Science and Technolgy blog
Enlarge / Jessica Watkins gets to work on the ISS (credit: NASA) “Archeology really is a perspective on material culture we use as evidence to understand how humans adapt to their environment, to the situations they are in, and to…
New research is revealing the secrets of these destructive twisters, which dodge radar scans and often form at night.
Spiders swinging lassos, ants setting deadly traps and turtles with deceiving tongues — these animals have the most cunning methods of hunting their prey.
Enlarge / This is one method of burning a disc. (credit: 1001slide / Getty Images) We noted earlier this week that time seems to have run out for Apple’s venerable SuperDrive, which was the last (OEM) option available for folks…
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images) Antitrust law professors aren’t impressed by Elon Musk’s lawsuit alleging a supposed X advertising boycott amounts to an antitrust violation. Based on the initial complaint filed by Musk’s X Corp., it looks like…
Here’s the brain science of breaking, the dance style making its Olympic debut in Paris.
Three powerful solar eruptions could bring auroras as far south as New York and Idaho right at the peak of the Perseid meteor shower this weekend.
A study conducted in Switzerland on individuals with treatment-resistant depression suggests that these patients might better tolerate intranasal esketamine or racemic ketamine therapy when they listen to music during treatment. The study found that patients who listened to music experienced…
A corrugated exterior wall reflects heat to space and absorbs less heat from the ground, keeping it several degrees cooler than a flat wall.
Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg via Getty) Bill Gross made his name in the tech world in the 1990s, when he came up with a novel way for search engines to make money on advertising. Under his pricing scheme, advertisers would pay…
If left unchecked,”model collapse” could make AI systems less useful, and fill the internet with incomprehensible babble.
Psychedelic substances such as psilocybin and 2C-B can significantly distort our sense of familiarity with past events, according to a new study published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. The study found that these substances impair episodic memory, particularly…
Enlarge / I don’t know what this flame crossbow (?) is from the Legacy of Rust campaign, but I am going to keep running and gunning until I get it. (credit: Bethesda Softworks) I have only one criticism of the…
Enlarge / Debris from the upper stage of China’s Long March 6A rocket captured from the ground by Slingshot Aerospace. (credit: Slingshot Aerospace) The upper stage from a Chinese rocket that launched a batch of Internet satellites Tuesday has broken…
Enlarge When Ryan Castellucci recently acquired solar panels and a battery storage system for their home just outside of London, they were drawn to the ability to use an open source dashboard to monitor and control the flow of electricity…
Exactly how migraines develop is still coming into focus, but scientists now know that many factors can trigger attacks.
The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is Earth’s largest terrestrial canyon, stretching 314 miles long and almost 20,000 feet from top to bottom at its deepest point in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Americans who felt most vulnerable during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic perceived Republicans as infection risks, leading to greater disgust and avoidance of them – regardless of their own political party. Even Republicans who felt vulnerable became more…
Enlarge / Rocket Lab says it fired up the Archimedes engine at full thrust this week. (credit: Rocket Lab) Welcome to Edition 7.06 of the Rocket Report! There has been a lot of drama over the last week involving NASA,…
Ancient origins of cobras traced back to Asia, before jumping continents to spread across the world up to 37.5 million years ago.
In-depth articles and features taking a deeper look at emerging science and giving you the perspective you need on these advances.
Enlarge / Honda’s homegrown EVs won’t be ready for another couple of years, but this is its Prologue. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin) Electric vehicles aren’t quite as hot as they were when Honda first showed us the Prologue in 2022. Designed…
Depression in young people is a growing concern. A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders explores an innovative approach to enhance current treatments: computerized memory specificity training. The findings suggest that this type of cognitive training could…
In recent years, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has garnered attention for its potential to treat psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, understanding the safety profile of this treatment is important before it becomes widely implemented. A recent comprehensive systematic…
Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto) FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange formerly helmed by fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, has agreed to pay $12.7 billion to customers blindsided by Bankman-Fried’s deceptions covering up FTX’s flagrant misuse of customer funds. In an…
Enlarge / The round lens of PrivacyLens captures standard digital video while the square lens senses heat. The heat sensor improves the camera’s ability to spot and remove people from videos. (credit: Brenda Ahearn, Michigan Engineering) Roombas can be both…
Enlarge / A recall notice is posted next to Boar’s Head meats that are displayed at a Safeway store on July 31, 2024, in San Rafael, California. (credit: Getty | Justin Sullivan) A third person has died in a nationwide…
A private company has received funding from the U.S. government to build the first-ever “streetlights” on the moon — towering, Statue of Liberty-sized structures that could withstand the brutal lunar night.
