Scientists find a long-sought electric field in Earth’s atmosphere
The Earth’s ambipolar electric field is weak but strong enough to control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere.
TECH DEIYO
Science and Technolgy blog
Gateway to the underworld: The enormous permafrost ‘megaslump’ in Siberia that keeps getting bigger
The growing “gateway to the underworld,” officially known as the Batagay megaslump, is the largest megaslump in the world and exposes permafrost layers that are 650,000 years old.
Study finds grandfathers’ workouts enhance grandsons’ cognition in mice
New research published in The Journal of Neuroscience demonstrates that the cognitive benefits of physical exercise can be transmitted transgenerationally from grandfathers to grandsons, suggesting that exercise-induced cognitive improvements may persist across multiple generations. Exercise has been shown to enhance…
Rocket Report: China leaps into rocket reuse; 19 people are currently in orbit
Enlarge / Landspace’s reusable rocket test vehicle lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Wednesday, September 11, 2024. (credit: Landspace) Welcome to Edition 7.11 of the Rocket Report! Outside of companies owned by American billionaires, the most imminent…
Rain Bosworth studies how deaf kids experience the world
In a darkened room in Rochester, N.Y., a baby girl in a pink onesie watches a computer screen. Wherever she looks, an eye tracker follows. It records what she looks at and for how long. The baby, about 6 months…
Parasitic ‘horror’ wasp that bursts from a fly’s abdomen like an ‘Alien’ xenomorph discovered in Mississippi backyard
Scientists accidentally discover new species of wasp that lays eggs inside living, adult fruit flies, which then burst from the hosts’ abdomens while they’re still alive.
AI models believe racist stereotypes about African Americans that predate the Civil Rights movement — and they ‘try to hide it when confronted’
When exposed to terms common in different racial dialects, large language models make inherently racist assumptions about people from particular racial groups, even without explicitly knowing their race.
Astronauts would have been fine on Boeing’s Starliner during landing, NASA says
With Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is safely back on Earth, NASA says Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams could have returned onboard.
4 silver Viking Age bracelets discovered ‘untouched’ on Norway mountainside after more than 1,000 years
Archaeologists have unearthed a set of uniquely decorated bracelets on the site of a “large and powerful” Viking Age farm.
Scientists erase “bad memories” to improve long-term Parkinson’s disease treatment
In a recent study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham uncovered a potential breakthrough in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. By focusing on a common side effect of Parkinson’s treatments called dyskinesia,…
Incredible places: A window onto extraordinary landscapes on Earth
Every week, we open a window onto an incredible place and highlight the fantastic history and science behind it.
CEO of “health care terrorists” faces contempt charges after Senate no-show
Enlarge / The name placard for Dr. Ralph de la Torre, founder and chief executive officer of Steward Health Care System, in front of an empty seat during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC,…
New blood test detects ALS with 98% accuracy, offering hope for earlier diagnosis
Many patients with ALS die within three to five years of their symptoms starting, so early diagnosis of the disease is critical for treatment.
Court clears researchers of defamation for identifying manipulated data
Enlarge / Harvard Business School was targeted by a faculty member’s lawsuit. (credit: APCortizasJr) Earlier this year, we got a look at something unusual: the results of an internal investigation conducted by Harvard Business School that concluded one of its…
Meet the winners of the 2024 Ig Nobel Prizes
Enlarge / The Ig Nobel Prizes honor “achievements that first make people laugh and then make them think.” (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images) Curiosity is the driving force behind all science, which may explain why so many scientists sometimes…
Some cells can enter a ‘third state that lies beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death.’ Here’s how.
Given the right conditions, certain types of cells are able to self-assemble into new lifeforms after the organism they were once part of has died.
Tree-covered neighborhoods linked to lower ADHD risk in children
A new study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology has found that exposure to greenspace may be indirectly associated with a lower likelihood of being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The research offers new insights into the…
Ancient relative of ‘living fossil’ fish reveals that geological activity supercharges evolution
The ancient coelacanth, which has existed for some 419 million years, never stopped evolving despite its reputation as a “living fossil.” A new discovery reveals that it evolved faster when plate tectonics were most active.
