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-Steve

Join The Convo for weekly briefings on the coolest STEM news!

Tonga the Explorer 

A globetrotting plume explored the stratosphere for months after an eruption in January. Tonga was our largest volcanic activity in the past century.

• Tonga is an underwater volcano in the South Pacific Ocean

• Scientists tracked water vapor from the plume ~50 miles up

• ~55 million tons of water was ejected into the stratosphere

Vapor was blown around the globe twice during six weeks of tracking. Researchers looking for environmental impacts of the large plume believe Tonga's undersea origin spared us a troublesome toxic cloud. If only they could all be elephant toothpaste volcanos.

International plume of mystery

Space Rocks

Our moon’s newest mineral just dropped, Changesite–(Y). China’s discovery makes it the third country to find a new mineral on the moon.

• Named after the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e

• Found in regolith (moon dirt) collected in 2020

• First lunar samples returned since the 1970s

Scientists at Beijing’s Research Institute of Uranium geology discovered the minerals in samples from Chang’e 5’s Oceanus Procellarum mission. China's next lunar trip will attempt to return the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon.

They're not rocks, they're minerals, Marie

Buzzy Builders

What buzzes and builds things in hard to reach places? Well, yes bees, but also Aerial-AM drones.

• Aerial-AM = Aerial Additive Manufacturing

• BuilDrones 3D-print structures with concrete or foam

• ScanDrones evaluate progress and tell the builders what to do

Pairs of drones collaborated autonomously to build test cylinders out of various materials in a lab. Researchers plan to scale up production to assist with construction atop skyscrapers. Soon we will also be able to play real-life Minecraft.

Hive-minded builders

Clickables 

• A magic carpet ride on water 

• Watch the end of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch 

• Guess how many ants there are in the world, then guess again

• Saturn may be haunted by a dead moon  

• Far-out award-winning space pics

st3v on site

Cheese Mine

So many moon rocks, so little lunar cheese.

Thank you for reading!

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Catch-up here: Toasty Bricks | ZEM ZEM | Twirl Energy - The Convo Kit #66

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