Lower cognitive function during teenage years may significantly increase the risk of having a stroke before the age of 50, according to a new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Researchers found that adolescents with medium…
Enlarge / Amina Abakarova allegedly spreading mercury on her rival’s chess board. Russia is no stranger to unique poisonings. State agents have been known to use everything from polonium-laced tea to the deadly nerve agent “novichok” when making assassination attempts…
Enlarge (credit: Sonos) Addressing blowback from Sonos’ wildly unpopular app redesign will cost the company $20 to $30 million “in the short term,” according to CEO Patrick Spence. In May, Sonos launched an updated app that aggravated many users due…
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images) An advertising industry initiative targeted by an Elon Musk lawsuit is “discontinuing” its activities and has deleted the member list from its website. On Tuesday, Musk’s X Corp. sued the World Federation of…
The same physics that underlie mayonnaise could help physicists corral the ultrahot plasma needed to produce nuclear fusion.
Imagine feeling lost in a maze, a wave of anxiety washing over you as you struggle to find your way. Now picture that same maze with nostalgic images from your past lining the walls. Would these fond memories help you…
Enlarge / Absolute temperatures show how similar July 2023 and 2024 were. (credit: C3S/ECMWF) The past several years have been absolute scorchers, with 2023 being the warmest year ever recorded. And things did not slow down in 2024. As a…
Enlarge (credit: Benj Edwards / Google DeepMind) On Wednesday, researchers at Google DeepMind revealed the first AI-powered robotic table tennis player capable of competing at an amateur human level. The system combines an industrial robot arm called the ABB IRB…
Enlarge / Apple’s M2 Pro Mac mini. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) Apple hasn’t updated its Mac mini desktop lineup since the beginning of 2023, when it added M2 and M2 Pro chips and discontinued the last of the Intel models. Bloomberg’s…
Enlarge / For a true representation of the people-search industry, a couple of these folks should have lanyards that connect them by the pockets. (credit: Getty Images) If you’ve searched your name online in the last few years, you know…
Enlarge / The Humane AI Pin. (credit: Humane) Humane AI Pins were returned at faster rate than they were sold between May and August, according to a report from The Verge on Wednesday. The AI gadget released in April to…
Enlarge (credit: Anadolu / Contributor | Anadolu) The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has officially launched a probe into Amazon’s $4 billion partnership with the AI firm Anthropic, as it continues to monitor how the largest tech companies…
Scientists just pulled the longest hunk of Earth’s mantle from beneath the ocean.
A study involving several thousand teens in Quebec, Canada, found that individuals who experienced maltreatment as children were at a heightened risk of experiencing dating violence as teens. The study authors propose that survivors of childhood maltreatment are less able…
Enlarge / EUS panel test weld at the Michoud Assembly Facility on Tuesday, February 9, 2021. (credit: Michael DeMocker/NASA) The NASA program to develop a new upper stage for the Space Launch System rocket is seven years behind schedule and…
Enlarge / A little auto-tiling on the Cosmic desktop. (credit: System76) System76 has released an alpha version of its Cosmic desktop environment for Linux and Unix-like systems. The Linux hardware firm isn’t targeting only its customers with its GNOME replacement;…
When politicians commit moral transgressions, how do voters respond? A recent study published in American Politics Research sought to answer this question by examining whether partisan voters in the United States differ in their desire to punish politicians for moral…
A new survey of meteors that leave persistent trails found that speed and brightness don’t matter as much as atmospheric chemistry.
Archaeologists discovered a 2,000-year-old rock quarry in Jerusalem which may have provided the massive stone building blocks used in the Second Temple.
Enlarge (credit: Maskot via Getty) Google and Meta made a secret deal to target advertisements for Instagram to teenagers on YouTube, skirting the search company’s own rules for how minors are treated online. According to documents seen by the Financial…
Enlarge / The new ChargePoint Omni Port is actually a pair of cables. (credit: ChargePoint) Last year, a remarkable thing happened in the car world. Just as it looked like everyone other than Tesla had settled on an industry-standard charging…
A recent study published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment sheds light on the core psychopathological features of malignant narcissism, revealing its strong associations with Machiavellianism and psychopathy. The findings confirm that malignant narcissism is primarily an antagonistic…
