Science

Artificial intelligence has changed form in recent years. What started in the public eye as a burgeoning field with promising (yet largely benign) applications, has snowballed into a more than US $100 billion industry where the heavy hitters – Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI, to name a few – seem intent on out-competing one another. The

TAMPA, Fla. — The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules April 20 governing how fixed-satellite service operators in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) share spectrum amid an unprecedented flood of proposed constellations. In the first item taken up by the regulator’s recently established Space Bureau, the rules clarify how operators awarded licenses in different FCC application processing

With their baby-face aesthetics and a certain personable charm, flat-faced dogs are cherished companions around the world. It’s a love that dates back to Roman times, a new study suggests. The skull and jawbone of a dog with a decidedly squashed snout was unearthed in 2007 in the ruins of Tralleis (now Aydin in modern-day

Predicted over a century ago as monstrous concentrations of mass that torture the fabric of the Universe into traps of light and information, black holes are now established as objects of fact. But might every distortion of light we now come across be a certified concentration of infinite density, or should we leave room for

Scientists have discovered how two distinct brain networks interact with one another to help us make meaning out of words and glean complex, higher-level meaning from sentences, like the one you’re reading right now. “This study helps us better understand how distributed hubs in the brain’s language network work together and interact to allow us

Amateur astrophotography is becoming increasingly popular among the astronomy community, as advancements in telescope and camera technologies allow individuals from all walks of life to observe the heavens in mind-blowing detail, including our own Sun, albeit with the proper protective equipment. This was recently demonstrated by Andrew McCarthy (Twitter @AJamesMcCarthy), who owns and operates Cosmic

Almost a third of the world’s plastic waste is polypropylene, a hardy plastic used to make bottle caps and food containers that can take hundreds of years to degrade. But now, scientists have harnessed two strains of fungi found in soils to break down lab samples of polypropylene in just 140 days. The two fungi,

Scientists are continuing to make advances in electronics that can safely monitor and treat our health from inside the body. Unfortunately, powering these miniature medical gadgets isn’t always straightforward. There’s now a new type of rechargeable battery that could help in that department. Made from fully edible substances, it can dissolve safely in the stomach

COLORADO SPRINGS — NASA has released new details on the initial phases of its architecture to return humans to the moon as a step towards eventual missions to Mars. Speaking at the 38th Space Symposium April 18, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy rolled out a 150-page document describing its plans for the initial series of

The most thorough study yet of a mysterious creature that lived 300 million years ago has ruled that it had no bones after all. Since its discovery nearly 70 years ago, the true nature of Tullimonstrum gregarium – AKA the Tully monster – has confounded scientists. Studies have variously found it was a vertebrate, or

Testing the possibility of models of gravity different from general relativity may be closer to home than we think. A team of researchers has proposed that we might be able to use seismic motions in the Earth itself to test for modified gravity. We do not understand 95 percent of the contents of the Universe.

Almost every morning I face the same dilemmas. Whether I should wake up my wife with a kiss or let her sleep longer. Should I get out of bed or just press the snooze button? And that is even before I have had my first cup of coffee. Our daily life is rife with so-called

Update: SpaceX is now targeting 0820 CT (1320 UTC) on Monday 17 April for launch. SpaceX is about to attempt the first test flight of a mega rocket that could one day take us to Mars. If successful, Starship will be the tallest and most powerful fully reusable rocket ever flown. That is a rather

Despite a global ban in place since 2010, atmospheric concentrations of five ozone-depleting chemicals have reached a record high. Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, are entirely man-made gasses used in a variety of applications, including refrigeration, air conditioning, or as chemical solvents. They have been increasingly regulated by a series of international treaties since the 1980s. The

SAN FRANCISCO — TrustPoint Inc., a startup developing a cubesat-based global navigation satellite system, launched its first satellite April 15 on the SpaceX Transporter-7 rideshare flight. For Leesburg, Virginia-based TrustPoint, the launch was the culmination of years of work aimed at proving that a highly accurate position, navigation and timing source can be contained in

