Three weeks before Christmas, astronomers are opening one of their presents early. Inside is a most welcome gift—a vast catalog of more than a billion stars in and around our galaxy, the most advanced of its kind ever made. Already this new trove is being put to use, with eager astronomers poring through its data, […]
The sun has set on the iconic Arecibo telescope. Since 1963, this behemoth radio telescope in Puerto Rico has observed everything from space rocks whizzing past Earth to mysterious blasts of radio waves from distant galaxies. But on December 1, the 900-metric-ton platform of scientific instruments above the dish came crashing down, demolishing the telescope […]
Although we think of the cells inside of us and the organelles that make them up as pretty well mapped, it seems that there are still some surprises in store. A team of researchers has just published a paper describing a surprising structure existing within an organelle – one that has remained hidden in plain sight […]
German divers who recently fished an Enigma encryption machine out of the Baltic Sea, used by the Nazis to send coded messages during World War II, handed their rare find over to a museum for restoration on Friday. The legendary code machine was discovered last month during a search for abandoned fishing nets in […]
A little over a decade from now, NASA plans to send astronauts to Mars for the first time. This mission will build on decades of robotic exploration, collect samples from the surface, and return them to Earth for analysis. Given the immense distance involved, any operations on the Martian surface will need to be […]
China successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time, state media reported Friday, marking a great advance in the country’s nuclear power research capabilities. The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device, and scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a […]
On November 6, 2020, I woke up to a flood (for a statistician) of tweets about my 2018 article “Statistical Paradises and Paradoxes in Big Data (I): Law of Large Populations, Big Data Paradox, and the 2016 US Presidential Election.” A kind soul had offered it as an answer to the question: “What’s wrong with […]
—for Dr. Robert Williams, astronomer Edited by Dava Sobel What are you staring at? said the mother, said the cousin, said the teacher to the child—Nothing, he said. Then his wife asked. Nothing. Nothing and more nothing and nothing more. What a waste of time, said his colleagues,valuable time. People would kill for that. One […]
Astronomers have been using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Chile as a sort of baby monitor, keeping their eye on a region of nearby space absolutely packed with star nurseries. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are the only two dwarf galaxies visible from Earth with the unaided eye, and luckily enough, they […]
Did comets deliver the elements essential for life on Earth? It’s looking more and more like they could have. At least one comet might have, anyway: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A new study using data from the ESA’s Rosetta mission shows that the comet contains the life-critical element phosphorous. Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland […]
This #ScienceIRL column appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue. Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber. Sequoia trees are big — as in, the biggest trees in the world. The current titleholder, General Sherman, towers 275 feet above Sequoia National Park in California. (That’s nine-tenths as tall as the Statue of Liberty.) In a residential […]
This appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue. Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber. Wingspan By Elizabeth Hargrave, 1–5 players, 40–70 minutes Wingspan made waves when it launched in 2019, winning the impressive Kennerspiel des Jahres award for excellence in game design despite being produced by a team of largely first-timers. When you open the box, […]
National Geographic magazines and Indiana Jones movies might have you picturing archaeologists excavating near Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, and Machu Picchu. And some of us do work at these famous places. But archaeologists like us want to learn about how people from the past lived all over the planet. We rely on left-behind artifacts to help […]
One of the distinguishing features of machines is that they don’t need to sleep, unlike humans and any other creature with a central nervous system. Someday though, your toaster might need a nap from time to time, as may your car, fridge and anything else that is revolutionized with the advent of practical artificial intelligence […]
