By Passant Rabie Published March 4, 2025 | Comments (0) | Firefly's Blue Ghost landing moments before reaching the lunar surface Firefly Aerospace/Gizmodo Landing on the Moon is no easy feat; the lunar surface has become a graveyard for far too many missions that came to untimely ends. But Fireflys Blue Ghost conquered the lunar surface a few days ago, and is now standing tall on the Moon. Landing on the Moon never looked so good, with Blue Ghost capturing incredible footage of its historic touchdown with a cinematic finale thats fitting for its name. Fireflys first mission to the Moon touched down on the lunar surface on Sunday at 3:34 a.m. ET. The Texas-based company released a clip of Blue Ghosts descent toward the Moon followed by a smooth landing. The footage is a masterclass in lunar landings, capturing striking views of the lander emerging from a cloud of dust, its shadow stretching across the Moons surface in a superhero-like stance. The nearly 3-minute video captures Blue Ghost as it gently makes its way down toward the Moon, gliding across the cratered, dark grey surface with its shiny, metallic wings. The video also includes hauntingly beautiful views of the Moon, with the Sun casting its light across the horizon. As Blue Ghost finally settles in on its designated landing spot, it kicks up a cloud of dust before settling onto the regolith. The lander casts its shadow across the lunar surface, appearing as a well-defined silhouette once the dust settles. The image of Blue Ghosts shadow is a reflection of the mission, which is set to pave the way for more commercial landers hoping to snag their own spot on the Moon.The mission, aptly named Ghost Riders in the Sky, touched down in Mare Crisium, a large impact site filled with basaltic lava on the Moon. Blue Ghost pulled off a precision landing, touching down within a 328-foot (100-meter) target next to a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille. Fireflys Blue Ghost lander on the Moon. Credit: Firefly Aerospace Since landing on the Moon, Blue Ghost has kicked off its surface operations, deploying its payloads, sampling lunar regolith, and capturing images. The stationary lander will spend a full lunar day (or the equivalent of 14 days on Earth) analyzing the Moons dusty surface. Blue Ghost is also packed with 10 NASA instruments designed to probe the lunar surface and gather data to support future human missions to the Moon as part of NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The NASA instruments are designed to test subsurface drilling on the Moon, regolith sample collection, satellite navigation technology, and lunar dust mitigation methods, according to NASA.Blue Ghost launched from Floridas Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, January 15, on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. With its cinematic landing, Firefly Aerospace became the second private company to land on the Moon, and the first to land with its spacecraft remaining upright (Intuitive Machines Odysseus lander tipped over on its side after landing on the Moon in February 2024). We cant wait to see more of Blue Ghosts journey unfold on the lunar surface. Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Passant Rabie Published March 3, 2025 By Adam Kovac Published March 1, 2025 By Adam Kovac Published February 28, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published February 28, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published February 28, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published February 26, 2025

DB Horizon House / SALSave this picture! Trieu ChienArchitects: SALAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:200 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Trieu ChienManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Hafele, TUILDONAI Lead Architect: Nguyen Hoang Xuan More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Located in Dien Khanh, a district bordering Nha Trang city to the west, DB Horizon is a garden house built to replace the old, deteriorated house that has been associated with a lot of beautiful memories. Despite many difficulties in terms of budget and local construction resources, we have managed to create a house that not only preserves traditional spiritual values but also adapts to today's modern lifestyle.Save this picture!Dien Khanh is about 10 kilometers from the center of Nha Trang City. In contrast to the rush and modern lifestyle of Nha Trang coastal city, Dien Khanh is a place with a slow pace of life, with the natural beauty of charming mountains and rivers. In addition to the beauty of extremely rich nature, this place is also associated with many architectural works and long-standing historical stories. The house is located in a village with low construction density, the surrounding buildings are all rural houses with perennial orchards. With a reasonable distance from the sea and Suoi Dau River in the south, the cool temperature and prevailing winds from the sea and river are a huge advantage for the site.Save this picture!Save this picture!The design request is a house with common and private spaces completely separate from each other. In addition, from the living room, their guests can not see through the family living space. The kitchen, dining room, and family room are airy and connected to each other, suitable for family parties. In addition to these requirements, watching the changing landscape of the countryside from above is an activity that has been closely associated with the family's tradition; it needs to be further developed and included in the project program. This spiritual element has been part of the history of the site since the formation of the first house. Looking out at the scenery from above, people gather together, and stories or memories, whether happy or sad, are filled with unforgettable emotions.