Science

To make some of the most precise measurements we can of the world around us, scientists tend to go small – right down to the atomic scale, using a technique called atom interferometry. Now, for the first time, scientists have performed this kind of measurement in space, using a sounding rocket specially designed to carry

A set of cut and sharpened turkey bones excavated decades ago from an ancient Native American grave seem to be the oldest tattooing tools we’ve found to date. A new, detailed analysis of these artifacts has allowed archaeologists to determine that they were likely used to tattoo skin, bringing us a little closer to understanding

Jupiter’s ice-encrusted moon Europa is increasingly looking like the best place in the Solar System to search for extraterrestrial life. New modeling suggests that the rocky mantle, deep below the thick ice and salty ocean, could actually be hot enough for volcanic activity. Moreover, it could have been this hot over most of its 4.5-billion

While the rest of the world continues to tackle the global pandemic, in eastern Australia, waves of mice are flooding farms and towns. For months now, this plague has been wreaking havoc on crops, damaging electrical wires in buildings, and even biting hospital patients, leaving a stench of rodent urine and feces in its wake.

Perovskite has a lot going for it in our search for a cheap, efficient way to harvest solar energy. With a dusting of organic molecules, these crystalline structures have been able to convert more than a quarter of the light falling onto them into electricity. Theoretically, perovskite crystals made with the right mix of materials

On July 4, 2026, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence. America should commemorate this historical milestone in 2026 by landing humans on the moon for the first time since 1972. Sending humanity back to the moon in 2026 is not only technically feasible, but it also fits squarely in the

From the waters we creatures of the land emerged. Some animals, like whales, returned to it. Others, like frogs, never truly let go of their watery origins, and even now we’re still discovering clever ways in which terrestrial creatures can find refuge within this soothing liquid medium. Case in point: air-breathing anoles have developed a

The problem starts with Brazil nuts. The large edible seeds are a common fixture in mixed nut bags, but they’re not to everyone’s liking – especially since they get dry and bitter once past the peak of freshness. And to make matters worse, they always rise to the top. The phenomenon, colloquially known as the

The science replication crisis might be worse than we thought: new research reveals that studies with replicated results tend to be cited less often than studies which have failed to replicate. That’s not to say that these more widely cited studies with unreplicated experiments are necessarily wrong or misleading – but it does mean that,

New calculations from bored physicists have just brought us a bit closer to understanding how material can fall onto neutron stars to flare out powerful blasts of X-ray light. If enough plasma is gravitationally attracted to the dead star from a binary companion, its mass is sufficient to force a way through the barrier created

Almost 60 years after British nuclear tests ended, radioactive particles containing plutonium and uranium still contaminate the landscape around Maralinga in outback South Australia. These “hot particles” are not as stable as we once assumed. Our research shows they are likely releasing tiny chunks of plutonium and uranium which can be easily transported in dust

An online game developed by a team of social psychologists could be a useful tool in the fight against misinformation, helping internet users spot misinformation and call it out for what it is: manipulative. Misinformation – often spread by automated bots, but also unsuspecting people – worms its way into our heads by appealing to a

The Space Enterprise Consortium plans to issue a request for prototype proposals by June 30 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force next month will solicit industry bids for deep-space radar sensors that can track active satellites and debris in high orbits above 22,000 miles. One or more contractors will be selected to develop prototype concepts

Not all flowers smell like roses. An unusual plant in Greece gives off the scent of decaying insects, probably as a way to attract and trap coffin flies (Megaselia scalaris). The stinky flower is called Aristolochia microstoma, and according to scientists, it’s the first known case of a plant that reeks of dead invertebrates to

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

There once was a time when humans held everything we knew in our heads. That might sound impossible these days when the internet is at our fingertips, but for millennia, it was our only way of passing on knowledge. Now, some researchers want to remind us that there is still place for ancient memory techniques

The mystery of fast radio bursts (FRBs) continues to fascinate astronomers. No one is quite sure what’s behind these super-short, super-intense radio wave pulses from deep space, but now astronomers have tracked down five FRBs to their home galaxies. It’s the Hubble Space Telescope that has come up with the goods again. The ultraviolet and

When Naomi Oreskes lectures about climate change, she gets the same question over and over again. “A member of the audience will say: ‘Well, what can I personally do? What can I do as an individual to fix this problem?'” Oreskes, a science historian at Harvard University, told Insider. “Much less frequently do they say:

We have developed and tested a secure new computer processor that thwarts hackers by randomly changing its underlying structure, thus making it virtually impossible to hack. Last summer, 525 security researchers spent three months trying to hack our Morpheus processor as well as others. All attempts against Morpheus failed. This study was part of a program

TAMPA, Fla. — Starfish Space, a startup founded by former Blue Origin and NASA engineers, is developing space tugs to help manage rapidly growing megaconstellations. SpaceX is planning to launch tens of thousands of Starlink broadband satellites to join the more than 1,600 it already has in orbit, and a growing number of constellation operators

When it comes to dividing animals along sex lines, evolution is known for getting creative. The chromosomes that determine baby-making functions have been reinvented so often throughout the ages, it’s hard to keep track. Some groups, like mammals, are thought to be fairly consistent in how they genetically cast lots in the game of reproduction.

Sailing through the smooth waters of vacuum, a photon of light moves at around 300 thousand kilometers (186 thousand miles) a second. This sets a firm limit on how quickly a whisper of information can travel anywhere in the Universe. While this law isn’t likely to ever be broken, there are features of light which

New research with an artificial robotic digit has yielded surprising results – in just a few days, people using the thumb were able to operate it naturally to perform complex tasks like building towers from wooden blocks, or stirring your coffee while holding it. Not only that, but neural scans showed that the presence of

We sort-of take it for granted that there’s a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, but we can’t really go there and check. What if something else is actually lurking in this messy, dusty region? We partially infer the presence and properties of a supermassive hole called Sagittarius A* (Sgr

Humanity’s vast problem with single-use plastics doesn’t come out of nowhere. Before this avalanche of transient, throwaway waste is disposed of in landfill or by burning – unless it finds its way into the natural environment – somebody gets paid to produce it, making money by bringing this inevitable pollution into existence. Now, we know

The United States’ offshore wind industry is tiny, with just seven wind turbines operating off Rhode Island and Virginia. The few attempts to build large-scale wind farms like Europe’s have run into long delays, but that may be about to change. On 11 May 2021, the US government issued the final federal approval for the

The Indian space ecosystem is transforming. Public sector space programs are orienting toward exploration, commercial space endeavors are proliferating, national space policy is shifting, and the students who will carry India to new achievements in space are increasingly looking to opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). There remain significant obstacles for India to

We can now add “being fired out of a gun at high speeds” to the growing list of weird things tardigrades can survive. How do we know? Scientists actually did it – and, believe it or not, it’s for a good cause. They wanted to know if tardigrade-like organisms could survive certain conditions in space,

What’s the price of an accurate clock? Entropy, a new study has revealed. Entropy – or disorder – is created every time a clock ticks. Now scientists working with a tiny clock have proven a simple relationship: The more accurate a clock runs, the more entropy it generates. “If you want your clock to be

In caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, ancient peoples marked the walls with red and mulberry hand stencils, and painted images of large native mammals or imaginary human-animal creatures. These are the oldest cave art sites yet known – or at least the oldest attributed to our species. One painting of a Sulawesi warty