Science and Technolgy blog
Enlarge / Sandia National Labs’ Z machine in action. (credit: Randy Montoya) The old joke about the dinosaurs going extinct because they didn’t have a space program may be overselling the need for one. It turns out you can probably…
Enlarge / California Governor Gavin Newsom at a press conference in San Francisco on September 19, 2024. (credit: Getty Images | Anadolu ) California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required makers of web browsers and mobile…
Enlarge / But for a fateful meeting in the summer of 2014, Crew Dragon probably never would have happened. (credit: SpaceX) This is an excerpt from Chapter 11 of the book REENTRY: SpaceX, Elon Musk and the Reusable Rockets that…
Philip Seargeant tells us how AI will shape the future of our language use.
When a person (or monkey) is facing stakes that are too high, the stress can interfere with neurons, affecting how they direct the body to execute movements, a study suggests.
Depression significantly increases the risk of developing dementia and cognitive impairment, as reported in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Dementia is a global concern, with cases projected to reach 135.46 million by 2050. While previous research suggests a link…
Enlarge (credit: Getty) Broadcom is accusing AT&T of trying to “rewind the clock and force” Broadcom “to sell support services for perpetual software licenses… that VMware has discontinued from its product line and to which AT&T has no contractual right…
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Software fixes are now responsible for more than 1 in 5 automotive recalls. That’s the key finding from a decade’s worth of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall data, according to an analysis from the law…
Enlarge / The first stage of ULA’s second Vulcan rocket was raised onto its launch platform August 11 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. (credit: United Launch Alliance) United Launch Alliance is free to compete for NASA contracts with…
Enlarge / Artist’s conception of angry PC gamers launching an attack on PSN sign-in requirements. (credit: Sony) Sony’s decision to require a PlayStation Network sign-in for the PC port of the single-player God of War Ragnarök is drawing expected levels of…
The Antarctic ozone hole usually starts forming in early August, but rare warming events and a strangely elongated polar vortex this year may have delayed its arrival.
A recent study published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging sheds light on the neural differences related to identity instability traits in borderline personality disorder. By analyzing brain patterns through a technique called Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), the researchers found that individuals…
Enlarge / The Kubuntu Focus Ir14 Gen 2. (credit: Kevin Purdy) There are lots of laptops—maybe all of them—on which you can run a Linux desktop. There are a few vendors that offer laptops with extensive Linux compatibility. And then…
Meet the ‘owl slime’ amoeba, which drains its prey and spits out the shell.
The discovery of two entangled quarks at the large Hadron Collider is the highest-energy observation of entanglement ever made.
Enlarge (credit: FT) China’s demand that the public sector step up use of domestic semiconductors can best be seen within Huawei’s Qingyun L540 laptop. The “safe and reliable” device features a self-designed processor and a Chinese-made operating system, having stripped…
A new study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior has employed eye-tracking methods to uncover intriguing differences in how men and women evaluate online dating profiles, shedding light on the priorities each gender has when seeking potential partners. Overall, men…
Enlarge / Blue Origin test fires the second stage of its New Glenn rocket. (credit: Blue Origin) Twenty days after it rolled out to Blue Origin’s launch site in Florida, the second stage of the massive New Glenn rocket underwent…
The Florida Current, a major contributor to a system of ocean currents that regulate Earth’s climate, has not weakened as much as previously reported.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has sent home pictures of a mysterious black-and-white striped rock, the likes of which scientists have never seen before on Mars.
A new study published in Science Advances reveals that the success of a story can be predicted by the number and intensity of narrative reversals, moments when the fortunes of characters dramatically shift. By analyzing 30,000 stories across various formats,…
Climate change is making extreme weather worse. It tripled the risk of Hurricane Harvey’s record rainfall over Texas in 2017. It made Australia’s devastating wildfires in 2019 and 2020 at least 30 percent more likely. And it made a heat…
After Philip Seargeant’s grandmother suffered a stroke, she lost the ability to speak for several days. The experience made him reflect on brain-computer interfaces — a technology with both positive and dystopian implications.
“If there are lots of black holes out there, some of them must surely pass through our backyard every now and then.”
A new study published in the American Political Science Review sheds light on how political elites, such as former President Donald Trump, can influence public behavior through polarizing messages on social media. The study provides evidence that Trump’s controversial tweets…
The “golden channel” decay of subatomic particles called kaons could break or confirm the standard model of particle physics.