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Based on these conditions mentioned above, we propose a program that includes functional areas with separate entrances for visitors. The ground floor has bedrooms and a garage. The first floor is designed as a traditional living space, including a living room, worship space, kitchen, dining room, common room, and a terrace. The thick metal roof with a moderate slope extends a lot on the facade to prevent rain and avoid direct sunlight into the house while creating a transitional space connecting two floors.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Instead of entering the house directly, the guests will walk up an outside staircase that leads to the living room and an outdoor terrace on the first floor. The living room is separated from the family's common living space by a cluster of functional blocks, including a worship space, kitchen, toilet, and a small storage. The first floor is completely surrounded by windows that can be opened when necessary, creating a 360-degree view. On the first floor, the surrounding landscape can be viewed from any functional space. The opened first floor, first floor terrace, and the transitional space in the ground floor are three elements connected together by an outside staircase, forming a continuous space with a ceiling height gradually decreasing from bottom to top, creating an interesting experience of space when moving.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!An internal staircase for family members, connecting the bedrooms on the ground floor to the first floor. The bedrooms are fully equipped with modern amenities, giving the feeling of a safe refuge with a completely different view of the surrounding garden in each room. All spaces in the house are naturally ventilated by a wooden louver system with an opening above. In addition, stretching along the East-West axis also increases the ability to catch the wind for the project.Save this picture!Our innovative design proposals help to realize a space with a traditional lifestyle but with a modern look. The house is like a contemporary living space with full natural elements such as sunlight, wind, water, plantings, and especially unlimited views of the landscape and the horizon, which will be transformed into urban areas in the near future.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on March 05, 2025Cite: "DB Horizon House / SAL" 04 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1027569/db-horizon-house-sal&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

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The Early Permian dissorophid Cacops displays its fearsome dentition as it preys on the hapless reptile Captorhinus. (Credit: Illustration by Brian Engh (dontmesswithdinosaurs.com))The dissorophid Cacops is classified as a temnospondyl, but this image is not related to the new study.NewsletterSign up for our email newsletter for the latest science newsOf all the animals facing a major mass extinction event 252 million years ago, it is perhaps appropriate that frog-like creatures were able to bounce back.The amphibious nature of proto-frogs called temnospondyls provided a food-seeking edge, according to a study in the journal Royal Society Open Science.Surviving a Mass-Extinction EventConditions during the Early Triassic were harsh. Repeated volcanic activity triggered long periods of global warming, aridification, reductions in atmospheric oxygen, acid rain, and widespread wildfires. The tropics became devoid of animal life, and as much as 90 percent of animal species went extinct.So how did the remaining 10 percent survive? While those conditions rendered much of the land a not-very-happy hunting ground, the temnospondyls generalist approach served them well. They found plenty of food in fresh water habitats, while their land-based competition starved.These were predatory animals that fed on fishes and other prey, but were primarily linked to the water, just like modern amphibians such as frogs and salamanders, Aamir Mehmood, a Bristol University biologist and co-author of the study, said in a press release.Read More: The Late Permian Mass Extinction ExplainedEvolutionary AdaptationsTo study how the temnospondyls adapted and survived over the next five million years, researchers examined about 100 of their fossils from throughout that period. They measured the fossils body size, skull shape, and teeth type, looking for adaptive advantages.Much to our surprise, we found that they did not change much through the crisis, Armin Elsler, a University of Bristol biologist and an author of the study, said in the release. The temnospondyls showed the same range of body sizes as in the Permian, some of them small and feeding on insects, and others larger. These larger forms included long-snouted animals that trapped fishes and broad-snouted generalist feeders.Crossing Dead ZonesDespite the intense