Science

WASHINGTON — The privately funded Polaris Program is planning its first crewed launch on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in December, a mission that will include the first spacewalk on a private mission. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire who organized the Inspiration4 private astronaut mission that spent three days in orbit in September 2021, announced the

Amongst thousands of impressions in a large rock surface, one stood out from the crowd. The imprint of a tough tubular exoskeleton topped with waving tentacles, now frozen in time, looked strikingly familiar, unlike any of its neighbors. It looked just like a relative of corals, anemones, and jellyfish from a sediment layer dated 20

The motion of single atoms through liquid has been caught on camera for the first time. Using a sandwich of materials so thin they’re effectively two-dimensional, scientists trapped and observed platinum atoms ‘swimming’ along a surface under different pressures. The results will help us better understand how the presence of liquid alters the behavior of

Scientists experimenting on mice have found evidence that key parts of the modern human brain take more time to develop than those of our long extinct cousin, the Neanderthal. Like the hare and the tortoise, slow and steady is the winner here. The extra time is caused by protein differences that also appear to reduce

One of the most extreme stars in the Milky Way just got even more wack. Scientists have measured the mass of a neutron star named PSR J0952-0607, and found that it’s the most massive neutron star discovered yet, clocking in at a whopping 2.35 times the mass of the Sun. If true, this is very

A climate scientist at Tohoku University in Japan has run the numbers and does not think today’s mass extinction event will equal that of the previous five. At least not for many more centuries to come. On more than one occasion over the past 540 million years, Earth has lost most of its species in

A newly developed, water-activated disposable paper battery promises to make a big impact on single-use electronics – those temporary gadgets used in medical and industrial fields where electronic waste can quickly start piling up. The battery that has been demonstrated by researchers is biodegradable, made from sustainable materials, and cheap to put together. What’s more,

TAMPA, Fla. — Washington-based Hydrosat, a geospatial data and analytics startup, announced July 29 it has secured U.S. regulatory approval to provide global services from its upcoming thermal imaging system.  Hydrosat was awarded a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration license at Tier 1, which has the fewest conditions under a streamlined regulatory regime that came

A farm in England was the unlikely source of a Jurassic jackpot: A treasure trove of 183 million-year-old fossils. On the outskirts of Gloucestershire in the Cotswolds, beneath soil that is currently trampled under the hooves of grazing cattle, researchers recently uncovered the fossilized remains of fish, giant marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs, squids, insects, and

Grab any physics textbook and you’ll find formula after formula describing how things wobble, fly, swerve and stop. The formulas describe actions we can observe, but behind each could be sets of factors that aren’t immediately obvious. Now, a new AI program developed by researchers at Columbia University has seemingly discovered its own alternative physics.

In a time when flaunting your best self on social media has become a norm, narcissistic traits seem to be everywhere.  In today’s slang, off-putting behaviors like entitlement, superiority, and self-congratulating are known as ‘flexing’. Such traits might be more common these days, but being narcissistic is still seen as a pathological personality trait, akin to

This weekend, a massive, uncontrolled rocket booster is predicted to hurtle back to Earth, with a high chance that at least some of the debris will be large enough to survive the descent and smash into our planet. The booster is 53.6 meters (176 feet) long and weighs around 23 metric tons, and belongs to

Humankind marks a dubious milestone Thursday, the day by which humanity has consumed all Earth can sustainably produce for this year, with NGOs warning the rest of 2022 will be lived in resource deficit. The date – dubbed “Earth Overshoot Day” – marks a tipping point when people have used up “all that ecosystems can

When mechanical engineering graduate student Faye Yap saw a dead spider curled up in the hallway, it got her thinking about whether it could be used as a robotics component.  Turning dead spiders into mechanical grippers may be some people’s idea of a nightmare scenario, but it could have tangible benefits. Spider legs can grip

TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX has applied for more spectrum to upgrade Starlink satellite broadband services for mobile users. The company asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission July 25 for permission to use the 2 GHz spectrum band to “augment” its mobile satellite services (MSS). Specific details about the next-generation services Starlink plans to provide were