This article appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue as “Dawn of the Stem Cell Revolution?” Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber. For more than two decades, experts have prophesied that stem cells will someday revolutionize medicine. While adult stem cells have long been used to treat a handful of blood and immune disorders, the […]
When a pathogen attacks your cells, your body calls in the cavalry. But how exactly do immune components, such as white blood cells, make it through bodily tissues to get to the invasion? In new experiments, researchers have demonstrated how a type of white blood cell, a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL), is able to […]
The first wings on Earth might have evolved from the scuttling legs of an ancient, flightless crustacean. Today, modern crabs, lobster, shrimp, and crayfish are sometimes called the bugs of the sea, and as part of the arthropod family – marked by strong body armour and segmented joints – the name does make some sense. […]
TGIF! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin. Signup for our newsletter and others HERE. Virtual Event Announcement: 1:00 p.m. EDT Tuesday […]
More than 12,000 years ago, near the end of an ice age, humans hunted mastodons: ancient mammals that resembled a cross between mammoths and elephants. But by about 11,600 BC, humans had likely killed many of the mastodons off. At least, that’s the leading theory among many paleontologists. A recent discovery bolsters it: Researchers […]
When I started writing about science decades ago, artificial intelligence seemed ascendant. IEEE Spectrum, the technology magazine for which I worked, produced a special issue on how AI would transform the world. I edited an article in which computer scientist Frederick Hayes-Roth predicted that AI would soon replace experts in law, medicine, finance and other […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to continue to allow uses of a pesticide that’s been linked to brain damage in children. In a proposed interim decision dated Thursday, the EPA continued to allow uses of the chemical chlorpyrifos, which agricultural workers can be exposed to through their jobs and that the general public […]
The items below are highlights from the free newsletter, “Smart, useful, science stuff about COVID-19.” To receive newsletter issues daily in your inbox, sign up here. Canada has pre-ordered more doses per person of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 than have any other countries and purchasing groups, reports freelance science journalist Asher Mullard for Nature (11/30/20). The U.S. and […]
Governments around the world are gearing up to use an old regulatory tool for a new purpose: protecting the economy from climate change. Financial regulators for years have used “stress tests” to gauge whether major banks are prepared to stay afloat amid extreme, unanticipated—yet entirely plausible—economic shocks. They were widely implemented in the United States […]
By Leah Crane An illustration of the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft passing near EarthAkihiro Ikeshita/JAXA Hayabusa 2 is about to attempt an audacious feat. The Japanese spacecraft, which launched towards the asteroid Ryugu in 2014, is on its way back to Earth carrying two samples of rocks and dust from the asteroid’s surface. To get these […]
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) heaped praise on Mary Nichols, a California air regulator being considered by President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenBiden says GOP senators have called to congratulate him Biden: Trump attending inauguration is ‘of consequence’ to the country Biden says family will avoid business conflicts MORE‘s team to lead the Environmental Protection Agency […]
By Michael Le Page , Clare Wilson , Jessica Hamzelou , Sam Wong , Adam Vaughan , Conrad Quilty-Harper and Layal Liverpool A Community Organized Relief Effort worker hands a coronavirus test kit to two women, at a walk-up covid-19 testing site in Los Angeles, California on 1 DecemberROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images Latest coronavirus […]
There are a lot of bat species in the world today. Like, a ton of bats. We know of at least 1,400 species, and they make up around 20 percent of all current mammal species. It’s the bats’ world, we just live in it. However, despite bats seemingly exploding onto the scene during the […]
Edgard Rivera-Valentín first visited the Arecibo Observatory as a little kid. “I definitely remember this feeling of just being awestruck,” Rivera-Valentín says. “Looking at this gigantic telescope … getting to hear about all this neat work that was being done … it definitely leaves an impression.” Important science was happening right in the backyard of […]
By Dino Motti Board games are experiencing a rise in popularityBlack_Kira/Getty Images We’re living in a golden age for board games. They are experiencing an explosion in popularity as sales have soared during covid-19 lockdowns. And as crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter have helped lower the barrier to entry for new designers and publishers, there is an […]