Unity is dropping its unpopular per-install Runtime Fee
Enlarge (credit: Unity) Unity, maker of a popular cross-platform engine and toolkit, will not pursue a broadly unpopular Runtime Fee that would have charged developers based on game installs rather than per-seat licenses. The move comes exactly one year after…
Exposure to light pollution at night may increase Alzheimer’s risk, especially in younger people
A new study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience suggests that exposure to artificial light at night may contribute to an increased prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, particularly among younger individuals. The researchers found a significant correlation between higher levels of outdoor…
Music industry’s 1990s hard drives, like all HDDs, are dying
Enlarge / Hard drives, unfortunately, tend to die not with a spectacular and sparkly bang, but with a head-is-stuck whimper. (credit: Getty Images) One of the things enterprise storage and destruction company Iron Mountain does is handle the archiving of…
Unicode 16.0 release with new emoji brings character count to 154,998
Enlarge / Emojipedia sample images of the new Unicode 16.0 emoji. (credit: Emojipedia) The Unicode Consortium has finalized and released version 16.0 of the Unicode standard, the elaborate character set that ensures that our phones, tablets, PCs, and other devices…
OpenAI’s new “reasoning” AI models are here: o1-preview and o1-mini
Enlarge (credit: Vlatko Gasparic via Getty Images) OpenAI finally unveiled its rumored “Strawberry” AI language model on Thursday, claiming significant improvements in what it calls “reasoning” and problem-solving capabilities over previous large language models (LLMs). Formally named “OpenAI o1,” the…
‘Exceptional’ eclipse image and stunning ‘Dolphin Head nebula’ among 2024’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year winners
A composite image of an annular solar eclipse showing Baily’s Beads won top prize at the 2024 Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest.
Reported Dreamcast addict Tim Walz is now an unofficial Crazy Taxi character
Enlarge / The “VP” on the cab light is a nice touch. (credit: Itch.io) Last month, in a profile of newly named Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, The New York Times included a throwaway line about “the time his…
AI chatbots might be better at swaying conspiracy theorists than humans
Enlarge / A woman wearing a sweatshirt for the QAnon conspiracy theory on October 11, 2020 in Ronkonkoma, New York. (credit: Stephanie Keith | Getty Images) Belief in conspiracy theories is rampant, particularly in the US, where some estimates suggest…
Talking to a chatbot may weaken someone’s belief in conspiracy theories
AI might help lift conspiracy theorists out of the rabbit hole, but some researchers say proceed with caution.
‘Mega’ El Niño may have fueled Earth’s biggest mass extinction
Volcanoes spewing carbon dioxide 250 million years ago heated the climate so much that extreme El Niño events became the norm, pushing most life on Earth past its limits.
Mysterious 9-day seismic event was caused by a mega tsunami bouncing around inside a fjord, study reveals
In September, a strange nine-day signal rocked our planet and baffled scientists. Now they have finally found the cause.
Narcissism’s role in pandemic behavior might be more complex than previously thought
A recent study published in Scientific Reports has shed light on how different forms of narcissism influenced people’s thoughts and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers found that distinct types of narcissism led to both antisocial and prosocial responses.…
US sting of online gun part sales started with a shipment marked “fidget spinner”
Enlarge (credit: Dmitri Toms | iStock / Getty Images Plus) Federal authorities have seized more than 350 websites after an undercover investigation revealed that the sites were used to illegally import gun parts into the US from China. To get…
Physicists unveil 1D gas made of pure light
Physicists have created a one dimensional gas out of light particles for the first time. Studying how the photon gas behaves could help researchers discover some yet-unknown quantum optical effects.
1st tardigrade fossils ever discovered hint at how they survived Earth’s biggest mass extinction
Detailed 3D images of the first tardigrade fossils ever discovered help scientists predict when tardigrades evolved their near-indestructibility — a trait that might have helped them survive multiple mass extinctions.
2,300-year-old Celtic helmet discovered in Poland
Archaeologists think the ancient helmet indicates that Celts settled in the region to protect their supplies of precious amber.
