Science and Technolgy blog
Teen drug use continued to fall in 2024, extending a dramatic decline spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that experts expected would reverse now that the acute phase of the global crisis is well over. But, according to data released Tuesday,…
A new investigation from The New York Times suggests that SpaceX founder Elon Musk has not been reporting his travel activities and other information to the Department of Defense as required by his top-secret clearance. According to the newspaper, concerns…
Geographical barriers and cultural differences can prevent people from mingling with their neighbors, leading to genetic isolation — and the phenomenon is more common than most people think.
A recent study published in Nature Communications has uncovered that individuals with congenital anosmia—a condition where a person is born without the ability to smell—exhibit altered patterns of nasal breathing compared to those with a normal sense of smell. These…
When Nvidia replaced the longstanding GeForce Experience App with a new, unified Nvidia App last month, most GPU owners probably noted the refresh and rebranding with nothing more than bemusement (though the new lack of an account login requirement was…
Return-to-office (RTO) mandates have caused companies to lose some of their best workers, a study tracking over 3 million workers at 54 “high-tech and financial” firms at the S&P 500 index has found. These companies also have greater challenges finding…
How do you fit 32 terabytes of storage into a hard drive? With a HAMR. Seagate has been experimenting with heat-assisted magnetic recording, or HAMR, since at least 2002. The firm has occasionally popped up to offer a demonstration or make…
An Alabama woman underwent a transplant procedure to get a new kidney from a gene-edited pig.
Alcohol consumption by humans is a well-documented aspect of history and culture, but it appears humans might not be the only species regularly exposed to ethanol. A recent review in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution explores how ethanol,…
Application developers who access OpenAI through its long-running API will now have access to the company’s latest full o1 model, rather than the months-old o1-preview. The upgrade is one of a number of new features being rolled out to OpenAI’s…
The updated version of the World Magnetic Model was released on Dec. 17, with a new prediction of how the magnetic north pole will shift over the next five years. Here’s why it was changed.
While investigating a mysterious radiation signal unlike any seen before, astronomers may have uncovered a rare pair of binary supermassive black holes with a truly monstrous appetite.
“Tell a man he shouldn’t think of a pink elephant and he can’t get that beast out of his mind!” This quote, from Curt Siodmak’s 1974 novel City in the Sky, describes how hard it can be to suppress our…
TikTok has asked the Supreme Court to step in before it’s forced to shut down the app in the US next month. In a petition requesting a temporary injunction, TikTok prompted the Supreme Court to block the ban and grant…
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected the broadband industry’s challenge to a New York law that requires Internet providers to offer $15- or $20-per-month service to people with low incomes. In August, six trade groups representing the cable, telecom, mobile, and…
Rumors have suggested that Nvidia will be taking the wraps off of some next-generation RTX 50-series graphics cards at CES in January. And as we get closer to that date, Nvidia’s partners and some of the PC makers have begun…
From the plight of ancient Egyptian scribes to the identities of ancient Maya sacrifices, 2024 brought a rich medley of insights into human history.
A newfound clay head from the sixth millennium B.C. is the first of its kind ever found in Kuwait, but similar finds have been unearthed from ancient Mesopotamia.
When will MDMA be approved for therapy? Major trial issues may stand in the way, psychiatrist Dr. Albino Oliveira-Maia says
With a 29% saving, these tech-packed binoculars are at the lowest price they have been in years.
Computer modeling suggests Saturn’s rings are billions of years older than previous research suggests — but the new findings are up for debate.
Tiffany Taylor, professor of microbial ecology and evolution at the University of Bath in the U.K., recommends the books that shaped her career and her outlook on life.
Women with heightened beliefs in a dangerous world recommended harsher minimum sentences for physically strong male defendants compared to weaker ones, according to a new study published in Evolutionary Psychological Science. Throughout human history, the ability to detect and respond…
The fact that Honda was working on a new Prelude coupe was not entirely secret—not after the automaker unveiled a show car at this year’s Long Beach Grand Prix. This morning, the Japanese automaker confirmed that the new Prelude will…
An analysis of Norway’s primary healthcare records revealed that 12% of patient encounters between 2006 and 2019 were for mental health conditions. This is comparable to the volume of primary care encounters for infections, cardiovascular, or respiratory conditions. The research…
Sheep that eat death camas plants record the toxic meal in their earwax, a goopy health data repository that researchers are increasingly exploring.