Two additional coal companies this week filed for bankruptcy as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates an already existing decline in the industry. White Stallion Energy LLC and Lighthouse Resources Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. According to The Wall Street Journal, both companies, which […]
More than 2,000 years ago in Egypt, animals were often mummified as offerings to gods or buried along with human mummies. But many details about the practice are unclear, in part because studying the creatures without damaging them is difficult. Recent Micro CT scans of three animal mummies at Swansea University in Wales offered a […]
The U.S. House passed a bill that prohibits people from owning big cats like lions and tigers, after Netflix released the documentary series “Tiger King.” The chamber voted 272-114 to pass the measure, which also makes it illegal for exhibitors to allow people to touch cubs, late Thursday. The bill appears in the documentary and […]
Jens Naumann was 17 when an accident sent a fragment of metal from a railway line flying into his left eye. Three years later, a metal sliver from a snowmobile clutch destroyed his right eye, plunging him into total darkness. Naumann’s book Search for Paradise recounts his desperate quest back to the light, primarily as […]
Even after being hospitalized for an entire week, my friend Aidan never got an answer to a major question: Who is my doctor? As a healthy 26-year-old, he didn’t know much about the hospital—a place that I work every day. He learned a lot after a lung infection forced him into the infirmary for seven […]
Amino acids in a meteorite — Science News, December 5, 1970 [Researchers] present evidence for the presence of amino acids of possible extraterrestrial origin in a meteorite that fell near Murchison, Victoria, Australia, Sept. 28, 1969.… If over the course of time their finding becomes accepted … it would demonstrate that amino acids, the basic […]
What if your digital assistant could battle rap? That may sound far-fetched, but Gil Weinberg, a music technologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has adapted a musical robot called Shimon to compose lyrics and perform in real time. That means it can engage in rap “conversations” with humans, and maybe even help them compose […]
By David Hambling The US military is experimenting with several kinds of robot, including this Ghost Robotics Vision 60 prototypeTech. Sgt. Cory D. Payne/U.S. Air Force When soldiers are teamed with robots, the human need to interfere may negate the benefits of robotic assistance, a new US military project has discovered. But letting military artificial […]
Scientific debate about the most controversial archaeological site in the Americas has entered rocky new territory. In 2017, scientists reported that around 130,000 years ago, an unidentified Homo species used stone tools to break apart a mastodon’s bones near what is now San Diego. If true, that would mean that humans or one of our […]
By Layal Liverpool Tap tap tapAlina Rosanova/Getty Images Voice assistants can detect typing on nearby devices, which could potentially be used to work out what a person is writing on their phone from up to half a metre away. Ilia Shumailov at the University of Cambridge and his colleagues built a machine-learning system that could […]
The Voyager probes left our Solar System years ago, yet even as they travel through interstellar space, they are still detecting bursts of cosmic rays from our Sun, more than 23 billion kilometres (14 billion miles) away. A detailed analysis of recent data from both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 has now revealed the […]
The most accurate three-dimensional map yet of the Milky Way is revealing our galaxy’s secrets. Peering deep into the anticentre – the opposite direction of the galactic centre – is helping astronomers piece together the Milky Way’s wild past. The European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite, launched in 2013, has been working for years to […]
The second-largest radio telescope in the world collapsed on Tuesday morning. The Arecibo Observatory’s 900-ton platform, which sent and received radio waves and was suspended 450 feet (140 metres) in the air, crashed into the 1,000-foot-wide (300-metre-wide) disk below. When it fell, it pulled down with the tops of three surrounding support towers. Videos […]
HAPPY THURSDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin. Signup for our newsletter and others HERE. Virtual Event Announcement: 1:00 ET Tuesday […]
By Adam Vaughan Cooling towers at a coal-fired power station in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, UKNature Picture Library/Alamy The UK government has pledged to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 68 per cent of 1990 levels by 2030, marking a significant bump in ambition from existing plans for a 53-57 per cent reduction. The new […]
