All tropical coral reefs could collapse within 50 years

 

Image courtesy of Mathilde Maslin

Joel Kontinen

Some researchers think that the corrals will be destroyed in 50 yeas,   Some,  however feel  that corrals can withstand  rising temperatures.  

Imagine a world without tropical coral reefs, a world nearly devoid of iconic species like elkhorn and pillar corals and sea creatures like the clownfish from Finding Nemo. That world could come to pass within 50 years due to humanity’s continuing fossil fuel emissions.

At least 96 per cent of shallow-water coral reef ecosystems are at extremely high risk of collapsing by 2075, according to an assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the leading authority on endangered species. The remaining ecosystems weren’t evaluated due to lack of data, but are probably just as vulnerable, according to Marcos Valderrábano at the IUCN.

Source:

Alec Luhn 2026 All tropical coral reefs could collapse within 50 years | New Scientist 22 October 

Discovery of T. rex’s cousin upends our understanding of tyrannosaur evolution

 

An artist’s illustration of the new-to-science Tromerosaurus dinosaur hunting some juvenile Brachylophosaurus. Image courtesy of Henry Sharpe

Joel Kontinen

A new species of tyrannosaur has been discovered by scientists in Canada. Fossils of the carnivorous dinosaur, a cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, suggest it lived 77 million years and was 8 metres long with lengthy, lean legs. This is a rare addition to an unusual branch of the tyrannosaur family tree and complicates our understanding of how these dinosaurs supposedly evolved.

The timing of the dinosaur is off by thousands of years. According to the Bible, a great dinosaur known as Behemoth lived at the time of Job.

Tyrannosauridae, a family of dinosaurs, split into two subfamilies: tyrannosaurines, made up of T. rex and other stocky, heavy species with relatively long heads, and albertosaurines, which had relatively short skulls and lighter builds.

 Source:

Jake Buehler 2026 Discovery of T. rex's cousin upends our understanding of tyrannosaur evolution | New Scientist19 October

Japan is launching a mission to Mars’s largest moon Phobos

 

Artist’s representation of the MMX Spacecraft

Joel Kontinen

Japan has launched a mission to Phobos, a moon of Mars.

We may be on the verge of solving the mystery of the Martian moons. On 20 October, the Martian Moons exploration (MMX) spacecraft launches towards the larger of the two moons, Phobos, with the goal of bringing back a sample that may finally explain how Phobos and its sibling, Deimos, formed.

MMX will launch from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. If all goes to plan, it should arrive at Mars in August 2027, entering an orbit that keeps it alongside Phobos so it can build a detailed map of the surface. Along the way, it will also observe the surface of Deimos.

Once the map is complete enough, the spacecraft’s operators at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will use it to pick out a spot on Phobos for MMX to land. During one or two brief landings, it will take on two tasks: to drop off a small rover called IDEFIX and to pick up samples. The rover is the first anyone has ever placed on such a small cosmic body, so part of its purpose aside from scientific observations is to confirm that a wheeled rover even works on an object with such low gravity.

The samples, though, are the most important part of the mission. MMX has two different sampling devices: one that shoots a puff of gas onto the surface, blowing dust and pebbles back up into a sampling container, and another that blasts a hollow cylinder into the ground to take a sample a several centimetres deep. After the samples are taken, they will be stowed away inside the spacecraft, which will then head back towards Earth. It is expected to arrive home in 2031.

Once these samples get back to Earth and are analysed by scientists on the ground, they should finally solve the mystery of how Phobos and Deimos formed. For more than a century, researchers have debated whether the two are captured asteroids or formed from an impact on Mars, similar to how Earth’s moon formed. On first look, their shapes and surfaces resemble asteroids, but their circular orbits around Mars’s equator are more consistent with the impact hypothesis. Figuring out what they are made of should settle it once and for all.

This will also help illuminate what the solar system was like billions of years ago when these strange moons formed. “Having the answer will help illuminate that early era when Earth and the other inner planets may have been acquiring much of their water and organic compounds,” said Tom Statler, part of the NASA team that is collaborating on the MMX mission, in a statement.

Mars and millions pf years seem to belong together, as Darwinians believe that Mars was formed that way.

If we are very lucky, the samples from Phobos may even contain bonus bits of dust and debris from Mars itself. Impacts on the planet could have launched material into space, which would have collected on the moon’s surface and been preserved there for billions of years. That means that these samples could illuminate not just the history of Phobos and Deimos, but also of Mars.

Source:

Leah Crane 2026 Japan is launching a mission to Mars’s largest moon Phobos | New Scientist 16 October

Netanyahu fires back at Obama over ‘stolen land’ accusation: ‘We’re Jews in Judea’

 

Image courtesy of WIN

Joel Kontinen

Obama lashed out at the Israelis—in Ireland, of all places In Ireland, which hates Israelis. Obama has been attacking Israel since 2015, when he gifted Iran many millions of euros.

