Ecology

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When the Mediterranean almost disappeared: the Messinian salinity crisis

About 5.5 million from years ago a critical and almost catastrophic transformation has reshaped the Mediterranean Sea: this geological event, which lasted almost 700,000 years and known as “Messinian salinity crisis” (from the name of the geological period in which it occurred) and resulted evaporation of almost all the water in the Mediterraneantransforming it into a vast expanse of salt ...

punji sticks

Punji Sticks, the Viet Cong traps used during the Vietnam War: how they worked

During the war in Vietnamone of the most insidious dangers for American soldiers were the traps of Punji Sticks. It was about pointed sticks designed to inflict serious injuries to the lower limbs and force soldiers to stop, often with devastating consequences. The punji sticks were made up of poles of bamboo, wood or metal, which were planted vertically on ...

motore scacchistico come funziona

How a chess engine works: this is how the computer “thinks” when we play chess against it

A chess engineor chess engineis software designed to play chess with a skill level that surpasses even the best grandmasters. With each move, these programs evaluate the positions on the board and they decide the best move to make using complex artificial intelligence algorithms. Chess engines combine three fundamental components: the position representation, the search algorithm and a rating function. ...

Immagine

When the Mediterranean almost disappeared: the Messinian salinity crisis

About 5.5 million from years ago a critical and almost catastrophic transformation has reshaped the Mediterranean Sea: this geological event, which lasted almost 700,000 years and known as “Messinian salinity crisis” (from the name of the geological period in which it occurred) and resulted evaporation of almost all the water in the Mediterraneantransforming it into a vast expanse of salt ...

Immagine

Taxi in Italy: why there is a problem with licenses and liberalization

In Italy the quantity of taxis available is not sufficient to satisfy customer demand during the busiest times: in Milan there is 38% probability that there are none available. In Rome the percentage rises to 44% and in Naples even at 47%, that is, almost one call in two receives no response. Wouldn’t it be enough to simply increase the ...

Immagine

December’s peak of shooting stars, the Geminids, is arriving: when and how to observe

Credits: Dai Jianfeng/IAU OAE, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. In the night between 13 and 14 Decemberlike every year, the meteor shower of Geminids – one of the most intense of the winter months – will reach its peak maximum peak intensity. So let’s keep our eyes on the sky to observe the shower of shooting stars in December, ...

fantozzi dare del lei

Why do you use “she” with people you don’t know?

We often use i courtesy pronouns“she” or “you”, when speaking to someone we don’t know, as a sign of respect and good manners. But where does the custom of calling “lei” and “voi” come from?? From far away, precisely from the times of the courtly culture ofEarly Middle Ages (around the 11th and 12th centuries), in which the “voi” was ...

santa lucia giorno piu corto che ci sia vero o falso

Why is it said that Saint Lucia is the shortest day there is? The real story

Within the Christian calendar, the December 13th is celebrated Saint Luciaprotector of sight due to her symbolism linked to light (“Lucia” derives from Latin lux“light”), which anticipates Christmas. The popular saying, so rooted as to stand above all empirical evidence “Saint Lucia is the shortest day there is” however, is scientifically inaccurate and depends first and foremost on having passed ...

Sistema-Solare

Solar System, which planets compose it and its characteristics

The Solar system is the set of celestial bodies that orbit the Sun: in addition to the planetary system with the 8 planets recognized by astronomers (divided into rocky and giant planets, including gas giants and icy giants) we also find dwarf planets such as Pluto, comets, asteroids and satellites, kept in orbit by the gravitational force of the Sun ...

Varare navi

Why does a bottle of champagne break on the hull when launching ships?

For launch ships you break a bottle of wine or champagne on the bow because the ritual is there modern version of one ceremony existing since ancient world. It must be considered that launching is the event with which the vessel is put into water for the first time and it is a solemn moment celebrated with sumptuous ceremonies, which ...