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Biologists drove 19 burrowing owls evicted by a Phoenix housing project 50 miles into a 10,000-acre solar complex and lowered them into 40 plastic burrows — every female laid eggs within a month, and 29 chicks fledged the first summer, because open ground under panels hides no predator from an owl

A solar farm designed to fight climate change became an unexpected refuge for an endangered owl when scientists discovered that panels cast the perfect shadow for ground-nesting predators to hunt.

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Sep 12 • 9:18 PM EDT • Science • scienceblog.com
Solar system's smallest planet is getting even smaller — shrinking 30% faster than astronomers thought
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Sep 12 • 4:00 PM EDT • Science • nypost.com
Scientists announce discovery of a hidden solar process

An international team of scientists have announced the discovery of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) in the form of small,

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Sep 12 • 7:00 AM EDT • Science • technology.org
Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ review

A sharp, wide-field and genuinely portable 130mm reflector whose phone-guided pointing makes star-hopping optional, offering stunning views of the solar system and brighter deep-sky objects.

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Sep 12 • 7:00 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com
Why is Venus hotter than Mercury, when Mercury is closer to the sun?

Despite being farther from the sun, Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, and the reason has little to do with proximity to a star.

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Sep 12 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com
Scientists in China Test Solar Panels That Work Underwater 10 Meters Beneath the Sea

The cells exploit the narrow slice of sunlight that survives beneath the sea.

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Sep 11 • 11:00 AM EDT • Science • zmescience.com
A Solar Blast From 1,000 Years Ago Could Hold the Solution to a Major Viking Mystery

The Vikings beat Columbus to North America by centuries, but identifying the exact year is proving much harder. A surge of carbon-14 could help.

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Sep 11 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • popularmechanics.com
Mercury may be shrinking faster than scientists expected

The solar system’s smallest and innermost planet has been shrinking ever since its formation, but a new study shows that shrinkage may be greater than previously known.

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Sep 10 • 2:59 PM EDT • Science • nbcnews.com
High-Signal Publisher
The Planet Mercury Has Been Shrinking—More Than Scientists Expected

The solar system's smallest planet has gotten smaller still, a new study reveals.

time.com logo
Sep 10 • 2:53 PM EDT • Science • time.com
Lava-Covered Planets Are Defying a Key Rule of Planetary Science

Researchers developed a model showing how lava-covered planets close to their stars can hold onto their atmospheres, which could help guide the search for life beyond our solar system. Some planets orbit so close to their stars that intense radiation should strip away their atmospheres. Yet several of these scorching, lava-covered worlds still retain thick

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Sep 9 • 9:53 AM EDT • Science • scitechdaily.com
Science says we're not special. But here's why that could be wrong – and why we should be thankful we've not been swallowed by the Sun | BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Time and place explain the Sun’s odd chemistry. Analysis of 79 ‘solar twins’ suggests we’re different – but not special.

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Sep 9 • 9:29 AM EDT • Science • skyatnightmagazine.com
Yakima County's second large-scale solar facility is online

Roughly 3 1/2 years after his predecessor approved it, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson was among 50 people celebrating in a remote corner of Yakima County as the Ostrea Solar project

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Sep 8 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • yakimaherald.com
Qualitas Energy buys Cero Generation’s 5.8GW European renewables business

Renewables investment platform Qualitas Energy has bought Cero Generation’s 5.8GW European solar PV and energy storage project portfolio.

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Sep 8 • 6:53 AM EDT • Business • pv-tech.org
A Solar Storm Knocked GPS Off by 33 Feet Across the US and Scientists Had Never Seen This Kind of Disruption

The event exposed a hidden weakness in systems that depend on precise positioning.

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Sep 7 • 1:24 PM EDT • Science • zmescience.com
A sun-powered siren: Inside the world’s first solar ambulance

Solar ambulance Stella Juva could transform access to healthcare in regions that lack reliable infrastructure, electricity and fuel.

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Sep 7 • 1:00 AM EDT • Health • euronews.com
China challenges Science study on solar policy’s impact on birds

The Chinese Ornithological Society questioned a Science study linking China’s solar policy to lower bird diversity, citing potentially erroneous bird observation records.

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Sep 6 • 8:05 AM EDT • Science • ua.news
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Study saying China’s solar policy hurt birds may have miscounted 2 billion egrets

Critics claim report in top US journal lacked quality control and used data suggesting one park had more than the entire global population.

