Crooked Bough News Round-up

— Firefly’s rocket suffers one of the strangest launch failures we’ve ever seen

 

at 4/29/25 1:10pm

The rocket's first stage may have exploded moments after it separated from the upper stage.

[Category: Science, Space, alpha rocket, Commercial space, Firefly Aerospace, launch, Lockheed Martin, Vandenberg space force base]

— Physics of the perfect cacio e pepe sauce

 

at 4/29/25 9:42am

The trick: Add corn starch separately to make the sauce rather than using pasta water.

[Category: Science, fluid dynamics, Food science, phase separation, Physics, rheology]

— Trump’s National Climate Assessment: No funding and all authors cut loose

 

at 4/29/25 9:30am

The assessment is required by law, but the administration is not noted for caring.

[Category: Policy, Science, climate assessment, climate change, law, trump administration]

— A rocket launch Monday night may finally jump-start Amazon’s answer to Starlink

 

at 4/29/25 8:28am

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off from Florida with 27 Kuiper satellites.

[Category: Science, Space, Amazon, atlas v, broadband, cape canaveral, Commercial space, project kuiper, united launch alliance]

— Spain is about to face the challenge of a “black start”

 

at 4/28/25 4:27pm

Major power facilities require power to operate, and there's lots of unmet demand.

[Category: Science, black start, blackout, Energy, grid management, Portugal, power grid, spain]

— 50 years later, Vietnam’s environment still bears the scars of war

 

at 4/28/25 12:54pm

Degraded ecosystems and dioxin-contaminated soils and waters reflect the long-term ecological impact.

[Category: Science, syndication, vietnam war]

— New study: There are lots of icy super-Earths

 

at 4/25/25 3:06pm

"Microlensing" lets us find planets at much greater distances from their star.

[Category: Science, astronomy, exoplanets, microlensing]

— A grim signal: Atmospheric CO2 soared in 2024

 

at 4/25/25 10:25am

Scientists are worried because they can’t fully explain the big jump, but it might mean that carbon absorption is slowing down.

[Category: Science, climate change, syndication]

— Rocket Report: The pitfalls of rideshare; China launches next Tiangong crew

 

at 4/25/25 5:00am

This week, engineers ground-tested upgrades for Blue Origin's New Glenn and Europe's Ariane 6.

[Category: Science, Space, Arianespace, astra, blue origin, china, human spaceflight, launch, NASA, rocket report, spacex, united launch alliance]

— A 2,000-year-old battle ended in fire, and a tree species never recovered

 

at 4/24/25 3:55pm

An ancient Chinese army set fire to an enemy capital, but things got out of hand.

[Category: Science, ancient china, ancient warfare, Archaeology, endangered species, han dynasty, save the trees]

— NSF director resigns amid 55% budget cut, mass layoffs from Trump admin

 

at 4/24/25 1:48pm

The director did not state a reason for the resignation.

[Category: Science, doge, NSF, resignation, trump administration]

— Bone collector caterpillar adorns itself in insect body parts

 

at 4/24/25 12:00pm

The caterpillars even tailor the body parts, nibbling away at excess material to ensure a proper fit.

[Category: Science, animal behavior, caterpillars, entymology, insects, lepidoptera, moths]

— Sadly for China, rare Earth elements aren’t actually all that rare

 

at 4/24/25 8:01am

China has limited US access, but other sources remain.

[Category: Science, rare earth metals, syndication, us-china trade war]

— Can the legal system catch up with climate science?

 

at 4/23/25 3:00pm

New estimate: Fossil fuel companies have caused trillions of dollars in damages.

[Category: Science, attribution, climate change, costs, liability]

— Drunk man walks into climate change, burns the bottoms of his feet off

 

at 4/22/25 4:25pm

Climate change is a danger to health in a wide variety of ways.

[Category: Health, Science, asphalt, burns, climate change]

— Harvard sues to block government funding cuts

 

at 4/22/25 12:28pm

Suit claims the funding freeze violates First Amendment, Title VI procedures.

[Category: Policy, Science, First Amendment, Harvard, lawsuit, research funding, Title VI, trump administration]

— Are these chimps having a fruity booze-up in the wild?

 

at 4/21/25 1:18pm

New data suggests that the human inclination toward feasting in groups is part of our deep evolutionary history.

[Category: Science, animal behavior, Biology, chimpanzees, primates]

— Ghost forests are growing as sea levels rise

 

at 4/20/25 5:05am

As trees choked by saltwater die along low-lying coasts, marshes may move in.

[Category: Science, ghost forest, rising sea, sea level rise, syndication]

— Lichens can survive almost anything, and some might survive Mars

 

at 4/19/25 5:07am

The symbiotic organisms appear to be able to avoid some radiation damage.

[Category: Science, Biology, lichens, Mars, radiation resistance]

— To regenerate a head, you first have to know where your tail is

 

at 4/18/25 12:40pm

Planaria can't replace a missing head until after the tail develops sufficiently.

[Category: Science, Biology, planaria, regeneration]

— Rover finds hints of an ancient Martian carbon cycle

 

at 4/18/25 11:22am

Rather than cycling, some of Mars' carbon took a one-way trip into rocks.

[Category: Science, carbon cycle, Climate science, Curiosity rover, greenhouse gasses, Mars, minerals]

As of 4/30/25 1:26am. Last new 4/29/25 2:22pm.