House Democrats on Thursday voted to elect Rep. David ScottDavid Albert ScottDeLauro wins Steering Committee vote for Appropriations chair Race for House ag chair heats up Business groups scramble to forge ties amid race for House Agriculture chair MORE (D-Ga.) to be the next Agriculture Committee chairman, making him the first Black lawmaker in the […]
The White House is appointing David Legates, a top administration official with a history of questioning humans’ influence on global warming, to the committee responsible for selecting the National Medal of Science winners. Legates joined the administration in September and now serves as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deputy assistant secretary of commerce for […]
The Trump administration on Thursday formally approved a decision allow the continued use of a controversial method known as seismic testing to search for oil and gas deposits in the Gulf of Mexico. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a record of decision that allowed for continued permitting for the testing in the Gulf’s […]
A coalition of more than 100 left-leaning environmental and social justice groups are pushing President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump floats a Doug Collins run against Kemp for Georgia governor Defiant Trump insists election was ‘rigged’ at rally for Georgia Senate Republicans Biden victory, vaccine and an anniversary: good karma for the Mediterranean? MORE to pick Rep. […]
For the first time, a quantum computer made from photons—particles of light—has outperformed even the fastest classical supercomputers. Physicists led by Chao-Yang Lu and Jian-Wei Pan of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Shanghai performed a technique called Gaussian boson sampling with their quantum computer, named Jiŭzhāng. The result, reported in […]
By Leah Crane An illustration of China’s Chang’e 5 landerShutterstock/Axel Monse Chang’e 5 is on the last leg of its mission on the moon. After a visit to the lunar surface lasting less than 48 hours, it is back in orbit around the moon and ready to bring its samples home so that scientists on […]
By Abigail Beall Physicists have sent sound waves through a superfluidChristine Daniloff, MIT Nobody will ever be able to hear the sounds produced inside a neutron star, but a group of scientists have created what might be the next best thing. The team, led by Martin Zwierlein at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, listened to […]
By Leah Crane Lasers are used in a new type of quantum computing called boson samplingIM_VISUALS/Shutterstock A new type of quantum computing called boson sampling is capable of calculations that no classical computer could accomplish in any reasonable amount of time. This is the second time this feat, known as quantum supremacy, has been claimed […]
A new type of quantum computer has proven that it can reign supreme, too. A photonic quantum computer, which harnesses particles of light, or photons, performed a calculation that’s impossible for a conventional computer, researchers in China report online December 3 in Science. That milestone, known as quantum supremacy, has been met only once before, […]
By Michael Le Page A rhesus macaqueShutterstock / Blueton Two monkeys are able to “see” and recognise letter shapes generated by arrays of electrodes implanted in their visual cortex rather than relying on light hitting their retina. It is the highest resolution achieved with implants in the brain, rather than the retina. “That’s really good […]
By Christa Lesté-Lasserre Computer illustration of Gardnerella vaginalis bacteria (rods) attached to human epithelial cellsKATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Women with a certain mix of bacteria in their vaginas may be at a much greater risk of contracting HIV because the bacteria consume drugs that prevent infection with the virus. Oral pre-exposure prophylactic (PrEP) drugs are […]
Some major companies are angling to line up with the Biden administration on climate next year, as lawmakers and lobbyists gird for renewed policy fights in Washington. A big slice of corporate America—including utilities, banks and auto manufacturers—signed onto a statement yesterday calling on President-elect Joe Biden to work with Congress on “ambitious, durable, bipartisan […]
In 1985, criminologist Eric Hickey published the first — to his knowledge — academic paper on female serial killers. The dearth of research on this demographic belied a dangerous assumption: Women are incapable of the depravity needed for such horrific crimes. Early in his career, in conversation with FBI agents at a conference, Hickey described a […]
Materials scientist and science writer Ainissa Ramirez talks about her latest book The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com Source link