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Sep 6 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • scmp.com
Sudan’s war-driven blackouts push residents toward solar power but high costs shut many out

In Sudan, many residents are turning to solar energy to cope with frequent blackouts caused by the ongoing conflict.

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Sep 6 • 12:03 AM EDT • Business • seattletimes.com
Amazon's $30 solar power bank makes wall outlets obsolete for phone charging

It has two built-in LED flashlights.

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Sep 5 • 11:30 AM EDT • Technology • thestreet.com
NASA PICASSO Awards

NASA has made 10 new awards through the Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASSO) program.

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Sep 4 • 1:06 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov
Solarize Marquette educates business owners and non-profits on solar energy benefits

Solar Marquette was held by GLREA Solarize Michigan in an effort to expand solar energy.

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Sep 4 • 6:24 AM EDT • Business • uppermichiganssource.com
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Scientists watch a comet being born 3 billion miles away

A rare look at a centaur transforming into a comet with coma is providing a missing link in the evolution of small, icy solar system bodies.

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Sep 4 • 6:00 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com
Scientists watch a comet being born 3 billion miles away

A rare look at a centaur transforming into a comet with coma is providing a missing link in the evolution of small, icy solar system bodies.

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Sep 4 • 6:00 AM EDT • Science • space.com
KIER achieves world-record 26.7% efficiency in perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cells

The Photovoltaic Research Department of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) achieved a certified world-record efficiency of 26.7% for perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cells, opening a new chapter in next-generation thin-film photovoltaics. This achievement was officially certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Germany and listed in the Best Research-Cell Efficiencies Chart published by the US National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR, formerly NREL).

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Sep 4 • 12:46 AM EDT • Science • eurekalert.org
Here’s where a massive solar storm could take down the US power grid

New research maps show where a severe solar storm could strike. See if your neighborhood would lose power.

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Sep 3 • 8:00 PM EDT • Technology • cnn.com
Solarize Marquette educates business owners and non-profits on solar energy benefits

Solar Marquette was held by GLREA Solarize Michigan in an effort to expand solar energy.

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Sep 3 • 7:28 PM EDT • Business • uppermichiganssource.com
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Scientists Expose Unexpected Driver of the May 2024 Superstorm

Even though the solar wind was unusually dense during the May 2024 superstorm, ions from the solar wind contributed very little to the ring current, marking the first time both were observed simultaneously during a storm of this magnitude.

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Sep 3 • 5:32 PM EDT • Science • scitechdaily.com
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A NASA Spacecraft Is Nearing The Edge Of The Solar System. Its Instruments May Be Shut Off Due To Lack Of Funding

New Horizons' instruments may be shut off before it reaches the Solar System's "termination shock", despite it being fully functional likely into the 2050s.

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Sep 3 • 1:03 PM EDT • Science • iflscience.com
Heliophysics Education Community meeting presentation

Presentation | Grades 6-12+ | This presentation by Dr. Jared Espley explains how the Sun sends a stream of charged particles called the solar wind.

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Sep 2 • 10:44 AM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov
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Should a small town try a solar-powered garden?

Master of Public Health student Libby Meier tested how practical that alternative would be for Enfield, North Carolina.

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Sep 2 • 9:36 AM EDT • Health • unc.edu
Is a Sea Change Coming for New Horizons Heliospheric Science?

If you visit the New Horizons mission website frequently, you'll notice that the spacecraft continues to generate excellent science as it plows its way through the Kuiper Belt. It recently woke up from its latest hibernation period in good health and is transmitting data it gathered back to Earth. The spacecraft, in addition to studying the Jupiter system in 2007, the Pluto system in 2015, and the Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth in early 2019, has been doing some other fascinating solar system science since then thanks to two mission extensions in 2016 and 2023. Now, as a result of budget cuts at NASA, an important part of the NH science mission could end as early as October of this year.

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Sep 1 • 9:03 PM EDT • Science • universetoday.com
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Big Ideas Lab podcast takes on the science of scale-up

Rechargeable lithium batteries trace back to 1972, but they wouldn't reach consumer products until 1991. Solar photovoltaic cells existed in the 1950s, long before solar panels appeared on rooftops. And the MRI was demonstrated in the 1970s, years before the machines became hospital staples. In each case, the core scientific principles had been proven. The difficult part was scaling them into technologies people could reliably use. The average disruptive technology takes roughly 35 years to cross that divide. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are trying to compress

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Sep 1 • 11:32 AM EDT • Science • llnl.gov
Quincy council approves sports complex resolutions, Entrup introduces regulations on solar facilitie

The Quincy City Council approved six resolutions for a sports complex project in the city.

