Science

Scientists believe that Venus once looked a lot more like Earth. How it evolved from that point to where it is today is a question with deep implications, not just for our own planet’s future, but for the search for life outside the Solar System. Now, researchers think they have solved a significant piece of

WASHINGTON — The first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner will be delayed at least another week and a half to replace a faulty valve in its Atlas 5 launch vehicle. NASA announced late May 7 that the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, whose launch was scrubbed May 6 because of a malfunctioning valve in

Roman dodecahedra are something of an enigma: there is no known mention of these 12-sided, hollow objects in ancient Roman texts or images. First discovered in the 18th century, around 130 dodecahedra have been found across the Roman Empire, although it is interesting that the majority have been found in northern Europe and Britain, and

It’s a question that has dogged humanity since we first learned about black holes a little over a century ago: What the heck would it be like to plunge beyond the point of no return? We still don’t have an answer, but a new supercomputer simulation is the best guess we have, based on current

A team of Canadian and US researchers has demonstrated incredible results when restoring old corroded daguerreotypes (very early types of photos), via a technique known as synchrotron imaging – using X-ray beams to precisely identify material compositions. At the simplest level, the technique runs a chemical analysis to detect where the corrosion and damage on

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is making a major push to harness commercial technology for tracking maritime threats around the world, the agency’s director said May 6. Speaking at the GEOINT Symposium, Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth announced the agency’s first-ever solicitation for commercial solutions focused specifically on maritime domain awareness. A new “Commercial

It’s no secret that sports fanatics tend to treat their favorite game as a sacred thing, but a new discovery suggests the ancient Maya took it to a whole new level. Beneath the paved floor of a plaza determined to be a court for Maya Ballgame, archaeologists have identified plants used for ceremonies. These plants

Launch day is finally here: Boeing’s Starliner capsule blasts off Monday to the International Space Station on its first crewed mission – several years after SpaceX first achieved the same milestone. The flight, a final test before Starliner takes up regular service for NASA, is critical for the US aerospace giant, whose reputation has suffered

We’ve made some significant steps forward in robotics and AI in recent years, but haven’t yet built robots that can outpace the best that nature has to offer – and new research explores the key reasons why. By reviewing and referring to more than a hundred previous studies, and pitting robots against animals in categories

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX has unveiled long-awaited spacesuits intended for spacewalks that will first be used on an upcoming private spaceflight. The company revealed the design of the extravehicular activity (EVA) suit on its website and social media May 4. The suit is based on the current pressure suits worn by astronauts on Crew Dragon

Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest person, ran a 100-meter sprint at a speed of 23.35 miles per hour (37.57 kilometers per hour). That’s mind-blowingly fast for a human. It’s about the same speed as cruising in a car through your neighborhood or in a school zone. It might not seem that fast when you’re in

Few things in life are certain. But it seems highly probable that people will explore the lunar surface over the next decade or so, staying there for weeks, perhaps months, at a time. That fact bumps up against something we are certain about. When human beings spend time in low-gravity environments, it takes a toll

Brain implant technology is rapidly advancing, helping people to find their voice or beat neurological disorders. But what happens when an implant is no longer supported by its producer? Upgrading to a new model when your five-year-old smartphone can no longer support updates is hard enough – it’s another matter entirely when we’re talking about

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is gearing up for a demonstration next year of a satellite communications network that can seamlessly integrate government-owned and commercial constellations on a single, secure military terminal. The demonstration is a key milestone in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet, or DEUCSI — a

Our world is riddled with fascinating, perilous, but beautiful holes into the quiet depths of the crust. To explore a cave is to meet with awe – a calm, almost alien world, far removed from the babble and busyness of the world above ground. One of the most spectacular known cave networks in the world

You’ve seen the Sun, but you’ve never seen the Sun like this. This single frame from a video captured by ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission shows the Sun looking very …. fluffy! You can see feathery, hair-like structures made of plasma following magnetic field lines in the Sun’s lower atmosphere as it transitions into the much

Updated 7:25 p.m. Eastern with Lockheed Martin statement. WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has abandoned plans to acquire the portion of satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital it does not own for more than $500 million. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after the markets closed May 2, Terran Orbital said it was notified

A UK team of archaeologists on Thursday revealed the reconstructed face of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman, as researchers reappraise the perception of the species as brutish and unsophisticated. Named Shanidar Z after the cave in Iraqi Kurdistan where her skull was found in 2018, the latest discovery has led experts to probe the mystery of

It’s always dark and stormy on the nightside of the exoplanet Astrolábos. There, in the permanent shadow facing away from its host star WASP-43, the skies of the gas giant also known as WASP-43b are scudding with crashing clouds, but that’s not all. So close is the exoplanet to the star that its temperature, even

Fifth-generation or ‘5G’ connectivity for cellular technology has only been the standard for networks for around five years, but with 6G already on the horizon, developers are looking for ways to take full advantage of the next generation’s expansive bandwidth. A technology demo carried out in Japan has shown a prototype wireless device reaching 100

An editorial recently published on SpaceNews took the position that my company’s Luna Memorial Spaceflight service should not be permitted on the Moon because the Navajo Nation views the Moon as sacred. In essence, the author is arguing that lawful space missions should be subject to the religious test of a single culture. The heart

It’s a stereotype universally acknowledged that a woman at room temperature must be in want of a coat. But is it a scientific truth? Sheer observations aside, very few controlled studies have investigated how male and female bodies withstand cold temperatures. A new study has surprised researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH),

Meteors – commonly known as shooting stars – can be seen on any night of the year. But some nights are better than others. As Earth moves around the Sun, we encounter streams of dust and debris from comets and asteroids. That debris gives birth to “meteor showers” – times when the number of shooting

WASHINGTON — Millennium Space Systems, a subsidiary of Boeing, won a $414 million contract from the Space Development Agency to produce specialized satellites aimed at detecting and tracking hypersonic missile threats, the agency announced April 30.  Under the agreement, Millennium will build eight satellites equipped with advanced infrared and optical sensors, provide the ground system

Anyone indulging in a paleo-style diet might want to think about adding a few more vegetables. The teeth and bones of pre-agricultural human hunter-gatherers who lived some 15,000 years ago in what is now Morocco reveal that their diet – long thought to have been significantly loaded with animal protein – was actually weighted much

The Lyrid meteor shower is in full swing this week. Every year from April 15 to April 29, dozens of shooting stars streak through the sky in this spectacular show. The meteor shower was most active from Sunday night to Monday morning, but it will remain visible for the next week. On Tuesday night, the

SAN FRANCISCO – Finnish startup Kuva Space will provide hyperspectral data to the European Space Agency under a 1.8 million euro ($1.93 million) contract announced April 29. Kuva Space will develop onboard data processing and rapid communications links to support Finnish government agencies focused on border security, wildfires and landslides. The three-year research and development

With a name that means ‘little brain’ in Latin, the cerebellum comprises just 10 percent of the entire brain’s mass. Don’t let that small size fool you, though; with more than three-quarters of the brain’s neurons packed within that small space, there’s a lot going on inside. Traditionally it’s thought this part of the nervous

The hunt for the elusive Planet Nine goes on, and new research claims to have the “strongest statistical evidence yet” that there is such a planet orbiting somewhere around the far edges of the Solar System. That claim was made to Andrew Griffin at The Independent by astronomer Konstantin Bogytin from the California Institute of

In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20 percent of global oil production and use up 15 percent of the annual carbon emissions budget. Most of the plastic we make ends up as waste. As plastic manufacturers increase production, more and