The clash erupted after Obama told an audience in Northern Ireland that Israelis “took land off people and they were excessive,” arguing that Palestinians were justified in demanding their land back.

During his Belfast appearance, Obama argued that Israel’s military and technological superiority could not provide a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “You have ceded moral ground if that is the position you take,” he warned. He specifically cited the presence of seven million Palestinians, saying they were “not going anywhere.”

“The obstacle to peace is not Israel,” Netanyahu said, arguing that the fundamental problem is the rejection of the Jewish people’s right to a state of their own. Netanyahu also pointed out that the Jews were in Judea first, as history clearly shows.

He also linked Israel’s struggle for security to the broader confrontation between the United States and hostile regimes in the Middle East.

Pointing to chants of “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” Netanyahu said the hostility directed at the Jewish state is part of a wider campaign against the West. “We are the ‘Little Satan,’ you are the ‘Great Satan,'” he said, referring to the labels used by Iran’s leadership for Israel and the United States. Both countries, he argued, are defending a shared civilization against common enemies. The prime minister concluded with a warning against diplomatic arrangements that fail to account for the threats Israel faces.

“A peace built on illusions will crash against the rocks of Middle Eastern reality,” Netanyahu said. He insisted that Israel would not compromise its security simply to satisfy international demands or reach an agreement with adversaries unwilling to recognize its legitimacy.

“Israel will not gamble with its survival to accommodate those who refuse to accept the facts of history, to accept our right to exist, or who wish to appease terror.”

Source:

World Israel News Staff 2026Netanyahu fires back at Obama over 'stolen land' accusation: 'We're Jews in Judea' | World Israel News October 16

 

Two large asteroids found spinning as fast as a fairground ride

 

Image courtesy of NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Joel Kontinen 

Space is wonderful and surprising odd, but this does not mean that it was not planned by God because everything has been planned by Him.

Large asteroids have been found spinning so fast they should break apart, suggesting they might be stronger than we thought.

Dmitrii Vavilov at the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues analysed some of the first data collected by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, which began a 10-year survey of the sky in June 2026. From a sample of more than 9000 asteroids, they measured the rotation of 260, based on a change in their brightness caused by the spinning asteroids’ irregular shapes.

Of these, 66 were deemed to be super-fast rotators, spinning quickly enough to complete a rotation in less than 2.2 hours, a limit at which asteroids should no longer be able to hold themselves together under their own gravity.

Source:

Jonathan O’Callaghan 2026 Two large asteroids found spinning as fast as a fairground ride | New Scientist 9 October 

The land’s ability to store carbon has bounced back after two bad years

 

Image courtesy of Junhwan Hyun / Alamy Stock Photo.

Joel Kontinen

Carbon absorption by forests and grasslands bounced back in 2025 thanks to favourable growing conditions, but El Niño could lead to another sharp slump next year

For the past two years, scientists studying the health of forests, grasslands and swamps have been worried. Since 2023, the amount of carbon dioxide Earth’s landscapes have been able to absorb has dropped dramatically in the face of extreme weather, resulting in a record jump in atmospheric CO2 concentrations in two successive years.

But 2025 has bucked that worrying trend, with preliminary research revealing a strong rebound in the land carbon sink and a corresponding decline in the growth rate of atmospheric CO2.

However, the next season with high carbon dioxide could break havoc on the globe.  But the ones who believe in global warming say that carbon dioxide will arise in the future.

Source:

 Madeleine Cuff  2026 The land's ability to store carbon has bounced back after two bad years | New Scientist 13 October

A "Peace Prize" for the Vilification of Israel

 

Image courtesy of AP Photo/Paul Schemm

Joel Kontinen

There are bad decisions and disgraceful ones. And then there’s the awarding of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay.

Donald trump has castigated Norway for its design, and so has Israel.

The choice is hardly out of character for an award whose history has repeatedly shown that its name guarantees nothing about its recipients’ merit.

Indeed, this isn’t an aberration of the Norwegian committee. It has also provided Jasser Arafat with the peace price. 

But it’s an especially egregious example of a familiar pattern: an international establishment congratulating itself for advancing peace while rewarding people whose records make a mockery of the concept.

Pillay, who chaired the United Nations Commission of Inquiry that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, has become a symbol of the double standards permeating the global system.

The woman now being feted in the name of peace presided over a more aptly dubbed “inquisition” whose whole purpose was to brand the Jewish state with a bloody—blood libelous.

The term “genocide” has a specific legal definition, including the requirement to establish intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

It’s laughable to suggest that Israel’s behavior even remotely fits that description, as it took great pains to avoid civilian casualties and flooded Gaza with humanitarian aid.

Source: 

Ruthie Blum 2026 A ‘Peace Prize’ for the Vilification of Israel | United with Israel October 11