marcus snowden

The Last Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan Plead for U.S. Help

The last community of Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan is seeking asylum in the U.S. after suffering an attack by Islamic State extremists, posing a test of the Trump administration’s pledge to protect and support religious minorities world-wide. The Islamic State attack targeting a Sikh temple in Kabul last month killed 25 people, while dozens…

Earth-size, habitable zone planet found hidden in early NASA Kepler data

Kepler-1649c (Photo Courtesy: NASA) Kepler-1649c (Photo Courtesy: NASA) WASHINGTON —  A team of transatlantic scientists, using reanalyzed data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, has discovered an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting in its star’s habitable zone, the area around a star where a rocky planet could support liquid water. Scientists discovered this planet, called Kepler-1649c, when looking through…

Space Photos of the Week: 50 Years After Apollo 13

Fifty years ago, on April 11, 1970, the Apollo 13 mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Like Apollo 11 and Apollo 12, the goal of the mission was to land on the Moon. However astronauts Jim Lovell, John Swigert, and Fred Haise would face a nearly fatal issue with their capsule. Just…

What were those lights in the sky?

SCIENCE A SpaceX ‘satellite train’ is the most likely explanation, says KGW meteorologist Matt Zaffino. PORTLAND, Ore. — KGW got dozens of reports into our newsroom of strange lights in the sky both Thursday and Friday night. From Longview to Lake Oswego, people counted dozens of objects pass overhead, from the Southwest to the Northeast.”Just counted…

Why these Quasar jets appear to travel faster than light

Quasar jets imaged by the Earth Horizon Telescope (EHT) show galactic movements in unprecedented detail. Movements of vast quantities of gas, racing away from Quasar 3C 279 at speeds near the speed of light, reveal signs of a violent past. In 2019, the The Earth Horizon Telescope (EHT), a network of radio telescopes, released the…

Bidet Makers See Their Moment and Scramble to Make a Splash

Jason Ojalvo, CEO of direct-to-consumer bidet company Tushy, knew that America’s backsides couldn’t wait. Watching demand skyrocket on his online sales dashboard as America’s great toilet-paper crisis of 2020 left store shelves bare and shoppers panicking, he decided to take drastic measures to guarantee ongoing supply. He would ship bidets directly from China by air.…

Dems Say Trump Admin’s Lack of Nationwide Testing a ‘Dereliction of Duty’

Democratic lawmakers were left furious and dissatisfied after a conference call Friday with White House officials over the Trump administration’s inability to test large swaths of the public for the novel coronavirus, characterizing the federal government’s national testing capability as “inadequate.”The conversation was between Senate Democrats and Vice President Mike Pence, along with additional members…

Officials Assure Americans of ‘Abundant’ Meat Supply in U.S. as Coronavirus Forces Plant Closures

Americans have grown increasingly concerned over the last two weeks about consumer access to meat and poultry as processing plants began shuttering in response to COVID-19 cases among employees.But the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), which represents companies responsible for 90 percent of red meat production and 70 percent of turkey production in the U.S.,…