Of The World),” the new two-hour documentary from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Shortly after “Shining Star” was released in 1975, it became the band’s first No. 1 hit, evidence of their audience diversifying in a way few other R&B bands of their time could claim. The band’s founder, Maurice White, and the rest of its members were ready to record their next hit. Then their main producer and White’s mentor, Charles Stepney, suddenly died in 1976. Blindsides are mainstays in films like this, just as in life, and tend to be followed by emotional fractures or wobbles of faith. But where other artists might have spiraled, White and his compatriots transcended, turning …

JWST spots dormant black hole 10 billion light-years from Earth

JWST spots dormant black hole 10 billion light-years from Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Anything unfortunate enough to venture too close to a black hole inevitably falls prey to the gargantuan object’s inescapable gravitational pull. But that doesn’t mean a black hole is constantly devouring its next cosmic meal. In many cases, there comes a time when there simply isn’t anything left in its vicinity to consume. Although these dormant black holes don’t go anywhere, astronomers have a tough time detecting and observing them. That hasn’t stopped researchers from successfully spotting the most distant example ever seen. At over 10 billion light-years from Earth, the dormant black hole inside the galaxy MRG-M0138 is 15 times farther away than the prior record holder. As astronomers explained in a study published on June 4 in the journal Science, the …

Early galaxy collisions may explain why giant galaxies died young

Early galaxy collisions may explain why giant galaxies died young

Published by Jenni Sidey

A new study suggests that some of the Universe’s earliest giant galaxies may have lived dramatic lives. They began as dusty stellar factories, producing hundreds of stars each year, before suddenly shutting down and becoming cosmic graveyards. The research offers a possible explanation for one of astronomy’s most persistent puzzles: how massive galaxies formed so quickly after the Big Bang and then stopped making stars while the Universe was still young. The study was conducted by researchers at the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics, and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of São Paulo (IAG-USP) in Brazil and international collaborators. The work links two seemingly different classes of galaxies in the early Universe and proposes a common evolutionary path between them. A Mystery From the Dawn of Cosmic History Astronomers have long been puzzled by the existence of massive quiescent galaxies, often called MQs. These systems contain enormous numbers of stars yet show little or no ongoing star formation. Even more surprising, they appeared when the Universe was only 3 to 4 billion years old. The timing …