Science

It’s a mystery that’s eluded scientists for over 100 years – why do two identically coloured shapes look different when they’re placed on a gradient background? Just take a look at the image above: the two circles are the same colour. Our perception of shades (and colours) changes according to their visual context, a process

Only 566 people have ever travelled to space. Sixty-five of them, or about 11.5 percent, were women. NASA recently proclaimed it will put the “first woman and next man” on the Moon by 2024. Despite nearly 60 years of human spaceflight, women are still in the territory of “firsts”. Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in

New survey results from 40 countries shows that climate change matters to most people. In the vast majority of countries, fewer than 3 percent said climate change was not serious at all. We carried out this research as part of the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute annual Digital News Reports. More than 80,000 people were

Artificial intelligence networks have learnt a new trick: being able to create photo-realistic faces from just a few pixelated dots, adding in features such as eyelashes and wrinkles that can’t even be found in the original. Before you freak out, it’s good to note this is not some kind of creepy reverse pixelation that can

WASHINGTON — NASA officials say they’re confident that the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission will launch this summer amid the special measures the agency had to take to keep the mission on track during the coronavirus pandemic. The mission is currently scheduled for launch July 20 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 from Cape

The most severe extinction in Earth’s history looks to have been preceded and enabled by a colossal coal fire lit by volcanism over 250 million years ago, according to new research. The Permian-Triassic extinction, also known as the ‘Great Dying’, constitutes the deadliest of all our planet’s mass extinction events. When it took place, approximately

In July of 2018, NASA announced an incredible achievement. They had created the coldest spot in space – right there on the International Space Station, in orbit around Earth. They took atoms of a soft metal called rubidium, and cooled them to temperatures around 100 nanoKelvin – one ten-millionth of a Kelvin above absolute zero.

Trees marked by Aboriginal cultural practices are a distinctive part of the Australian landscape. A recent discovery on Wiradjuri country in New South Wales shows some of these “culturally modified trees” may be much younger than anybody thought. What are culturally modified trees? Aboriginal people have long used bark, wood, and trees for practical and

There’s simply no denying the fact that humans have drastically altered, developed, and ransacked much of the natural world for our own ends. But how much of the planet’s surface remains free of our often malign influence? If we were to map Earth looking only for signs of humanity’s footprint on landscapes, how much of

This summer, the clean energy company SINN Power is showcasing “the world’s first floating ocean hybrid platform” – a high-tech buoy that produces electricity from not one, not two, but three sources of renewable energy.  Using waves, wind, and the sun, the SINN Power floating structure, which can supposedly withstand waves up to six metres

SAN FRANCISCO – Raytheon won a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contract to study High-Resolution Infrared Sounder (HIRIS), a weather instrument designed to offer detailed views of cloud tops and the dry line, where moist and dry air meet. Under the May 12 NOAA contract valued at nearly $295,000, Raytheon will spend seven months fleshing

For humans, getting whacked in the face by heavy raindrops is a mere annoyance. But for tiny and delicate organisms – like butterflies – drops of rainwater are the equivalent of a person being pummelled by bowling balls falling from the sky. Ouch. “[Getting hit with] raindrops is the most dangerous event for this kind

A liquid phase originally proposed in the 1910s has finally been realised. Using a liquid crystal compound, scientists have discovered a new “ferroelectric nematic” phase that could open up an entire new class of materials and technological advances. There are many phases of liquid crystal, but one of the most common is the nematic phase.

