Science

WASHINGTON — A Space Force office created to work with the commercial space industry is opening up a new facility in Chantilly, Virginia. Col. Richard Kniseley, head of the Commercial Space Office at Space Systems Command, said May 11 the location was chosen for its proximity to other government agencies that also work with the

Since the Cambrian explosion 538.8 million years ago – a time when many of the animal phyla we’re familiar with today were established – five major mass extinction events have whittled down the biodiversity of all creatures great and small. Last year, researchers from the US published evidence of one occurring earlier, around 550 million

For 20 years, experts have relied on the human genome reference as a genetic benchmark for the study of biology, disease, evolution, and more. It’s considered one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 21st century. Now we’ve got something even better. Scientists have just unveiled the first draft of the human pangenome, a much

In a recent study submitted to the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a pair of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) examine the likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations intercepting outward transmissions from NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) that are aimed at

A closer look at the junction where a Greenland glacier crunches into the ocean floor, known as its grounding line, has revealed less stability amid the shifting of tides – and therefore a greater rate of melting – than previously estimated thanks to global warming. The finding explains why rates of glacier melts are well

WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle developer Orbex says that it has started construction on its launch site in northern Scotland, but remains guarded about when it plans to start launching from there. Orbex announced May 5 that it had started construction of Sutherland Spaceport in northern Scotland. The facility will host launches of Orbex’s Prime

Most diamonds are formed deep inside Earth and brought close to the surface in small yet powerful volcanic eruptions of a kind of rock called “kimberlite”. Our supercomputer modeling, published in Nature Geoscience, shows these eruptions are fueled by giant “pillars of heat” rooted 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) below ground, just above our planet’s core.

The state of perfect stillness known as absolute zero is one of the Universe’s impossible achievements. As close as we can get, the laws of physics will always prevent us from hitting thermal rock bottom. An international team of researchers has now identified a new theoretical route to reach the mythical mark of zero Kelvin,

A new era of clinical research on psilocybin mushrooms (aka ‘magic mushrooms’) has emboldened some scientists to share their own life-changing experiences with psychedelics. A recent case study describes a young 35-year-old male researcher in the United States, who claims to distinguish red and green colors better after taking psychedelics. Following his ingestion of magic

Shadows flickering across the dust roiling around a newborn star have revealed a rare glimpse of how the Solar System may have formed billions of years ago. Changing light around a star named TW Hydrae suggests that the giant disks of material circling the star are off-kilter, orbiting at slightly different angles of inclination. New

Vietnam has reported a record-high temperature, with climate experts warning such extreme weather events would continue. The country’s scientists have warned that global warming is exacerbating adverse weather, with the region sweltering under a heatwave in April – when neighboring countries also registered record temperatures. A temperature of 44.1 degrees Celsius (111.38 degrees Fahrenheit) was

A team from Newcastle University and Northumbria University in the UK has found that the thin, root-like threads produced by many fungi can potentially be used as a biodegradable, wearable material that’s also able to repair itself. In their tests, the researchers focused on the Ganoderma lucidum fungus, producing a skin from branching filaments known

LAUREL, Md. — A proposed cut of nearly 20% in the budget for NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan in 2024 could force changes to the mission or its schedule, a top project official said May 3. NASA’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal requested $327.7 million for Dragonfly, a rotorcraft that would land on

Humans make decisions using statistical information every day. Imagine you’re selecting a packet of jellybeans. If you prefer red jellybeans, you will probably try to find a packet that shows the most red (and less of the dreaded black ones) through the small window. Since you can’t see all the jellybeans at once, you’re using

Those Transportation Security Administration requirements are drilled into every frequent flyer’s head: You can carry on liquids that are only less than 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) in volume each. But when the TSA recently confiscated a jar of Jif under this rule, peanut butter lovers were up in arms. Some skeptics of security may suspect

The human digestive system is much more variable than we tend to think, according to a new study, with significant differences in gut anatomy even among healthy individuals. This includes individual differences from person to person, the researchers report, plus broader differences such as those between women and men. In one noteworthy example, the researchers

Well, the verdict is in. The Moon is not made of green cheese after all. A thorough investigation has found that the inner core of the Moon is, in fact, a solid ball with a density similar to that of iron. This, researchers hope, will help settle a long debate about whether the Moon’s inner

The United Nations warned Wednesday of a growing likelihood the weather phenomenon El Niño will develop in coming months, fueling higher global temperatures and possibly new heat records. The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said it now estimated there was a 60 percent chance that El Niño would develop by the end of July, and an

Scientists said Monday they have found a way to use brain scans and artificial intelligence modeling to transcribe “the gist” of what people are thinking, in what was described as a step towards mind reading. While the main goal of the language decoder is to help people who have lost the ability to communicate, the

TAMPA, Fla. — The last pair of satellites SES needs to provide upgraded broadband services from medium Earth orbit (MEO) have completed tests ahead of an early June launch, SES said during financial results May 4. Boeing is preparing to ship the fifth and sixth O3b mPower satellites this month to Florida for launch on

The resolution of light microscopes has been given a huge boost thanks to the clever use of a common phenomenon in quantum physics. By sending entangled light down different paths and recombining their waves, it’s possible to peer at delicate objects more closely than ever before, effectively doubling their resolution without the usual complication of

A pendant made from a deer’s tooth has turned out to be a veritable locket of genetic information left by an ancient woman who lived in Siberia some 20,000 years ago. Evolutionary anthropologists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany found a way to safely probe ancient artifacts for environmental DNA without destroying them, and

The International Space Station (ISS) is nearing the end of its service. While NASA and its partners have committed to keeping it in operation until 2030, plans are already in place for successor space stations that will carry on the ISS’ legacy. China plans to assume a leading role with Tiangong, while the India Space

Since the 18th century, humans have been taking fossil fuels out of their safe storage deep underground and burning them to generate electricity or power machinery. We’ve now converted coal, oil, and gas into more than two trillion metric tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and added them to the atmosphere. The

​A computer scientist often dubbed “the godfather of artificial intelligence” has quit his job at Google to speak out about the dangers of the technology, US media reported Monday. ​Geoffrey Hinton, who created a foundation technology for AI systems, told The New York Times that advancements made in the field posed “profound risks to society

WASHINGTON — A cubesat launched as a secondary payload on Artemis 1 may end its operations at the end of the month unless it can get its propulsion system working. The LunaH-Map spacecraft was one of 10 cubesats launched as secondary payloads on the inaugural flight of the Space Launch System last November. The spacecraft

Less than one-quarter of Earth’s entire ocean floor has been mapped, leaving gaping holes in our understanding of the underwater realm. Accidents await in the void: undiscovered seamounts – ancient mountains formed by volcanic activity – can rise thousands of meters in the darkness, putting unsuspecting submarines at risk. Led by earth scientist Julie Gevorgian

A tiny vibrating crystal weighing little more than a grain of sand has become the heaviest object ever to be recorded in a superposition of locations. Physicists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich coupled a mechanical resonator to a type of superconducting circuit commonly used in quantum computing to effectively replicate Erwin

Researchers from around the world have embarked on an effort to try to build a system allowing humanity to anticipate violent conflicts before they erupt – and thus potentially prevent them. They will examine dramatic advances in artificial intelligence and how the decisions taken by the world’s leaders could be swayed at a time when