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Sep 1 • 12:11 AM EDT • Sports • kptv.com
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New Texas laws expand repair rights, regulate solar sellers and recognize gold as money

Texas laws taking effect Sept. 1 will change how consumers repair electronic devices, strengthen oversight of residential solar sales and allow certain forms of gold and silver to be used as legal tender.

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Aug 31 • 9:02 AM EDT • Politics • houstonpublicmedia.org
Space News: NASA Johnson pilots chase Moon’s shadow for eclipse science

During the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse over Europe, scientists aimed to study a long-standing mystery: why the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, is far hotter than its visible surface. Capturing the data they needed meant being in exactly the right place at the right time.

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Aug 30 • 4:12 AM EDT • Science • lakeconews.com
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope is about to change how we see the universe

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to give scientists an unprecedented wide view of the universe, helping investigate dark energy and dark matter, chart the evolution of galaxies and aid in the discovery of planets beyond our solar system.

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Aug 29 • 2:42 PM EDT • Science • wral.com
How batteries are reshaping the solar power business model

Also in today’s newsletter, are global emissions approaching a peak?

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Aug 28 • 7:01 AM EDT • Business • ft.com
UAH Director of CSPAR, Dr. Gary Zank, Receives International COSPAR Space Science Award; Minor Planet Named in His Honor

A lifetime of probing the invisible forces that shape our solar system has earned a University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) researcher one of the highest honors in international space science, as well as an enduring place among the stars. Dr. Gary Zank, director of the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) and a faculty member and former chair of the Department of Space at UAH, a part of The University of Alabama System, has received the 2026 Committee on Space Research (COSPA

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Aug 27 • 6:20 PM EDT • Science • newswise.com
NASA Johnson pilots chase moon's shadow for eclipse science

During the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse over Europe, scientists aimed to study a long-standing mystery: why the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, is far hotter than its visible surface. Capturing the ...

phys.org logo
Aug 27 • 11:40 AM EDT • Science • phys.org
Garmin Fenix 9 (Pro) leaks in pictures, including AMOLED and solar MiP versions

A leak is said to show the design of the Garmin Fenix 9 and the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro for the first time, with the top-of-the-line model featuring both an AMOLED version and a MiP variant with integrated solar cells. Although Garmin is revamping the design, the smartwatches remain true to the Fenix look.

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Aug 24 • 2:40 PM EDT • Technology • notebookcheck.net
Once the Solar System's Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here's Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small Icy Body

Pluto is now the most well known of the outer worlds beyond Neptune—and the darling of the solar system

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Aug 24 • 1:00 PM EDT • Science • smithsonianmag.com
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Scientists reveal how proof of alien life could change everything tomorrow - Futura-Sciences

The approach depends on location. Within our solar system, probes sample rock, ice, and water on the ground. Farther out, astronomers have only starlight to go on. Close to home: the hunt for physical evidence NASA’s Perseverance rover has spent years scouring Mars for fossil biosignatures, chemical or geological traces...

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Aug 24 • 8:30 AM EDT • Science • futura-sciences.com
Silfab Solar returns to court as business struggles to maintain workforce

YORK COUNTY — The beleaguered solar cell and panel maker, now facing staffing challenges, returns to court Aug. 26 to continue its zoning dispute for its Fort Mill operation.

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Aug 24 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • yahoo.com
In rural Chad, solar kiosks bring healthcare closer

Solar-powered telemedicine is helping rural Chadians overcome distance and limited access to doctors.

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Aug 22 • 11:21 PM EDT • Health • aljazeera.com
NASA’s nuclear Dragonfly copter to search for signs of life on Titan: 'A lot's riding on it'

As the agency pivots to putting astronauts on the moon, this $3-billion space-copter is the agency’s last large-scale mission to explore the solar system.

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Aug 22 • 6:00 AM EDT • Science • latimes.com
Black hole star? Solar-system-size 'dot' from the early universe is our best evidence yet of a brand-new type of cosmic object

The James Webb Space Telescope has identified the most promising candidate yet for a black hole star, lurking 660 million years after the Big Bang. The hypothetical entity, which shines 100 billion times brighter than a typical star, could shed light on the origins of the mysterious "little red dots."

