Science

We’re all familiar with songs getting stuck in our head while we’re awake, but it turns out this can happen during sleep as well. A new study investigating the phenomenon indicates that earworms invading our brains at night could cause problems in getting to sleep and staying asleep. “Our brains continue to process music even

We now have a three-dimensional map of one of the boundaries of the Solar System. For the first time, astronomers have been able to determine the shape of the heliosphere, the boundary that marks the end of the influence of our star’s solar wind. This discovery could help us better understand the environment of the

If we’re going to tackle our microplastic pollution problem, then we need a better understanding of where these fragments and particles are – and a new study suggests that adapting satellite measurements could be one way of doing just that. At the moment, estimates of microplastics in the ocean rely on trawling specific areas with

SpaceNews recently highlighted the growing recognition that companies can use space-based data and services to demonstrate their implementation of the environmental component of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) principles.  It is fantastic to see the space industry supporting ESG objectives by providing data and monitoring for Earth-based environmental sustainability efforts.  Yet we also need to recognize

Humans are driving the extinction of our closest relatives on planet Earth, and if we don’t change our behavior, we may be the last great ape standing. In the worst-case scenario, where human emissions and land use continue as usual, researchers predict a 94 percent loss of great ape habitat in Africa by 2050. Even

As human languages are driven to extinction around the world, a verbal encyclopedia of medical knowledge is on the brink of being forgotten. Among 12,495 medicinal uses for plants in indigenous communities, new research has found over 75 percent of those plants are each tied to just one local language. If these unique words trickle out

It’s hard to tell what’s lurking out there, in the dark voids between the stars. Evidence, however, suggests the existence of a vast population of rogue exoplanets, set adrift and tethered to no star. Far from the live-giving warmth a star provides, these lonely exoplanets are unlikely to be habitable. Their moons might be another

For most life forms on Earth, oxygen is a necessity, not an optional extra – and because of our warming planet, oxygen is quickly disappearing from our freshwater lakes, putting aquatic life and ecosystems under threat. Researchers looked at samples and measurements taken from 393 lakes in temperate areas of the globe across a period

TAMPA, Fla. — The United States and five other countries are banding together with the United Kingdom to develop a satellite-based quantum technology encryption network. The Federated Quantum System (FQS) will be based on the one British startup Arqit is developing for commercial customers, using quantum technology breakthroughs to guard against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. But

Imagine you’re walking into a forest, and you roll over a fallen log with your foot. Fanning out on the underside, there is something moist and yellow – a bit like something you may have sneezed out, if that something was banana-yellow and spread itself out into elegant fractal branches. What you’re looking at is

As if Australia’s wonderful menagerie of strange beasties wasn’t already unique enough – with biofluorescing mammals that lay eggs and sweat milk - the delightful weirdness extends even to their nether regions. Take an echidna’s junk, for instance. I mean, just look at that magnificent four-tipped monstrosity! “They have to be quite well endowed to get around

At the age of 16, when Tony Kofi was an apprentice builder living in Nottingham, he fell from the third story of a building. Time seemed to slow down massively, and he saw a complex series of images flash before his eyes. As he described it, “In my mind’s eye I saw many, many things:

Astronomy enthusiasts rose in the early-morning hours to capture a rare glimpse at a solar eclipse. Those in the northern US as well as Canada and Greenland got the best shots of the “ring of fire” eclipse that took place Thursday morning, though the eclipse was only partial for most of the Northern Hemisphere. A sliver

Despite slim hopes that global shutdowns during the pandemic might bring respite from the climate crisis, yet more evidence confirms that no such silver lining exists. Newly released measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in fact show that concentrations of the heat-trapping chemical have surged to record levels not seen by scientists in the

You’ve probably seen images of scientists peering down a microscope, looking at objects invisible to the naked eye. Indeed, microscopes are indispensable to our understanding of life. They are just as indispensable to biotechnology and medicine, for instance in our response to diseases such as COVID-19. However, the best light microscopes have hit a fundamental

TAMPA, Fla. — Canadian startup Kelper plans to build a U.S. presence after raising $60 million for its low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite data constellation. The company said the office expansion will bring it closer to U.S. customers and potential partners as it nearly doubles its team to 150 people by the end of 2021.