Strange, ultraheavy stars that are rich in barium grow massive by cannibalizing their companions, scientists discover after finally catching these stellar leeches in the act.
Narcissists may not be as self-deceptive about their reputation as commonly thought, according to new research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Researchers found that while individuals higher in narcissistic admiration expected others to see them positively, their beliefs…
A new computer program adjusts grow lights to cut down on electric bills without sacrificing photosynthesis.
A 2012 satellite photo captured a patch of snow-covered sea ice with an uncannily similar shape to badges pinned on the uniforms of Starfleet officers in the “Star Trek” franchise.
Enlarge (credit: andresr via Getty Images) On Monday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman outlined his vision for an AI-driven future of tech progress and global prosperity in a new personal blog post titled “The Intelligence Age.” The essay paints a picture…
Enlarge / Cows being milked in Wisconsin on May 8, 2024. (credit: Getty | Matthew Ludak) The H5N1 bird flu appears to be stampeding through dairy farms in California, the country’s largest milk producer. Over the weekend, the total number…
The Sarmat missile silo seen before last week’s launch attempt. [credit: Maxar Technologies ] Late last week, Russia’s military planned to launch a Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on a test flight from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Imagery from commercial satellites…
During late September and mid-October, the much-anticipated comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) could become visible to the naked-eye for skywatchers around the world.
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Five years ago, researchers made a grim discovery—a legitimate Android app in the Google Play market that was surreptitiously made malicious by a library the developers used to earn advertising revenue. With that, the app was…
The newly named dinosaur is unique to Mexico, and it’s helping change scientists’ understanding of dinosaur ranges across the Americas.
Enlarge / The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the first iteration of a very, very long-lived phone design. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) This past weekend, I said goodbye to Apple’s 4.7-inch iPhone 6 design, after 10 long years. It started with…
Enlarge (credit: Moor Studio | DigitalVision Vectors) Cloudflare announced new tools Monday that it claims will help end the era of endless AI scraping by giving all sites on its network the power to block bots in one click. That…
New close-up images reveal the surprising snowman shape of “potentially hazardous” asteroid 2024 ON, which tumbled safely past our planet on Sept. 17.
Enlarge (credit: Sonos) In May, Sonos updated its mobile app—to the dismay of many users. With missing features and bugs, customers complained about a loss of functionality and hardware not working the way it should. As Sonos deals with the…
Enlarge / A photo of Dmitry Grinberg’s custom Linux/4004 circuit board. (credit: Dmitry Grinberg) Hardware hacker Dmitry Grinberg recently achieved what might sound impossible: booting Linux on the Intel 4004, the world’s first commercial microprocessor. With just 2,300 transistors and…
Enlarge / This is Thor and Harbinger’s test bed for a new Class A hybrid RV. (credit: Thor) Electrification is moving through different parts of the automotive industry at different speeds. And soon, it will be time for the recreational…
The latest human case of bird flu in the U.S. occurred in a patient with no reported exposure to affected animals, sparking questions over whether the virus is spreading between people. Experts say that’s unlikely but argue the case raises…
Scientists used AI to find 303 never-before-seen geoglyphs in Peru’s Nazca Desert, including abstract humanoid figures, ancient ceremonies, “decapitated heads” and a “killer whale holding a knife.”
Are you not entertainment? We’ve got a shiny new trailer for Gladiator II. When the first trailer for Gladiator II dropped in early July, it racked up more than 180 million views in its first 48 hours, so clearly there’s…
A recent study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders explores the genetic connections between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and risk-taking behavior. The researchers identified shared genetic factors between ADHD and risky behavior, highlighting a complex biological link between the two…
Scuba-diving lizards use bubbles to stay submerged in water for long periods of time.
Enlarge / Hey, welcome back to “Talkin’Minesweeper,” the podcast where AI hosts discuss a book about Minesweeper! (credit: Aurich Lawson | Boss Fight Books) As someone who has been following the growth of generative AI for a while now, I…
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images) Elon Musk is apparently conceding defeat in his fight with Brazil Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, as the X social platform has started complying with the judge’s demands in an attempt to…
Florence Pugh heads an assembly of misfits in Marvel’s Thunderbolts*. Marvel Studios has dropped an extended teaser trailer for the final feature film in its Phase Six slate: Thunderbolts*, now with a mysterious asterisk to the title. The studio has…