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Aug 20 • 11:25 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com
Boyle Heights warehouse fire report shows serious health risks for surrounding community

A new report from St. John's Community Health and other organizations says people who live and work near the site of a massive warehouse fire in Boyle Heights could face severe and worsening health risks.

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Aug 18 • 9:13 PM EDT • Health • abc7.com
Paying More to Stay Cool, Super El Niño, Solar Politics

Energy affordability and data center opposition are among the most potent political messages in 2026. The Drain is a roundup of climate news.

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Aug 18 • 10:30 AM EDT • Politics • legal-planet.org
Radiation vest tested on NASA moonshot can quell effects of solar storms, study suggests

A new study suggests a protective vest tested on a manikin during NASA's first Artemis moonshot could slash the radiation exposure of lunar astronauts during severe solar storms.

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Aug 15 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • latimes.com
Business Spotlight: San Diego Solar helps people take control of their energy future

As solar energy becomes more accessible to more residents and business, San Diego Solar has been there to meet customer needs and help shape the future of energy. In a Q&A, CEO Curtis Williamson discussed trends in solar over the years,…

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Aug 13 • 11:44 AM EDT • Business • sandiegouniontribune.com
Middle Georgia skywatchers get a sunny science lesson, eclipse or not

Even without a solar eclipse overhead, skywatchers in Middle Georgia still found a way to join in the excitement Wednesday — with a little help from science, a

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Aug 12 • 8:50 PM EDT • Science • wgxa.tv
Bay Area science centers to host eclipse, meteor shower events

Bay Area science institutions will host events for people interested in today's total solar eclipse and the Perseid meteor shower.

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Aug 12 • 12:27 PM EDT • Science • nbcbayarea.com
Astronomers discover a new kind of cosmic object

The body is the size of the entire solar system and glows with a brilliant red light about 30bn light years from Earth

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Aug 12 • 11:17 AM EDT • Science • theguardian.com
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WATCH LIVE: Total solar eclipse darkens skies over Spain, Iceland
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Aug 12 • 9:24 AM EDT • Science • pbs.org
Atlantic Trivia, August 12, 2026: Faith and Science

Spain marketed itself as the lone populated place where today’s solar eclipse “can be fully enjoyed”—a snub to what cloudy Nordic capital also in the path of totality?

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Aug 12 • 7:00 AM EDT • Science • theatlantic.com
Solar eclipse 2026 today: Don't take eclipse photos with your phone, NASA warns

Enjoy the 2026 solar eclipse with glasses instead.

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Aug 12 • 3:33 AM EDT • Technology • mashable.com
The total solar eclipse could reveal more about the sun

There’s a lot to learn

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Aug 12 • 2:00 AM EDT • Science • theweek.com
NASA Completes Astronaut-Deployed Science Instrument for Lunar Surface

NASA has declared “wrenches down” on the first completed payload designed for Artemis astronauts to deploy on the Moon's surface. Engineers working on NASA’s

science.nasa.gov logo
Aug 11 • 3:41 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov
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New images of the sun show its surface in the finest detail yet

It’s dangerous to look directly at the sun without proper eye protection. But researchers were able to peek at its scorching surface with the help of the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope.

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Aug 11 • 10:00 AM EDT • Science • latimes.com
The Perseids Meteor Shower Is Peaking. Here’s How to Watch.

The Perseids will be most active on Wednesday into Thursday morning, on the moonless night after a total solar eclipse.

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Aug 11 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • nytimes.com
Montana State students to help NASA science soar during 2026 total solar eclipse

BOZEMAN — Each total solar eclipse — when daytime skies darken and the sun briefly reveals its outer atmosphere, or corona — presents new opportunities to better understand our star,

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Aug 11 • 2:30 AM EDT • Science • bozemandailychronicle.com
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Who can see this year’s total solar eclipse

A total solar eclipse will darken the skies on Wednesday. Here’s who gets to see it — and why.

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Aug 10 • 11:21 AM EDT • Science • cnn.com
Green light for 1,200 solar panels to be fitted at sports centre

Planning has been approved for 1,200 solar panels to be added to The National Sports Centre's roof.

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Aug 10 • 7:29 AM EDT • Sports • bbc.com
The sun will vanish over Europe in a rare total solar eclipse: Watch live

A total solar eclipse will plunge parts of Europe into darkness on August 12, 2026, with Spain offering some of the best views. ESA will livestream the spectacle from the Javalambre Observatory, combining telescope feeds, drone footage, and expert commentary. At 20:31 CEST, the observatory will experience 1 minute and 21 seconds of totality, revealing the Sun’s normally hidden outer atmosphere.