By Donna Lu Archaeologists have built replica Stone Age rafts to attempt the crossing to the Ryukyu islands Yosuke Kaifu Stone Age humans crossed the sea from Taiwan to the Ryukyu islands of south-west Japan tens of thousands of years ago – and it looks like they did so deliberately, even though the islands are […]
Long ago, ancient mariners successfully navigated a perilous ocean journey to arrive at Japan’s Ryukyu Islands, a new study suggests. Archaeological sites on six of these isles — part of a 1,200-kilometer-long chain — indicate that migrations to the islands occurred 35,000 to 30,000 years ago, both from the south via Taiwan and from the […]
The Trump administration is planning to lease land to oil and gas developers at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska before President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump floats a Doug Collins run against Kemp for Georgia governor Defiant Trump insists election was ‘rigged’ at rally for Georgia Senate Republicans Biden victory, vaccine and an anniversary: […]
This article appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue as “The Virus That Changed Science.” Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber. In March, labs around the world went dark. Experiments stopped, specimens were frozen and research timelines shifted into the unknown. By the time labs began reopening, a new mode of science had emerged. It […]
Vibrations in the earth’s crust generated by human activity dropped as lockdowns went into effect Credit: Shirley Wu Advertisement Earthquakes send strong tremors through the earth’s crust, recorded by seismometers planetwide. Human bustle also creates an ongoing, high-frequency vibration—a background buzz—in the rock. After cities, states and countries implemented lockdowns to try to slow the […]
Vaccines against COVID-19 have arrived with unprecedented speed. At least three candidates appear to be extremely effective and are likely to be approved in the U.S. in coming weeks. By the end of December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the U.S. will have enough vaccines to treat 20 million people. […]
Vaccines against COVID-19 have arrived with unprecedented speed. At least three candidates appear to be extremely effective and are likely to be approved in the U.S. in coming weeks. By the end of December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the U.S. will have enough vaccines to treat 20 million people. […]
Many of our leaders, from politicians to university administrators to business owners, face difficult trade-offs during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created increasingly tense conflicts of interest. Across the globe, decision-makers grapple with dilemmas that weigh economic outcomes with responsibilities for public safety and health. Conflicts of interest impact decisions to close borders, implement quarantines, […]
When a male sand-sifting sea star in the coastal waters of Australia reaches out a mating arm to its nearest neighbor, sometimes that neighbor is also male. Undaunted, the pair assume their species’ pseudocopulation position and forge ahead with spawning. Mating, pseudo or otherwise, with a same-sex neighbor obviously does not transfer a set of […]
A race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine began almost the minute the coronavirus’s genetic makeup was revealed in January. Already, two companies have announced that their vaccines appear safe and about 95 percent effective (SN: 11/18/20, SN: 11/16/20). Government regulators in the United Kingdom granted permission December 2 for emergency use of a vaccine made […]
By Graham Lawton Emergency authorisation will make a vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech available in the UKTed Shaffrey/AP/Shutterstock UK regulators have authorised a covid-19 vaccine created by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech for emergency use, meaning that vaccine rollout is planned to begin soon. Here, we answer questions about the science of the vaccine, who […]
Seeing what the heck is going on inside of us is useful for many aspects of modern medicine. But how to do this without slicing and dicing through barriers like flesh and bone to observe living intact tissues, like our brains, is a tricky thing to do. Thick, inconsistent structures like bone will scatter […]
Our brains are amazing pieces of biological machinery. Among the many tough jobs they handle with apparent ease is telling apart real words from random strings of letters, all with great speed and accuracy. Now, scientists think they’ve found the part of the brain responsible for this task. New research points to the mid-fusiform […]
Much like modern humans, the Neanderthals roamed widely throughout Europe. We know because they left behind extensive evidence, usually bones or tools. But their cousins, the Denisovans, are more mysterious. Until recently, they were conclusively linked only to a single cave in southern Siberia, called Denisova Cave, between Kazakhstan and Mongolia. There, scientists had found […]