EVgo and GM reveal their new fast charger experience
Enlarge / Are you getting gas station vibes? Because I’m getting gas station vibes. (credit: GM) Several years ago, General Motors and EVgo teamed up to build out a network of fast chargers for electric vehicles. As Tesla proved, giving…
Scientists invent tool to see how ‘healthy’ your gut microbiome is — does it work?
A new tool can reveal whether someone has a “healthy” gut microbiome with a simple score — but how does it work?
Does feeling attractive make us more generous?
A study published in Marketing Letters found that self-perceived attractiveness can promote prosocial behavior through increased public self-consciousness and impression management, but only when these actions are visible to others. While prior studies have explored how observers perceive the morality…
Eminent officials say NASA facilities some of the “worst” they’ve ever seen
Enlarge / The primary mirror for the James Webb Space Telescope enters a vacuum test chamber at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2017. (credit: NASA/Desiree Stover) A panel of independent experts reported this week that NASA lacks funding to maintain…
iFixit’s FixHub tools want to pull soldering away from the wall socket
Enlarge (credit: iFixit) Not being able to solder puts a hard cap on the kinds of devices you can fix at home. As more modern devices add in circuit boards and discrete electronics (needed or otherwise), soldering is often the…
GM, Hyundai team up to slash costs of new vehicles and clean tech
Enlarge / GM CEO Mary Barra (left) and Hyundai executive chair Euisun Chung (right) have agreed to have their companies collaborate. (credit: Hyundai Motor Group) Two of the world’s largest automakers are becoming closer friends, we learned this morning. Hyundai…
Europe’s privacy watchdog probes Google over data used for AI training
Enlarge / Google’s booth at the Integrated Systems Europe conference on January 31, 2023, in Barcelona, Spain. (credit: Getty Images | Cesc Maymo ) Google is under investigation by Europe’s privacy watchdog over its processing of personal data in the…
How much is climate change to blame for extreme weather?
Scientists can estimate how much more likely or severe some past natural disasters were due to human-caused climate change. Here’s how.
4-foot snake vomits up 2 smaller snakes — and 1 was still alive
Wildlife officials in Georgia stumbled across a pair of snakes that had been “expelled” by a larger serpent, only to discover that one of the regurgitated victims was still alive.
Neuroscience sheds light on brain mechanisms underlying exceptional creativity
A new study sheds light on how highly creative individuals, such as visual artists and scientists, may have brains that function differently compared to others. The research, published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, reveals that people who…
Two private astronauts took a spacewalk Thursday morning—yes, it was historic
Enlarge / Jared Isaacman emerges from the Dragon spacecraft on Thursday morning. (credit: SpaceX webcast) The Polaris Dawn mission took firm step into the future on Thursday morning when two private citizens, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, briefly ventured outside…
The Engo 2 AR sunglasses put your workout data right before your eyes
Enlarge / The Engo 2 smartglasses with heads-up display look slightly bulky. (credit: BradleyWarren Photography) When it comes to working out, I’m a data nerd. A Google spreadsheet contains every bike ride I’ve been on for the past four years,…
Students tend to rely on AI rather than learn from it, study finds
A recent study explored how students respond to AI-powered assistance in the context of peer feedback and its impact on their ability to self-regulate their learning. The researchers found that while AI tools improved the quality of student feedback, there…
My dead father is “writing” me notes again
Enlarge / An AI-generated image featuring my late father’s handwriting. (credit: Benj Edwards / Flux) Growing up, if I wanted to experiment with something technical, my dad made it happen. We shared dozens of tech adventures together, but those adventures…
As Yellowstone’s supervolcano slumbers, another big danger lurks
Yellowstone National Park is known for its bubbling hot springs and steaming geysers. These hydrothermal wonders are powered by a massive cauldron of partly melted rock deep underground. It holds enough seething magma to build several Mount Everests. Yellowstone’s volcano…
‘Springy’ solid-state battery is twice the width of a white blood cell and could drastically increase EV range
Scientists in the U.S. have created a battery for electric cars that could be safer and offer better performance than the ones we have now thanks to a unique design.