heart, the temnospondyls were able to expand throughout the Earth, with fossils appearing in South Africa and Australia in the south, as well as North America, Europe, and Russia in the north. The authors theorize that they could cross what they call the tropical dead zones during brief cooling periods.While the lack of evolution kept the temnospondyls alive during the cataclysmic climate during the Triassics first five million years, their inability to adapt ultimately did them in.They coped with the hot conditions probably by having a low requirement for food, by being able to eat most prey animals, and by hiding in sparse water bodies, Mehmood added in the press release. "But when the ancestors of dinosaurs and of mammals began to diversify in the Middle Triassic, the temnospondyls began their long decline.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Royal Society Open Science. The ecology and geography of temnospondyl recovery after the Permian Triassic mass extinctionBefore joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.1 free article leftWant More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/monthSubscribeAlready a subscriber?Register or Log In1 free articleSubscribeWant more?Keep reading for as low as $1.99!SubscribeAlready a subscriber?Register or Log In

Those living in colder climates are no strangers to the occasional heavy snowfall, but few would be remotely prepared for 16 billion tons of snow dropping down in just a few days. As unthinkable as it sounds, this surplus of snow hit Greenland in March 2022 all from a single storm.According to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, this extreme snowfall event can be explained by atmospheric rivers narrow bands in the atmosphere that carry moisture and heat outside of Earths tropics. In this case, moisture flowed to cooler high latitudes and fell as solid precipitation at high elevations in Greenland. The March 2022 storm delivered enough snow to offset the Greenland ice sheets annual ice loss by 8 percent, leading researchers to wonder how atmospheric rivers will impact the Arctic in the future.Delivering Rain and SnowAtmospheric rivers are often cited as a catalyst for ice loss, as they deliver heat and rainfall from mid-latitudes. However, they sometimes have the opposite effect of replenishing ice sheets by prompting short yet intense bursts of snowfall.An atmospheric river event recently accelerated ice loss of the Greenland ice sheet (the largest ice mass in the Northern Hemisphere) in summer 2021 with copious amounts of rain, but only months later, in March 2022, another event brought 16 billion tons of snow to Greenland. In the search to uncover the true extent of snowfall during that storm, researchers developed a new perspective on atmospheric rivers. Sadly, the Greenland ice sheet wont be saved by atmospheric rivers, said study co-author Alun Hubbard, a field glaciologist at the University of Oulu, Finland, and the Arctic University of Troms, Norway, in a statement. But what we see in this new study is that, contrary to prevailing opinions, under the right conditions, atmospheric rivers might not be all bad news.Understanding the impact of atmospheric rivers on the Greenland ice sheet will prove to be consequential if the entire sheet were to melt, sea levels would rise by more than 7 meters (23 feet). Atmospheric rivers are also expected to become more frequent and more intense due to climate change, which could bring more rainfall to northern latitudes. Digging Into the Past Researchers searched for traces of the March 2022 storm in southeastern Greenland, in a region that is around 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) above sea level. Here, temperatures are consistently cold enough to retain snow accumulation on the ground year after year, creating a dense, compacted type of snow from previous seasons called firn.The researchers dug into this portion of snow and extracted a 15-meter-long (about 50 feet) firn core that represented nearly a decade of snow accumulation. By analyzing oxygen isotopes and the density of different layers in the core, the researchers were able to determine the exact amount of snowfall during the March 2022 storm.According to the results, on March 14, 2022, the Greenland ice sheet received 11.6 billion tons of snow, with an additional 4.5 billion tons falling over the next few days. This amount of snow was enough to delay the onset of summer ice melt by about 11 days.Double-Edged EffectsAs global temperatures climb, it's likely that the precipitation from atmospheric rivers will increasingly turn to rain, exacerbating Arctic ice loss. For the foreseeable future, though, atmospheric rivers may also continue to temporarily reverse the loss of mass in the Greenland ice sheet by delivering extreme snowfall during colder months. More research, ultimately, is needed to predict how the positive and negative effects of atmospheric river events will balance out in the coming years.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Geophysical Research Letters. Snow Mass Recharge of the Greenland Ice Sheet Fueled by Intense Atmospheric RiverEuropean Space Agency. Historic Greenland ice sheet rainfall unravelledAmerican Geophysical Union. Intense atmospheric rivers can replenish some of the Greenland Ice Sheets lost iceBritannica. firnJack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.