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Aug 10 • 6:59 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
This Week's Total Solar Eclipse Will Occur On The Perseids Meteor Shower Peak – For The First Time In Recorded Science History

We went through 5,000 years' worth of eclipse data so you don't have to.

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Aug 10 • 5:53 AM EDT • Science • iflscience.com
Italian scientists ready new solar instrument for high-stakes eclipse test

Sheltered from ‌the blazing summer sun, a group of scientists in the northern Italian city of Padua spent weeks in a laboratory finalising an instrument they say could transform the study of the solar corona, the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere.

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Aug 10 • 4:18 AM EDT • Science • reuters.com
Starwatch: Deep partial solar eclipse in UK to precede the Perseids

The eclipse will begin just after 6pm on 12 August, reaching its maximum just over an hour later

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Aug 10 • 1:00 AM EDT • Science • theguardian.com
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How to spot the Perseid meteor shower, a summer light show that promises to dazzle

The meteor shower's peak Wednesday night into Thursday morning coincides with a total solar eclipse across Spain, Iceland and Greenland and a six-planet parade — though the best time to view the fireballs will come after totality.

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Aug 9 • 6:05 PM EDT • Science • pbs.org
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‘You’re hit with a slam of shadow’: Nasa’s air mission to capture rare eclipse data

Two aviators will take off from Iceland to take pictures of the sun while flying at high altitude along solar eclipse’s path

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Aug 9 • 10:00 AM EDT • Science • theguardian.com
Cal Academy celebrates total solar eclipse with musical scientists

The event will include education about the sun, eclipses and the tools researchers use to study the solar system

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Aug 9 • 7:00 AM EDT • Science • sfexaminer.com
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This may be one of the most stunning parts of a total eclipse

Despite advances in science, the corona, or outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere, remains mysterious. Wednesday’s total solar eclipse provides a chance to study it.

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Aug 9 • 6:00 AM EDT • Science • washingtonpost.com
Shadow bands are an eclipse mystery scientists are trying to unravel

Solar eclipse viewers often witness a phenomenon known as shadow bands just before and after totality. An upcoming eclipse offers a new chance to study this mystery.

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Aug 8 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • cnn.com
Pluto's heart is cold as ice but it still bleeds, NASA mission shows

In the frozen outskirts of the solar system, liquid flows on Pluto.

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Aug 8 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • mashable.com
Montana State students to help NASA science soar during 2026 total solar eclipse

MSU’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Program draws international interest as Aug. 12 event nears.

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Aug 7 • 5:54 PM EDT • Science • montana.edu
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Science Campaigns Planned for the August 12th Total Solar Eclipse

Several science campaigns funded by NASA and ESA plan to greet the racing shadow of the Moon on August 12th.

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Aug 7 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • skyandtelescope.org
Energy politics prominent in big South Carolina Senate primary

Upstarts are seizing on artificial intelligence infrastructure and solar manufacturing to undercut their rivals in a crowded Republican contest.

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Aug 7 • 6:32 AM EDT • Politics • eenews.net
Seiko's $750 Speedtimer Chronograph Gets a New "Edo Purple" Dial

The affordable Prospex Speedtimer, equipped with a solar quartz movement, receives a "purple panda" dial revamp.

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Aug 6 • 5:12 PM EDT • Technology • gearpatrol.com
A spectacular solar eclipse is coming. Here’s how to see it.

Here’s where the August 12 eclipse will be visible, what viewers can expect—and why even a partial eclipse requires proper eye protection.

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Aug 5 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • nationalgeographic.com
Science|Business summer reads of 2026

