Weekend Reads 6/8/19

Where Will All the Water Go?

As the planet heats up, more water evaporates from the oceans — about 6% to 7% more for every degree Celsius of warming, estimates Trenberth, based on a physical process outlined more than a century ago. This means that, on average, when a large storm system pulls moist air into its orbit, there is more water going into that storm and more potential for heavier rain in a warmer climate.

Are dark matter ‘clumps’ tearing holes in the Milky Way?

With no visible culprit on which to pin the celestial fender-bender, then, and no tell-tale signs of a black hole like the massive one believed to lie at the center of the Milky Way, Bonaca believes a large “clump” of dark matter could be responsible for the tear in GD-1. Despite researchers’ frustrating inability to “prove” the existence of dark matter, most agree it’s there and that it greatly outnumbers luminous matter, holding galaxies together and clustering at their centers.

Rand Paul: I don't support Trump having Congress's constitutional power

“Really tariffs, laws, have to originate with Congress, and I think you just can’t declare emergencies on spending, on tariffs, also on arms sales,” he said, referring to a potential arms sale to Saudi Arabia that has faced staunch opposition in Congress.

The Not So Dead Sea: Traces of Ancient Bacteria Found in the Lake’s Sediments

Take Mars—in 2011 NASA’s Opportunity rover stumbled on gypsum, the same mineral that Thomas found in the Dead Sea sediments. Its presence suggests that as the Red Planet warmed, its oceans and lakes evaporated. But before they did, these bodies of water probably would have looked a lot like the Dead Sea—maybe even down to the biological processes, says Tomaso Bontognali, a scientist at the Space Exploration Institute in Switzerland, who was not involved in the Dead Sea study.