Science

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

Scientists have stitched together the most high-resolution map yet of the underlying geology beneath Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, revealing something previously undiscovered: an ancient ocean floor that may wrap around the core. This thin but dense layer sits around 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) below the surface, where the molten, metallic outer core means the rocky mantle

Quantum computing promises to be a revolutionary tool, making short work of equations that classical computers would struggle to ever complete. Yet the workhorse of the quantum device, known as a qubit, is a delicate object prone to collapsing. Keeping enough qubits in their ideal state long enough for computations has so far proved a

Research suggests people can generate false memories within the blink of an eye. In a series of four experiments led by the University of Amsterdam, researchers showed 534 people letters of the Western alphabet in actual and mirrored orientations. After some participants were shown an interference slide with random letters designed to scramble the original

With a mass of around three-quarters of our Sun crammed into a ball that could sit comfortably inside Manhattan, the compact object XMMU J173203.3-344518 is certainly remarkable. Weird, even. Maybe bizarre. But is it strange? A new study by astrophysicists from the University of São Paulo and the Federal University of ABC in Brazil confirms

Home runs are exhilarating – those lofting moments when everyone looks skyward, baseball players and fans alike, anxiously awaiting the outcome: run or out, win or loss, elation or despair. Over the past several Major League Baseball seasons, home run numbers have climbed dramatically, including Aaron Judge’s record-breaking 62 homers for the New York Yankees

The latest bit of brilliance from the field of robotics is a tiny micro-motor that can identify, trap, and transport individual cells. It’s a serious feat of engineering that could find uses from medicine to air purification. Importantly, both electric and magnetic fields can control the machine – and the latter will be vital if

HOUSTON — As preparations for the Artemis 2 mission ramp up, NASA has established a congressionally mandated office to oversee planning for that and future missions to the moon. NASA announced March 30 it had created the Moon to Mars Program Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. The office will focus on integrating

Ask any pet owner if their beloved companion has a personality and you’ll most often get an emphatic “yes”. But now tiger researchers can nod along too – a study published Wednesday reveals that the world’s largest felines have individual character traits. The behavior of the 248 Siberian tigers observed through a personality test showed