As most people in the European research and innovation policy bubble are going on a well-deserved summer break, we have come up with a list of our favourite books, podcasts and essays from the past year that ask deeper questions about science, technology and politics.BooksPasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, by Donald StokesIf you haven’t read Pasteur’s Quadrant yet, now is the time. In the EU and elsewhere, we’re living through a period of dwindling faith that curiosity-driven research automatically leads to economic growth and technological progress. Pasteur’s Quadrant, published in 1997 by the Princeton academic Donald Stokes, is the most influential critique of the standard “linear model” of R&D: the idea that new discoveries made in ivory-tower labs get neatly passed on for commercialisation by start-ups. In reality, Stokes argues, practical applications often inspire more theorical lines of inquiry. Of course, we have long known that things are more complex than the linear model, but even today, it’s still often assumed in Brussels discourse. The book is a useful corrective, and is being used now to argue for new types of scientific institutions. David MatthewsThe Weaponization of Expertise: How Elites Fuel Populism, by Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis PattersonAre society’s problems solvable by technical expertise alone? “If only the benighted would listen,” say Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis Patterson, two professors at Rutgers Law School who got frustrated with how scientists and politicians handled public health communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the book, they argue that clichéd mantras about scientific evidence and expertise perpetrated by academics, journalists and politicians have harmed public trust in the very institutions they were trying to defend. Paradoxically, slogans such as “we believe in science,” “follow the science” and “defer to the experts” can fuel mistrust in science, experts and democratic institutions. The authors criticise “condescension” and “technocratic paternalism” in the public discourse and make the case for a more nuanced approach to scientific and expert policy advice that rests on humility, doubt, scepticism and open dialogue. “Most complex social questions in fact revolve around values, not the recitation of unambiguous facts,” they say. Florin ZubascuBreakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, by Dan WangIn this book, Dan Wang compares the structural differences between the US and Chinese industrial policies, but raises a very timely question for innovation policy wonks: how can advanced manufacturing know-how contribute to technology-intensive economic growth? Wang says technology has three components: the tools, the blueprints and patents, and the process knowledge. The third component represents the “proficiency gained from practical experience, which isn’t easily communicated and requires years of implementation.” According to Wang, rather than seeing tools and blueprints as the ultimate ends of technological progress, policymakers should see them as milestones in the training of better scientists and manufacturers. Over the past decades, China has amassed “process knowledge” because capital flowed to complex fabrication facilities, while investors in the West have parked their money in capital-light businesses such as digital platforms or chip companies that focus on design. As it turns out, thanks to its oversized focus on manufacturing, China has gained remarkable advantages in the global technology race. Florin ZubascuBaltic: The Future of Europe, by Oliver MoodyWhat can Europe learn from the nine countries surrounding the Baltic Sea? Alongside the familiar stories about Estonia's digital transformation, the book examines how the region has used technology, resilience, education, governance and long-term thinking to respond to geopolitical, economic and security challenges. Innovation policy wonks might find fresh perspectives on how innovation can strengthen defence, societal resilience and Europe's capacity to adapt in an uncertain world. Whether or not you agree with all of Oliver Moody's conclusions, the book is a useful guide to a region that is increasingly shaping European debates on security, competitiveness and technology. Goda NaujokaityteThe Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf This book chronicles the wild and adventurous life of natural science pioneer Alexander von Humboldt who at some point in the 19th century seems to have been just about the most famous person in the world. Through scientific expeditions to the Andes Mountains and to the depths of Siberia, von Humboldt contributed a host of discoveries and concepts. During his life he met and formed relationships with historical figures as different as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Simon Bolivar, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles Darwin. He is also claimed to be the person in the world with most things named after him, a list that includes an ocean current, a penguin and a region of the Moon. Still venerated in Germany, with numerous scientific institutions named after him, von Humboldt has slipped out of public consciousness in most of the rest of the world. For anyone not familiar with him, this book does a good job of describing his fascinating life. Ole EllekrogCareless People, by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsYou may have heard this referred to as the book Meta doesn’t want you to read. The 2025 memoir from Sarah Wynn-Williams, former director of global public policy at Meta, then just called Facebook, includes explosive claims about everything from a toxic workplace culture to how the company worked with advertisers to target vulnerable teens, and the lengths it was prepared to go to in order to break into China. It’s a fascinating insight into how and why the tech company gradually shifted its approach to policy, whether in the US, Europe or Asia. Meta has denied the allegations in the book, and last year won an emergency ruling to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting it. In response, the author is now suing her former employer. If that doesn’t make you want to read it. Martin GreenacrePodcastsThe Europeans: Europe’s anti-ElonThis podcast is a great choice for a light-hearted dose of European policy and culture news. Most of it has little to do with research, innovation and technology, but this particular podcast features an interview with Mastadon’s founder Eugen Rochko. He talks about his experience running an open-source, federated, European-made social media platform, and leaving it all behind. The conversation, which starts 14 minutes in, gently encourages us to reflect on what kind of technology we, as Europeans, want to make. Goda NaujokaityteSolarpunk and how we escape dystopiaNew technologies are very often taken from science fiction. Alberto Santos-Dumont, inventor the airship, was inspired as a child by the adventure stories of Jules Verne. OpenAI’s attempt to build a personal assistant with the voice of Scarlett Johansson was lifted from the 2013 film Her, completely ignoring the movie’s cautionary message. So if we want better tech, we need to imagine it first. Unfortunately, the state of current sci-fi is relentlessly dystopian, giving inventors precious few ideas or hope. However, a new genre, Solarpunk, which envisages a technologically advanced but ecologically harmonious future, is now taking off. The actual tech the genre imagines, such as permaculture, renewable energy or community repair workshops, while nice, isn’t all that inspiring or ambitious. But it’s a first step towards rescuing sci-fi from its pessimistic Blade Runner rut. David MatthewsEveryday AbundanceLaunched in June, Everyday Abundance is a podcast that tells the stories of the inventions we now take so for granted that we barely given them a second thought. For example, the washing machine, which liberated women from a lifetime “bent over washtubs and washboards.” Or modern dentistry, which ended the reality that “tooth pain was simply part of human life.” Historians of technology, Virginia Postrel and Charles C Mann are very much on the optimistic end of the spectrum when it comes to the capacity of invention to improve human life. Here, they set out their case: if it wasn’t for progress, you might be hunched over a washtub with toothache rather than reading these words. David Matthews‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdownSince his return to the White House, Donald Trump has been on a mission to undermine science. He slashed jobs at federal agencies, terminated grants in some research areas, took unprecedented control over university affairs and, within hours of his inauguration, suspended the US Agency for International Development. While its initial focus was to administer health and food aid around the world, it had since expanded to conservation projects. The result? Some of these projects were stopped abruptly. In this Mongabay podcast, environmental reporter Michelle Nijhuis tells the story of the EcoGuard conservation programme in Liberia, whose local patrols had helped protect rainforests, monitor endangered wildlife and track illegal threats. From one day to the next, these were left without salaries. Luckily, she notes, the initiative was able to get emergency funding from international NGOs, but its future remains “incredibly uncertain.” Juliette PortalaEssaysThe Mars Delusion, by Henry WismayerWhy is humankind so fixated on establishing a colony on Mars? asks London-based writer Henry Wismayer. From space evangelists promoting Martian settlement as an insurance policy, to billionaire Jeff Bezos, who said humans should settle on Mars “because it’s cool,” the mission is not running short of advocates. However, in this essay, Wismayer reminds us that some critics expect any future Mars pioneer to end up “irradiated, sick, mad and dead.” Scientists have already looked into the possible effects of prolonged exposure to Martian gravity, and it’s not pretty: muscle shrinking, bones weakening, changes to the central nervous system and other biological modifications to make us all reconsider the journey. “Some researchers have forecast that the future settler, after generations of evolutionary conditioning, will look less like an Übermensch and more like ET,” Wismayer writes. Juliette Portala

