Science

When the James Webb Space Telescope was launched on Christmas Day in 2021, it faced a whole host of intriguing questions. By the time it finally launched, astronomers had a big list of targets begging for the type of detailed observations that only the powerful infrared space telescope could perform. One of the targets was

Nearly three in four of us will face extreme weather changes within the next two decades, a new study predicts. “In the best case, we calculate that rapid changes will affect 1.5 billion people,” says physicist Bjørn Samset from the Center for International Climate Research (CICERO) in Norway. This lower estimate would only be reached

For billions of years, life has used long molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, to store information and solve problems. Today engineers are putting their own spin on DNA computing, to both record data and serve as biological computers, yet until now they’ve struggled to design a synthetic system that can store and perform tasks

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — U.S. military satellites acquired by the Space Development Agency for its low Earth orbit constellation undergo rigorous cybersecurity evaluations ahead of their deployment, as SDA emphasizes the need to mitigate vulnerabilities before launch.  Speaking at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Tournear said cybersecurity requirements are integrated into satellite manufacturers’ contracts.

If you’ve ever gazed into the big, watery eyes of a dog and suddenly felt connected, you might have been experiencing a moment of brain synchronization. For the first time, researchers in China have found neural activity syncing up between two different species: humans and dogs. The findings suggest we really do bond with our

A team of scientists presented a new gravity map of Mars at the Europlanet Science Congress 2024. The map shows the presence of dense, large-scale structures under Mars’ long-gone ocean and that mantle processes are affecting Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System. The new map and analysis include data from multiple missions,

Life was put to the ultimate test a quarter-billion years ago as extinction events ravaged Earth’s biosphere, leaving a mere handful of species to claw their way back to survival. This ‘Great Dying‘ appears to have been driven by a complex series of incidents, with a new study finding prolonged, intense climate fluctuations not unlike

PARIS — A Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico early Sept. 15, concluding a five-day private astronaut mission that featured the first commercial spacewalk. The Crew Dragon capsule Resilience splashed down near Dry Tortugas, in the Gulf of Mexico west of Key West, Florida, at 3:37 a.m. Eastern. The splashdown location

The groans of pain as we get up from the sofa or the sound of crunching cartilage when taking the stairs are all too familiar. Many of us look down at our aching knees and curse them – wondering why they seemingly evolved to hurt so much. But the human knee has a complex evolutionary

In the outer Solar System, far from the light and warmth of the Sun, things can get a little… hinky. There, clusters of rocks have been orbiting in weird loops that some astronomers have attributed to the presence of a large, unseen planet lurking on the Solar System’s fringes. So far, searches for the hypothetical

At this time of year, as the sun rises over Antarctica, a “hole” opens up in Earth’s ozone layer. The ozone layer is a vital planetary boundary that protects all life on Earth from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet radiation. But as our research shows, a series of unusual events in recent years caused ozone holes

Apple on Thursday got a green light from US regulators to add a feature that would let upcoming AirPods Pro ear pieces be used as hearing aids, potentially disrupting that market. Earlier this week the company updated the AirPods Pro 2, touting a pending software upgrade that will let people test their hearing and then

WASHINGTON — The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has selected 10 companies to compete for up to $290 million in contracts over the next five years to provide commercial satellite imagery and data analytics, aiming to bolster the government’s global monitoring and intelligence capabilities. The agency announced Sept. 13 that the following vendors will be

Picturing how our species might appear in the far future often invites wild speculation over stand-out features such as height, brain size, and skin complexion. Yet subtle shifts in our anatomy today demonstrate how unpredictable evolution can be. Take something as mundane as an extra blood vessel in our arms, which going by current trends

Mars has spiders unlike anything else in the Solar System. Between the ocher dunes, across the scars of impacts, long-legged shadows appear to scuttle across the dust. They aren’t actual, living spiders. These tendrilled shapes that appear in satellite images of the red planet are made, like almost everything on Mars, from dust. They’re known