Researchers have been able to use an analysis of ancient rock crystals – and the magnetism records locked inside them – to trace back the history of Earth’s inner core across hundreds of millions of years. Earth’s core, a dense hot blob of iron and nickel, is actually made up of two layers – the

At 5:29 am on the morning of 16 July 1945, in the state of New Mexico, a dreadful slice of history was made. The dawn calm was torn asunder as the United States Army detonated a plutonium implosion device known as the Gadget – the world’s very first test of a nuclear bomb, known as

Amber Heard has one of the world’s most beautiful faces – that is, according to cosmetic surgeon Julian De Silva. The claim has been recycled for some years now, and recently resurfaced in the wake of Heard’s (widely reported) trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp. But what is this claim based on? Well, according to De

Not all stars are happy to just hang around, orbiting the galactic center with all the other stars. Some stars go rogue, punted out across the Milky Way with significant force. These are the runaway stars, and we can trace their trajectories to understand violent events that can take place in the Universe. One such

The UK has provisionally recorded its highest ever temperature on Tuesday: 102.4 °F (40.2 °C). It was the first time the UK recorded a temperature over 102 °F (40 °C) per the Met Office, the official weather organization in Britain. The reading was taken around London’s Heathrow Airport just before 1pm local time. Temperatures were forecast

When the history of the rise of the robots is written, perhaps this might feature in the opening chapter: a seven-year-old boy has had his finger broken by a robotic opponent during a chess match in Moscow. There’s some debate about exactly what happened, but it seems that the youngster took a move faster than

Defense Innovation Unit’s Steve Butow: ‘We want to make GEO cool again’ WASHINGTON — The Defense Innovation Unit is funding space projects that the agency hopes will spur commercial investments in satellite refueling technologies and support services for geostationary satellites.  “Imagine a world where every 18 to 24 months, you could simply upgrade the processor

Colonies of ants can act a lot like neural networks, new research has revealed, with groups of the insects weighing up both external inputs and internal principles when making decisions about what to do as a collective. In this particular study, the team behind it looked at when and how ant colonies evacuated their nests

A team of physicists has used a pair of vibrating rods to measure the gravitational constant to incredibly fine precision. While the new technique has relatively high uncertainty, they hope that future improvements will provide a new pathway to nailing down this elusive constant. The gravitational constant, denoted as G, is the fundamental building block

Conspiracy theories are hardly a modern affliction: think of the JFK assassination or the long history of UFO sightings. Yet the internet is often said to have ushered in a ‘post-truth’ era, with social media, in particular, allowing for the spread of viral misinformation.  Whether or not that’s actually true is another matter, and it’s

Have you heard of LU Camelopardalis, QZ Serpentis, V1007 Herculis, and BK Lyncis? No, they’re not members of a boy band in ancient Rome. They’re Cataclysmic Variables, binary stars that are so close together one star draws material from its sibling. This causes the pair to vary wildly in brightness. Can planets exist in this

Plants can go to extraordinary lengths to tempt pollinators to do their bidding. From donning female insect disguises (complete with pheromones!) to lure lustful males, oozing the stench of rotting flesh to temp hungry flies, or, most commonly, offering bribes of sweet rewards for any who visits – no lengths are too gross or pricy

A digital twin is a copy of a person, product, or process that is created using data. This might sound like science fiction, but some have claimed that you will likely have a digital double within the next decade. As a copy of a person, a digital twin would – ideally – make the same

TAMPA, Fla. — The U.K. announced a public consultation July 22 to assess the environmental impact of the country’s first space launch, as part of the licensing process for clearing Virgin Orbit’s mission this year. The U.K.’s space regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), is seeking comments on an environmental assessment from Virgin Orbit and

When you’re barely the size of an eyelash and on the hunt for fast-moving prey, having a bear trap strapped to your head might seem like a good idea. Of course, it’s all fun and games until it actually goes off. Even the slightest wobble in that trap’s arc could send your face on a