There’s a problem for researchers trying to identify the size of ancient armored fish from the late Devonian period (approximately 382-358 million years ago): only the armored parts around their heads have been preserved in fossils. In other words, we’ve been trying to judge the size of species like those in the Dunkleosteus genus of

Graphene is a special material. Among its many talents, it can act as a superconductor, generate a super-rare form of magnetism, and unlock entirely new quantum states. Now graphene has another amazing credit: it can record levels of magnetoresistance without a need to push the temperature down towards absolute zero. High magnetoresistance – a material’s

As early as 170,000 years ago, Homo sapiens was sustaining itself on fatty, protein-rich fare: the cooked flesh of giant land snails. A study of snail shells excavated from the famous Border Cave archaeological site in South Africa, followed by rigorous experimentation, reveals that the nutritious mollusks were an important part of the human diet

A stunning solar “waterfall” has been spotted on the surface of the sun. The picture, taken by astrophotographer Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau on March 9, shows a wall of plasma being shot “some 100,000 kilometers” – or about 62,000 miles – up towards space, Poupeau told Spaceweather.com. That’s high enough to engulf about eight Earths. The

The threat of rising seas is often framed in terms of inundation risk, with a focus on what ends up underwater. But in areas where the coastal landscape isn’t entirely flat, rising seas can also pose a much more insidious threat, cutting residents off from essential services. According to a new study, many living along

A well-known bacterium could transform carbon dioxide from the air into a useful bioplastic, tackling two global problems in one swift move, using a prototype system designed by a team of chemical engineers in Korea. Plastic-munching bacteria capable of breaking down plastic waste in a matter of hours have attracted much attention lately as a

WASHINGTON — HawkEye 360 and Maxar Technologies have been awarded contract extensions by the National Reconnaissance Office for commercial radio-frequency (RF) data. The NRO also awarded similar contracts to Kleos Space and Spire Global. All four companies last year were selected for cooperative agreements that give the NRO access to their business operations and help

When Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago, the Roman city of Pompeii and its residents were buried alive, entombed in ash. But the nearby city of Herculaneum was obliterated, and few traces of its people were ever found. Their bodies were most likely vaporized in a searing hot blast of gas and particles, according

Buried under kilometers of rock in Ontario, Canada, a tank of the purest water flashed as barely detectable particle slammed through its molecules. It’s the first time that water has been used to detect a particle known as an antineutrino, which originated from a nuclear reactor more than 240 kilometers (150 miles) away. This incredible

For all the joy they bring, families and close friendships often involve conflict, betrayal, regret, and resentment. Prince Harry’s recent memoir, Spare, is a reminder of the fact that the people closest to us often have the greatest power to hurt us. He describes power struggles, conflict, challenging family dynamics, and decades of guilt, jealousy,

We’ve just been given a spectacular new perspective on what is possibly the oddest ball in the Solar System. The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its golden, infrared gaze on the enigmatic seventh world from the Sun, Uranus – and the image it returned has revealed the turquoise planet in gleaming glory. Moons, rings,

Off the coast of Antarctica, trillions of tons of cold salty water sink to great depths. As the water sinks, it drives the deepest flows of the “overturning” circulation – a network of strong currents spanning the world’s oceans. The overturning circulation carries heat, carbon, oxygen, and nutrients around the globe, and fundamentally influences climate,

Food scientists on Tuesday unveiled a giant meatball made from lab-grown flesh of an extinct woolly mammoth, saying the protein from the past showed the way for future foods. The glistening meatball was displayed under a glass bell jar by Australian-based cultivated meat firm Vow at the NEMO science museum in the Dutch capital Amsterdam.

TAMPA, Fla. — A second pair of O3b mPower satellites for upgrading SES’ medium Earth orbit (MEO) broadband network are due to arrive at their SpaceX launchpad in Florida this week, Boeing announced April 11. The satellites set off via truck last week from Boeing’s manufacturing facilities in El Segundo, California, Boeing Satellite Systems International