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Aug 5 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencebusiness.net
Highest resolution view of the sun yet reveals magnetic mysteries

The highest resolution views of the sun’s visible surface have revealed whirlpools that could drive solar activity.

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Aug 5 • 3:45 PM EDT • Science • cnn.com
NSF Inouye Solar Telescope Enables Major Discovery of a Hidden Solar Process - NSO

Scientists using the NSF Inouye Solar Telescope discovered Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on the Sun, shedding light on solar activity and space weather.

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Aug 5 • 11:36 AM EDT • Science • nso.edu
Australia cuts cost of rooftop solar for businesses

Australia will accelerate its transition to renewable energy by cutting the cost to ​install rooftop solar panels on factories, ‌warehouses, farms and other businesses by around one-fifth, the government said on Wednesday.

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Aug 5 • 2:54 AM EDT • Business • reuters.com
Federal appeals court says Trump admin was wrong to terminate climate funds

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was designed to finance small energy projects. The Trump administration accused the nonprofits of mismanagement and fraud

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Aug 4 • 2:30 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Federal appeals court says Trump admin was wrong to terminate climate funds

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was designed to finance small energy projects. The Trump administration accused the nonprofits of mismanagement and fraud

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Aug 4 • 2:30 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Federal appeals court says Trump admin was wrong to terminate climate funds

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was designed to finance small energy projects. The Trump administration accused the nonprofits of mismanagement and fraud

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Aug 4 • 2:30 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
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Direct Relief’s Power for Health Initiative Brings Resilient Power to Pennsylvania Community Health Center

Direct Relief today announced the completion of a new solar and battery energy storage system at North Side Christian Health Center, or NSCHC, the first project in Pennsylvania to become operationa…

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Aug 3 • 1:30 PM EDT • Health • directrelief.org
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Featured Image: Citizen Science and Solar Structure

Citizen scientists from the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast Initiative recorded nearly an hour of coronal behavior during the 8 April 2024 solar eclipse.