The largest shark ever to swim Earth’s oceans is like a ghost in the paleontological record. Megalodon (Otodus megalodon) is known primarily in the fossil record by its giant teeth, surviving millions of years, long after its cartilage skeleton decays to nothing. It’s from these giant teeth, as big as your hand, that scientists estimate

For the first time, scientists have been able to accurately measure the mass of the human chromosome. Using a powerful X-ray source at the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, the Diamond Light Source, physicists were able to determine the individual masses of all 46 chromosomes in human cells. The masses were found to be significantly

Emotional intelligence, the ability to regulate and perceive emotions, is the subject of much debate amongst scientists and the public alike. Whilst most people agree that being able to read other people and control your own feelings are positive characteristics that vary in strength between individuals, objectively defining and measuring these abilities is not easy.

Squinting through their telescopes at the twinkling heavens, few 19th century astronomers would have imagined the cosmic wonders awaiting discovery in the century to come.  Stars so dense, a teaspoon of their matter would weigh as much as a mountain. Objects so compact, literally nothing could escape its gravity. Even galaxies had yet to be

The biggest natural disasters are by no means just a local issue, as new research shows: smoke from the devastating California wildfires of 2020 eventually reached as far as Europe, and was still dense enough after its travels to block out the Sun. Scientists tracked wildfire smoke originating from the US west coast in September

The conclusion of a classified US intelligence report on the existence of alien UFOs is… inconclusive, US media reported Friday. US military and intelligence found no evidence that seemingly highly advanced unidentified flying objects sighted by military pilots were alien spacecraft, the report concludes, according to The New York Times and other media briefed on

WASHINGTON — Launch vehicle developer Astra is acquiring Apollo Fusion, a company developing electric propulsion systems for spacecraft, as part of its effort to create vertically integrated space systems. Astra is purchasing Apollo Fusion for $30 million in stock and $20 million in cash in a deal announced June 7. The deal includes an additional

The world’s oldest known water was found in an ancient pool below Canada in 2016, and is at least 2 billion years old. Back in 2013 scientists found water dating back about 1.5 billion years at the Kidd Mine in Ontario, but in 2016, deeper investigation revealed an even older source buried underground. The initial discovery

A two-dimensional material with similar physical properties to graphene has now turned out to blow graphene out of the water in terms of toughness. The material is called hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and it’s so resistant to cracking that scientists are gobsmacked. The finding flies in the face of the fundamental description of fracture mechanics

With enough training, most humans can learn how to echolocate, using their tongue to make clicking sounds, and interpreting the sounds of the echoes that come back, reflected from the surrounding environment.  In as few as 10 weeks, researchers were able to teach participants how to navigate obstacles and recognize the size and orientation of

A new discovery could soon be raising the total number of confirmed magnetars to 25. On 3 June, a brief X-ray burst close to the galactic plane caught the attention of the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT). Follow-up observation and analysis seem to confirm that it was emitted by a previously unknown magnetar, now named

The United Nations is urging governments around the world to rewild a billion hectares of degraded land in the next ten years. That’s a slice of the environment roughly the size of China – the sum of what numerous countries have already pledged to restore. But while humans are really good at making commitments to

China has achieved a new milestone in humanity’s experiments to harness the power of the stars. On Friday, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ fusion machine reached 120 million degrees Celsius (216 million degrees Fahrenheit) and clung onto this for 101 seconds. The last time EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak or HT-7U) held onto a writhing

Program manager Greg Spanjers:  ’We don’t see SpaceX as being the only viable provider of this capability’ WASHINGTON — U.S. Air Force officials on June 4 expressed enthusiasm about the possibility that commercial space vehicles one day could be used to ship supplies around the world.  “This never really made sense in the past” but