Rep. Deb HaalandDebra HaalandFormer Sen. Carol Moseley Braun stumps for Interior post: ‘A natural fit for me’ The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC – Trump OKs transition; Biden taps Treasury, State experience Five House Democrats who could join Biden Cabinet MORE (D-N.M.) has won headlines as she’s emerged […]
This article appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue. Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber. Some 60 million light-years from Earth — by the estimate of one team of researchers, anyway — a pair of strange galaxies is causing a cosmic stir. The bizarre galaxies, named NGC 1052-DF2 and NGC 1052-DF4 (or DF2 and DF4, […]
HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin. Signup for our newsletter and others HERE. IN THE LEAD: How the West […]
EPA Administrator Andrew WheelerAndrew WheelerHillicon Valley: GOP chairman says defense bill leaves out Section 230 repeal | Senate panel advances FCC nominee | Krebs says threats to election officials ‘undermining democracy’ OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Westerman tapped as top Republican on House Natural Resources Committee | McMorris Rodgers wins race for top GOP spot on Energy and […]
Citizen Science Salon is a partnership between Discover magazine and SciStarter.org. Air quality impacts our health, our quality of life and even the length of our lives. Most people don’t think about what’s in the air they breathe — but perhaps they should. That’s the driving force behind the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative. The citizen science project wants […]
This article appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue as “Seahorse Paradise.” Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber. The first time biologist Heather Mason Jones heard about the seahorses on Eleuthera Island, she had trouble believing in a place where seahorses were as common as other fish. After 29 years studying the animals, the University […]
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan GrishamMichelle Lynn Lujan GrishamOVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA proposes reapproving uses of pesticide linked to brain damage in children | Hispanic caucus unhappy with transition team treatment of Lujan Grisham | Schwarzenegger backs Nichols to lead EPA Biden aide seeks to ease concerns about Cabinet diversity The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented […]
Sen. Chuck GrassleyCharles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyCriminal justice groups offer support for Durbin amid fight for Judiciary spot Capitol physician advises lawmakers against attending dinners, receptions during COVID-19 spike Congress ends its year under shadow of COVID-19 MORE (R-Iowa) suggested President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenTrump alludes to possible 2024 run in White House remarks Tiger King’s attorney […]
This article appeared in Discover’s annual state of science issue as “Did COVID Heal Nature?” Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber. The Welsh village of Llandudno went quiet in March as stay-at-home orders began. Then the goats descended from the mountain. A wild herd of Kashmiri goats hasv lived near Llandudno for almost two centuries, and […]
By Ibrahim Sawal Emily Duncan releases a bottleSara Hylton/NGS Plastic bottles dumped in rivers can travel up to 3000 kilometres in just a few months. Following where bottles end up could help determine how best to tackle plastic pollution. Emily Duncan at the University of Exeter, UK, and her colleagues used GPS and satellite technology, […]
By Krista Charles Orcas swimming off the coast of New ZealandNature Picture Library / Alamy Humans are often implicated in orca deaths. Now a team that looked at how orcas in the Pacific Ocean died has linked some deaths with human activity. Despite commonly being called killer whales, orcas are actually dolphins. Stephen Raverty at […]
By Jonathan O’Callaghan A vertically exaggerated view of a large, water-carved channel on MarsESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. 3D rendered and colored by Lujendra Ojha Geothermal energy on Mars billions of years ago may have been sufficient to melt some of its subsurface ice into water, creating an environment that might have been suitable […]
The American Red Cross has provided record levels of disaster shelter this year as unprecedented hurricane and wildfire seasons forced massive evacuations and the COVID-19 pandemic made evacuees financially needy and reluctant to stay with relatives and friends. The Red Cross has furnished more than 1.2 million nights of sheltering so far this year to […]
The United Kingdom became the first country to approve a fully tested COVID-19 vaccine for its citizens on December 2 when it OK’d Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use. Russia and China have allowed emergency use of vaccines made in those countries, but did so before safety and effectiveness trials were completed (SN: 8/11/20; SN: 7/21/20). […]