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Aug 3 • 12:00 PM EDT • Science • aasnova.org
TotalEnergies agrees to buy Shell's European onshore renewables business

TotalEnergies will add 4 gigawatt of solar, wind and battery storage projects and assets.

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Aug 3 • 7:43 AM EDT • Business • axios.com
High-Signal Publisher
Primaries test power of data center politics, solar spending

Candidates hope the outrage over artificial intelligence infrastructure will give them seats in Congress next year.

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Aug 3 • 6:10 AM EDT • Politics • eenews.net
Giant waves are sweeping Mars’ atmosphere into space

The solar wind may be stripping away Mars’ atmosphere by creating giant rolling waves along its outer edge. Data from MAVEN and Tianwen-1 show that these waves form plasma clouds that carry atmospheric particles into space. The process is concentrated on one side of Mars and may have played a major role in drying out the once potentially habitable planet.

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Aug 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Scientists detect a sharp acceleration in global warming

Global warming appears to have shifted into a faster gear. After removing the effects of El Niño, volcanic eruptions, and solar cycles, researchers found that the planet has warmed at roughly 0.35°C per decade over the past ten years, compared with just under 0.2°C per decade from 1970 to 2015. The acceleration, which becomes visible around 2013 to 2015, appeared across five major global temperature datasets with more than 98% statistical certainty.

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Aug 1 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
The IAC and California-based Predictive Science Inc Predict the Solar Corona for the August 12 Eclipse Using the La Palma Supercomputer

Ahead of the upcoming solar eclipse on August 12, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), in collaboration with the research group Predictive Science Inc. (PSI, San Diego, California), has successfully simulated in high detail the structure of the solar corona that will be visible during totality along the path of totality, including Palencia, where the IAC will gather more than 40 spanish, moroccan, and american astronomers.

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Jul 30 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • iac.es
Scientists advance space agriculture for future moon and Mars missions

Space isn't known for rich soil or ideal agricultural conditions anywhere in the solar system. Yet amid extreme temperatures and vast distances, multidisciplinary teams at USF's Aerospace: Science, Technology, ...

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Jul 30 • 12:00 PM EDT • Science • phys.org
Lunar eclipse, meteor shower set to light up the night in August

A near-total lunar eclipse and the Perseid meteor shower will light up the nights of August, making up for a solar eclipse too far away to make more than a dent locally.

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Jul 30 • 5:01 AM EDT • Science • worcestermag.com
Catch an orange 'Buck Moon' rise tonight before a month of solar and lunar eclipses

July's full moon will be at its best on the night of July 29. It's the last regular full moon before a total solar eclipse and partial lunar eclipse in August.

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Jul 29 • 6:05 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com
New York state responds to federal concerns about solar farming

Not everyone agrees with the push to use New York’s farmland for solar farming.

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Jul 28 • 8:28 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
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NASA science soars during August total solar eclipse

Each time the moon covers the sun during a total solar eclipse—darkening daytime skies and briefly revealing the sun's ethereal outer atmosphere, the corona—it presents new opportunities to better understand ...

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Jul 28 • 7:17 AM EDT • Science • phys.org
NASA Science Soars During August Total Solar Eclipse

Each time the Moon covers the Sun during a total solar eclipse — darkening daytime skies and briefly revealing the Sun’s ethereal outer atmosphere, the corona

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Jul 27 • 2:01 PM EDT • Science • science.nasa.gov
Lineage faces daily fines after health officials cite ongoing violations at Boyle Heights warehouse

The company that operates a warehouse damaged in a massive fire in Boyle Heights last month has been cited for a public health violation, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

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Jul 27 • 1:38 PM EDT • Health • abc7.com
BP nears deal to sell solar business to Kuwait-backed consortium, FT reports

BP is ​in advanced talks to sell ‌its solar business, Lightsource, to a consortium backed by Kuwait's sovereign wealth ​fund, the Financial Times ​reported on Friday, citing people familiar ⁠with the matter.

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Jul 24 • 9:00 AM EDT • Business • reuters.com