Swiftiequake, California Condor, Robodog

Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. Recently, her fans have been filling stadiums to see her “Eras Tour” show.

August 5th 2023

When the tour reached California’s SoFi Stadium last summer, it wasn’t just 70,000 Swifties who went along, but scientists, too, hoping to fill a “Blank Space” in their research.

They wanted to learn more about the relationship between music concerts and the movement of the Earth’s surface.

seismic activity

The team used sensors in different areas in and around the stadium to record any seismic activity or motion, which indicates movement of the Earth’s surface. During the concert, the sensors detected seismic waves, meaning the ground was moving—much like it does during an earthquake!

The team wanted to know what was causing the Earth to shake. Previous research suggested this may have been caused by the loud music creating vibrations. But the team’s study revealed that the Swift-quake was actually caused by fans jumping up and down to their favorite songs—with Shake It Off and You Belong With Me providing some of the biggest results!

California condor

These large birds are California condors. They are a critically endangered species. Just over 40 years ago, only 22 of them were left in the wild. But since then, a recovery program has helped increase the number of these huge birds by breeding them in places like zoos and releasing them into the wild.

Recently, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance welcomed the 250th California condor chick to hatch at its San Diego Zoo Safari Park. A wildlife care team looked after the egg to give the chick the best chance of hatching. They even used a CT scanner to look inside the egg and check whether the unhatched chick was doing well.

Which it was!

Soon after, there were signs that the chick was ready to break free from the egg. And then, on March 16th, it hatched. The team named it Emaay, which means “Sky” in the language of Kumeyaay indigenous people. And the sky is where the team hopes to see this chick next year, when it’s released into the wild—helping the species soar once again!

Meet Spirit, a dog-like robot built as part of NASA’s LASSIE project. The project’s aim is to create legged robots that could explore the surface of the Moon and planets like Mars. To help with this, Spirit has been on an adventure. The robot joined a team of scientists, and a dog called Howard, on a research trip to Oregon’s Mount Hood.

Mount Hood, Oregon

Here, the team tested how well Spirit could walk on different surfaces, like slushy ice, crumbly dirt, and hard rock. They observed that Spirit was able to move on all surfaces, but did occasionally struggle. To understand why, the team analyzed how Spirit moved compared to Howard, who always moved well across all terrain. They think that Howard was able to move better because of the shape of his paws and the speed and angle that they touched the surface. The team plans on using these observations to build new robots, which they hope will join Spirit in outer space in the not-too-distant future.

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