Until last week I had no idea that our solar system is full of centaurs. These aren't the half-human, half-horse creatures from Greek myths, but a playful way to refer to the half-asteroid, half-comets that formed long ago and now roam the distant Kuiper Belt. Tom Metcalfe's story explains how studying the dullest examples of these rocky, icy objects from beyond Neptune's orbit helped researchers understand why only some shine like comets. Our other recent coverage examines a number of topics, from what physics says about the impact of a potential rule change in golf to how to age a lobster using only its DNA, and more. Please visit to Insidescience.org later this week and all next week for our coverage of the Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics and chemistry, including our predictions of the most likely winners.
Chris Gorski, Senior Editor
|
 |  |  |  |
Should Golf Require Shorter Clubs? A proposal intended to limit the length of drives by reducing the maximum club length from 48 inches to 46 inches has drawn criticism from professional players. By Peter Gwynne, Contributor |
 | |
[Video] What's a Snap Fit? You may not know a snap fit by its name, but they're all around us from pen caps to some water bottle caps. By Inside Science Contributor |
 |  | Could The Escaped Zebras Survive Roaming Around Prince George's County Forever? By Rachel Kurzius, DCist
Another story that surprised me this week is this one from the local online publication DCist, explaining the chances that the small dazzle of zebras that escaped a breeding operation in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, could survive in the wilds of DC's Maryland suburbs. The story interviews experts and explains a bit about how zebras live and how they might fare through the winter. The location is not that far from the headquarters of the American Institute of Physics, which publishes Inside Science. If our staff spots any of them grazing nearby, we'll be sure to share pictures. We're Already Barreling Toward The Next Pandemic By Ed Yong, The Atlantic
This exhaustively reported, exceptionally clear and important story by Ed Yong makes the case that when facing infectious diseases, the U.S. continues to make similar mistakes over and over, part of "a Sisyphean cycle of panic and neglect that is now spinning in its third century." This isn't easy reading, but it's important, and as with most of Yong's stories, there's a glimmer of hope herein, that the country and the world have the knowledge and the ability to do better.
Rounding Out the Story of Three Legendary Boulders By Chris Baraniuk, Hakai Magazine
The Indigenous people from Makin Island, part of the Republic of Kiribati in the central Pacific Ocean, have long told stories about how three giant boulders came to rest near their shores. A geologist who heard about the boulders decided to investigate their geological origin -- and, well I won't spoil the story, but let's just say the two approaches come to conclusions that are pretty darn close.
|
| | |
|
Copyright 2021 American Institute of Physics. Inside Science syndicates its articles, columns, blogs and videos to news organizations. To initiate syndication, or request permission to republish our content (on a one-time or continuing basis), please contact Inside Science at insidescience@aip.org. News organizations seeking permission to republish Inside Science content must fully credit Inside Science as the original source of the content, include the author byline, and republish the original, unaltered form (excluding content titles, headlines, or sub-headlines). The reprint format can be seen here. Copyright conditions and usage terms are subject to change at any time without consent or any type of prior notice. To unsubscribe from all future mailings from Inside Science please click here. To manage your email subscriptions please click here. | | | | |