A group of primitive amphibians called temnospondyls ultimately went extinct about 120 million years ago. Deposit PhotosShareWhen we talk about mass extinction events, the first case that usually comes to mind is when an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago and triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs. However, the CretaceousPaleogene extinction event was not the worst loss of life in our planets history. That distinction belongs to the Permian-Triassic extinction or the Great Dying. During this dramatic period of climate change about 252 million years ago, about 80 to 90 percent of all species on Earth were wiped out and the biosphere of the planet was completely altered.Yet still, in the face of this devastation, some species managed to survive. Namely, a group of primitive amphibians called the temnospondyls. They may have survived the Great Dying by feeding on some freshwater prey that larger land-based predators couldnt get to and by not being picky eaters. These new findings are detailed in a study published March 4 in the journal Royal Society Open Science. Get the Popular Science newsletter Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.About 250 million years ago during the Early Triassic, nearly constant volcanic activity led to long phases of global warming, aridification, reductions in oxygen in the atmosphere, mega El Nios, acid rain, and wildfire. The landscape eventually became so hostile that the tropics became completely devoid of animal life. The eventual tropical dead zone impacted the distributions of both marine and terrestrial organisms throughout Earth. Some organisms, including sharks, horseshoe crabs, and temnospondyls, managed to tough it out.One of the great mysteries has been the survival and flourishing of a major group of amphibians called the temnospondyls, Aamir Mehmood, a study co-author and evolutionary biologist at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, said in a statement. These were predatory animals that fed on fishes and other prey, but were primarily linked to the water, just like modern amphibians such as frogs and salamanders. We know that climates then were hot, and especially so after the extinction event. How could these water-loving animals have been so successful?To figure out why, Mehmood and the team from this new study collected fossil data from 100 temnospondyls that lived throughout the Triassic. They studied how their ecologies changed, measuring parts of their skulls, teeth, and body sizes to see what specific functions they may have been used for.Surprisingly, they found that the temnospondyls did not change much throughout the crisis. Instead, they showed the same range of body sizes that they did during the earlier days of the Permian period. Some of the temnospondyls were small and fed on insects while others were larger. These bigger temnospondyls hold a critical survival clue.These larger forms included long-snouted animals that trapped fishes and broad-snouted generalist feeders, study co-author and paleontologist Armin Elsler said in a statement. What was unusual though was how their diversity of body sizes and functional variety expanded about 5 million years after the crisis and then dropped back.Due to the intense global warming in the first five million years of the Triassic period, there is evidence both terrestrial and marine organisms moved away from the tropics to get away from the extreme heat. According to the team, the temnospondyls were surprisingly able to cross that tropical dead zone.[ Related: These pleasantly plump salamanders dominated the Cretaceous period. ]Fossils are known from South Africa and Australia in the south, as well as North America, Europe and Russia in the north, study co-author and paleontologist Mike Benton said in a statement. The temnospondyls must have been able to criss-cross the tropical zone during cooler episodes.The study suggests that their generalist feeding ecology was key to this success. Temnospondyls were able to feed on a variety of prey, despite the environmental changes happening around them. It wasnt that they could survive by eating less, but also their ability to hide in sparse water bodies and consume different types of prey.However, this success did not last. The temnospondyls began their decline by the Middle Triassic, as the ancestors of mammals and dinosaurs began to diversify.Their burst of success in the Early Triassic was not followed up, said Mehmood.Temnospondyls ultimately went extinct about 120 million years ago. While they do not have any living relatives, some evolutionary biologists do consider them an important step towards todays diverse amphibians. Studying these past periods can help scientists understand how frogs, salamanders, and toads may fare during todays environmental challenges. Amphibians remain one of the most threatened groups of animals due to widespread diseases and climate change. 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Nature, Published online: 03 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00687-yA second tsunami of layoffs is set to strike US federal agencies. Plus, a commercial spacecraft has become the first to ace a landing on the Moon.

These striking puppets suggest that Indigenous people in what is now El Salvador had rituals that were more connected to the rest of Central American culture than previously thought.

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Ivailo Ivanov presented an outstanding digital double of Adriana Lima, the longest-running Victoria's Secret angel, recreated with ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter, Marvelous Designer, and Arnold.See more: https://80.lv/articles/realistic-adriana-lima-digital-double-made-with-zbrush-arnold/