Israeli scientists say they have produced hydrogen from plants in a development that they hope could eventually lead to using vegetation to produce electricity. The discovery was made by using microscopic algae, an aquatic plant, in research carried out at a Tel Aviv University laboratory. “To link a device to electricity, you just have to

So much of our everyday tech runs on batteries, the importance of lithium-ion rechargeables cannot be overstated. But they are expensive to produce, with difficult-to-source materials. There is an alternative - sodium-ion batteries have the potential to be cheaper and more easily produced, if we can get past the problem of getting these batteries to work

WASHINGTON —  Spaceflight Industries has completed the sale of its satellite rideshare business, Spaceflight Inc., to a pair of Japanese companies following a U.S. regulatory review and the modification of an Intelsat loan.  Spaceflight Industries said the sale to Mitsui & Co., in partnership with Yamasa Co., closed June 12, roughly four months after it

Don’t you just hate it when you discover bits of yourself that seem to have a mind of their own? Like when you decide you really don’t want to like someone, but some other part of you does anyway. Well, bad news for all you fellow egg-bearers out there – turns out our ova make

It’s easy to take time’s arrow for granted – but the gears of physics actually work just as smoothly in reverse. Maybe that time machine is possible after all? An experiment from 2019 shows just how much wiggle room we can expect when it comes to distinguishing the past from the future, at least on

SASC aide: “The acquisition piece was never formally transmitted to the Congress.” WASHINGTON — The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its version of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act by a vote of 25-2 following three days of closed hearings, the committee announced June 11. The markup authorizes $740.5 billion for national defense

Gen. Raymond: “These men and women “made the bold decision to volunteer to join the U.S. Space Force and defend the ultimate high ground.” WASHINGTON — More than 8,500 active-duty airmen applied to join the U.S. Space Force during the month of May, the service announced on June 9. Applicants include a mix of officers

WASHINGTON — NASA announced June 5 that it awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman to begin work on a habitation module for the lunar Gateway, nearly a year after the agency announced its intent to sole-source that module to the company. NASA said it issued a contract to Northrop Grumman valued at $187 million for

WASHINGTON — The reelection campaign of President Donald Trump has taken down an online ad tied to the recent Demo-2 commercial crew launch after complaints it appeared to violate NASA media guidelines, and criticism from one person who appeared in it. The ad, titled “Make Space Great Again!”, was posted on YouTube June 3 by

WASHINGTON — After making history on the first crewed flight of an orbital spacecraft launched from the United States in nearly nine years, two NASA astronauts are settling in on the International Space Station. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley arrived at the ISS May 31, 19 hours after the Crew Dragon spacecraft they were

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump used a speech after the successful SpaceX Crew Dragon launch May 30 to tout his administration’s accomplishments in space, some of which predate his time in office, rather than announce any new initiatives. Trump spoke inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center a little more than

SAN FRANCISCO — Electro Optic Systems Holdings Ltd. of Australia (EOS) completed its acquisition May 28 of Silicon Valley startup Audacy and announced plans to spend approximately $1.2 billion Australian dollars ($800 million) to create the EOSLink satellite communications constellation. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved EOS’ plan to take over Audacy’s spectrum license and

WASHINGTON — As NASA and SpaceX complete final preparations for the first crewed flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the agency is already looking ahead to the spacecraft’s next mission. Technicians spent the day May 26 wrapping up work ahead of the scheduled 4:33 p.m. Eastern May 27 launch of the Crew Dragon spacecraft on

The Air Force sent the report to congressional committees May 21 and notified them the next day that what they had received was not the final version. WASHINGTON — A Department of the Air Force report sent to Congress last week proposing changes to Space Force acquisition programs was an “initial version” and not the

SpaceNews in Conversation withMAJ. GEN. JOHN SHAWU.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command———Thursday, May 282 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacificvia Zoom As NASA prepares to launch astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle retired in 2011, the U.S. military is reviving the astronaut-rescue role it has been performing since the Apollo era.

Air Force Secretary Barrett argues that DoD space programs and investments should be integrated under the Space Force as soon as possible. WASHINGTON — Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett is pushing back on a Defense Department proposal that would delay transferring the Space Development Agency to the Space Force until October 2022. In a May

SAN FRANCISCO – Isotropic Systems won two defense contracts in two months, an important sign the satellite terminal developer is diversifying its customer base, John Finney, Isotropic founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. On May 18, Isotropic announced a contract with the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an organization established in 2015 to help the U.S.