Licking a lollipop-shaped device can let you taste and smell nine flavors in VR.
Researchers at Duke Health have uncovered a connection between an immune system gene regulator, STAT1, and hyperactive behaviors in mice. Their study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, demonstrates how prolonged activation of this gene regulator in dopamine…
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, wants the FCC to crack down on news broadcasters that he perceives as being unfair to Trump or Republicans in general. Carr’s stated goals would appear to mark…
Octopuses are about as strange as any fictional aliens we might dream up. Each of these soft-bodied cephalopods has eight arms attached to its head. And each of those arms is lined with hundreds of suckers that taste what they…
A 2018 satellite photo shows the aptly named Deception Island, which was formed by a massive eruption 4,000 years ago and remains volcanically active today.
A new study published in Nature has identified brain cells that act like “map makers,” helping animals track their position within sequences of behaviors. These neurons, located in the medial frontal cortex, can encode abstract patterns of progress, enabling the…
The first batch of internet satellites for China’s Guowang megaconstellation launched Monday on the country’s heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket. The satellites are the first of up to 13,000 spacecraft a consortium of Chinese companies plans to build and launch…
Editors of the environmental chemistry journal Chemosphere have posted an eye-catching correction to a study reporting toxic flame retardants from electronics wind up in some household products made of black plastic, including kitchen utensils. The study sparked a flurry of…
Matthew Decker is the former chief information officer for Penn State University’s Applied Research Laboratory. As of October, he’s also $250,000 richer. In his Penn State position, Decker was well placed to see that the university was not implementing all…
The extremely violent treatment of the corpses of at least 37 Bronze Age people is rewriting the history of prehistoric Britain.
When Sony launched the PlayStation Portable almost exactly 20 years ago, the value proposition was right there in the name: a PlayStation, but portable. But now modders have flipped that, introducing a PSP that can be played on a TV,…
Hackers trying to extort the Rhode Island government infiltrated the state’s public benefits system, causing state officials to shut down online services that let residents apply for Medicaid and other assistance programs. “As part of this investigation today, we discovered…
Just as Amazon warehouse workers are threatening to launch the “first large-scale” unfair labor practices strike at Amazon in US history, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released a report accusing Amazon of operating “uniquely dangerous warehouses” that allegedly put profits over…
Making panda stem cells, mapping a fruit fly’s brain and witnessing a black hole wake up were among the biggest achievements of the year.
Io is the most volcanically active world in our solar system. Now, NASA scientists have revealed how and why.
Meteoroid news, features and articles
Exoplanet news, features and articles
The incoming Trump administration has even more plans to delay electric vehicle adoption than previously thought. According to Reuters, which has seen transition team documents, the Trump team wants to abolish EV subsidies, claw back federal funding meant for EV…
T-Mobile today said it opened registration for the “T-Mobile Starlink” beta service that will enable text messaging via satellites in dead zones not covered by cell towers. T-Mobile’s announcement said the service using Starlink’s low-Earth orbit satellites will “provid[e] coverage…
Two men from Rochester, New York died from a type of pneumonia after being exposed to a harmful fungus living in bat poop used to grow cannabis.
A group of U.K. scientists has developed a machine-learning-based method to detect ADHD by analyzing the actions of individuals in video clips. These videos included recordings of study participants working on specific tasks, captured using multiple cameras from different angles.…
The blob — an extreme marine heatwave that hit the northeast Pacific between 2014 and 2016 — killed approximately 4 million common murre, and the population is yet to recover, a new study finds.
Medical accounts of red wine headaches go back to Roman times, but the experience is likely as old as winemaking—something like 10,000 years. As chemists specializing in winemaking, we wanted to try to figure out the source of these headaches.…
A new study sheds light on the deep-seated human preference for all things “natural.” Published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, the research shows that this bias extends beyond words, influencing actual decisions—even when those decisions involve potential risks, like…