If you plan to meet people over the festive season, there are many ways you can reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus, says Clare Wilson Health | Comment 2 December 2020 By Clare Wilson THE question of how to safely celebrate the holiday season this year is currently occupying a lot of people’s minds. In […]
Lockdown restrictions in winter might seem something to dread, but we can combat this by embracing the mindset of people used to long, dark winters, says health psychologist Kari Leibowitz Health 2 December 2020 By Kari Leibowitz WHEN health psychologist Kari Leibowitz moved from the US to the Norwegian town of Tromsø, more than 300 […]
By Matt McGrathEnvironment correspondent image copyrightGetty Images image captionThe Sun shining through the heat haze from a wildfire in California The Earth continued to endure a period of significant heating in 2020 according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Its provisional assessment suggests this year will be one of the three hottest, just behind 2016 […]
Join Scientific American for a conversation about the next steps in humanity’s reconnaissance of Mars. Featuring Casey Dreier, senior space policy adviser at The Planetary Society, and space & physics editor Lee Billings, this deep dive will begin with an overview of NASA’s upcoming Perseverance rover, slated to land on Mars in February 2021 to […]
Imagine if, at the height of the 1918 flu pandemic, researchers studying how society was changing had captured the moment in a time capsule. What information might social scientists today have gleaned from such an effort? How might that repository inform the global response to the current pandemic? Theoretically such an artifact could be buried […]
The world is on the cusp of a counterattack on COVID thanks to several vaccines that are currently seeking regulatory approval and a swift rollout. For entrepreneurs and the tech industry, this is a moment when their value to society is demonstrated: business and technology is (along with medicine) leading us out of the pandemic. […]
One word sums up what President-elect Joe Biden must do to address climate change: Restart. In 2015 nearly 200 nations agreed to the Paris Agreement, which aims to prevent the worst impacts of climate change by limiting global warming to belowtwo degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2100. The U.S. pledged to reduce its greenhouse […]
By Michael Le Page , Clare Wilson , Jessica Hamzelou , Sam Wong , Adam Vaughan , Conrad Quilty-Harper and Layal Liverpool The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) has authorised the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for emergency useJakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/PA Images Latest coronavirus news as of 5 pm on 2 December UK authorises emergency […]
On Sunday night, December 13, countless meteors will shoot across the sky as space particles burn up in our atmosphere and meet a fiery end. Most meteor showers occur when Earth slams into debris left behind by a comet. But not this meteor shower, which is likely to be the most spectacular of the year. […]
Some people are morning larks. Others are night owls. But not everybody falls neatly into those two categories, scientists say – and a new study suggests there are actually multiple distinct ‘chronotypes’ that define people’s wakefulness and rest. Chronotypes are the behavioural manifestations of the circadian rhythms we experience throughout the day and the […]
If you’re interested in reaching peak mental performance and improving brain function, you may have heard of nootropics before. Often referred to as “smart pills” or “cognitive enhancers” nootropic supplements can help you improve memory, focus, motivation, learning, and mental clarity. Nootropics are also often used to help with age-related decline, anxiety, and depression as […]
Hi, I’m Roger Jacobs and I have been working in the tech industry for a few years now, mostly doing reviews and product testing. My area of expertise is smartphones, so I typically review Android and iPhone products and apps, trying to stay on top of what’s new and what consumers are looking for. There […]
In person therapy can be terrifying – letting your guts spill in front of a therapist puts you in an intimidating position where you may be tempted to lie or play things down. However, online therapy services remove some of that awkwardness. They’re also handy during a global pandemic! Online therapy services allow you to […]
The Universe is a mysterious place. We don’t know why it exists, and there are a lot of unanswered questions as to the how. But what if it was created, on purpose, by an intelligent entity? Is there some way we could find out? In 2005, a pair of physicists proposed that if there […]