Human-driven changes to the natural environment have knock-on consequences that aren’t immediately obvious: air pollution, for example, has now been linked to an increase in the frequency of lightning in thunderstorms. Researchers from James Madison University (JMU) in Virginia looked at data from more than 500,000 thunderstorms across Washington, DC, and Kansas City over the

Artificial intelligence engines powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming an increasingly accessible way of getting answers and advice, in spite of known racial and gender biases. A new study has uncovered strong evidence that we can now add political bias to that list, further demonstrating the potential of the emerging technology to unwittingly

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department’s enthusiasm for commercial innovation isn’t backed by sufficient funding, space industry executives said Sept. 11. These executives from venture-backed companies argued that while the Pentagon has created several initiatives to collaborate with private companies — such as the Defense Innovation Unit, the Office of Strategic Capital and SpaceWERX — these

“In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism.” So writes Jared Diamond in his best-selling book Collapse, which was published in 2005. Nearly two decades later, an international team of geneticists has

Galaxy collisions are foundational events in the Universe. They happen when two systems mingle stars in a cosmic dance. They also cause spectacular mergers of supermassive black holes. The result is one very changed galaxy and a singular, ultra-massive black hole. These colossal events are a major force in the evolution of galaxies. It’s how

We could be producing concrete that’s 30 percent stronger by processing and adding charred coffee grounds to the mix, researchers in Australia discovered. Their clever recipe could solve multiple problems at the same time. Every year the world produces a staggering 10 billion kilograms (22 billion pounds) of coffee waste globally. Most ends up in

Chronic blood shortages are driving a search for a universal blood system that would allow doctors to save more lives. Researchers may have just brought us a step closer, by creating miniscule silicon coats for donated blood cells to wear. Incredibly, the new nanotechnology allowed biomedical engineer Chuanyi Lei from South China University of Technology

WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Crew Dragon is in orbit on a long-awaited private astronaut mission that will attempt the first commercial spacewalk and go higher than any crewed mission in more than 50 years. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 5:23 a.m. Eastern Sept. 10 on the Polaris

Legal documents are notoriously difficult to parse, and a new study attempts to explain why: the so-called legalese that dominates this kind of writing is apparently adopted to convey a sense of knowledge and authority. Legalese is now so well embedded in our collective thinking that even non-lawyers use it, as shown by a team

Space is an unnatural environment for humans. We can’t survive unprotected in a pure vacuum for more than two minutes. Getting to space involves being strapped to a barely contained chemical explosion. Since 1961, fewer than 700 people have been into space. Private space companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin hope to boost that

In 2006, people found bats in New York’s Howe Cave that had a peculiar, fuzzy white substance growing on their snouts. This was the first sighting of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has devastated bat populations across the US. Now, a new study has found more than 1,000 human infant deaths resulted from the

Imagine a future where internet connections are not only lightning-fast but also remarkably reliable, even in crowded spaces. This vision is rapidly approaching reality, thanks to new research on terahertz communications technologies. These innovations are set to transform wireless communication, particularly as communications technology advances toward the next generation of networks, 6G. I’m an engineer

Even as the community of nations on Earth fractures further into rival blocs, an effort to build greater cohesion in space is gathering momentum. The extent to which this succeeds, or not, may set the course of global peace and security for the foreseeable future. Diplomats along with military, industry, civil and academic experts are

Being able to pretend is a valuable skill throughout life – whether it’s playing make-believe as kids or feigning interest in your partner’s favorite TV show – and a new study suggests we learn the art of pretense at a very young age. Researchers in the UK quizzed 902 parents from the UK, US, and

A long, long way from home, a lonely space probe hurtles ever deeper into the darkness of space. At a distance just shy of 60 astronomical units from the Sun, New Horizons is the most advanced human-built instrument to ever make it so far. This means that we now have a spacecraft that can take