Science and Technolgy blog
SpaceX accomplished a groundbreaking engineering feat Sunday, when it launched the fifth test flight of its gigantic Starship rocket, then caught the booster back at the launch pad in Texas with mechanical arms seven minutes later. This achievement is the…
New research published in the journal Political Behavior provides evidence that high-profile claims of electoral fraud, like those made by Donald Trump after the 2020 presidential election, can discourage voter participation—but only temporarily. The study examined Georgia’s 2021 Senate runoff…
As a lifelong surfer, born to pioneering surfing parents and named after a wave, the ocean has shaped my identity and sense of belonging. The movement and touch of ocean waves ignites a whole cascade of changes in emotions in…
A new study is the first to document the real-time connection between phone use and the amount of speech directed at infants during everyday interactions. Published in Child Development, the research tracked phone use and speech over the course of…
A new study has shed light on the relationship between antisocial personality disorder and substance use disorders, revealing that people with antisocial personality disorder are significantly more likely to struggle with alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco addiction. Published in Translational Psychiatry,…
A study of German university students found that they tended to delay their bedtime on days when they experienced higher levels of stress. Their sleep quality also declined during these periods. The research was published in Stress and Health. Sleep…
How do our moral beliefs shape the way we interpret evidence of societal issues like gender discrimination? A recent study in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that individuals with strong commitments to gender equality are more likely to…
On October 10, 2018, Tyndall Air Force Base on the Gulf of Mexico—a pillar of American air superiority—found itself under aerial attack. Hurricane Michael, first spotted as a Category 2 storm off the Florida coast, unexpectedly hulked up to a…
The Dark Energy Camera imaged the Rosette Nebula, capturing a kaleidoscope of color created by the star cluster born within it.
A natural experiment born out of the COVID-19 pandemic’s supply chain disruptions has allowed scientists in Japan to uncover the causal effects of video gaming on mental health. The findings upend common perceptions of gaming as a threat to mental…
Celine Dion sings that “my heart will go on,” but how many times does it actually beat in a day or even a lifetime?
Early Sunday morning, SpaceX will try something no one has ever done before. Around seven minutes after lifting off from South Texas, the huge stainless steel booster from SpaceX’s Starship rocket will, if all goes according to plan, come back…
Ambition may help individuals rise to leadership positions, but does it make them better leaders? A new study published in PNAS Nexus suggests not. The research shows that although ambitious leaders often rate themselves as effective, third-party evaluations from colleagues…
A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has found that individuals who use cannabis frequently or suffer from cannabis use disorder are more likely to miss work. The study analyzed data from over 46,000 employed adults…
A study of adults from the US Midwest who experienced childhood maltreatment found that those with objective records of maltreatment tended to show pervasive cognitive deficits compared to individuals without such records. These cognitive deficits were not observed in individuals…
A recent study published in Communications Psychology has found that anti-democratic tendencies in the United States are not evenly distributed across the political spectrum. According to the research, conservatives exhibit stronger anti-democratic attitudes than liberals, and this difference can be…
Pamela Goodwin has received hundreds of emails from patients asking if they should take a cheap, readily available drug, metformin, to treat their cancer. It’s a fair question: Metformin, commonly used to treat diabetes, has been investigated for treating a…
A new study published in Molecular Psychiatry has revealed that a single dose of the psychedelic drug 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) can lead to long-lasting changes in brain structure and cognitive flexibility in mice. The researchers found that mice treated with DOI…
The biological needs of plants and animals affect their cells’ protein content, but the story goes deeper than that.
“Life isn’t chess, a game of perfect information, one that can in theory be ‘solved.’ It’s poker, a game where you’re trying to make the best decisions using the limited information you have. “
It’s been a busy week in science news. Can you get all the questions right in our quiz?
More than 86 percent of healthcare providers surveyed across the US are experiencing shortages of intravenous fluids after Hurricane Helene’s rampage took out a manufacturing plant in western North Carolina that makes 60 percent of the country’s supply. IV fluids…
The people who took part in riots and counterprotests in England and Northern Ireland this summer are probably very confident that they know the views and beliefs of those they oppose. But they are probably wrong. Our new research shows…
Former Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, are urging a court to open discovery in a dispute over severance and other benefits they allege they were wrongfully denied after Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022. According to the…
As attempts to clean up after Hurricane Milton are beginning, scientists at the World Weather Attribution project have taken a quick look at whether climate change contributed to its destructive power. While the analysis is limited by the fact that…
A study of female clients at centers supporting victims of intimate partner violence in Nigeria found that the need for closure was associated with traumatic bonding. The study’s authors proposed that intimate partner violence may increase the need for closure,…
There comes a point in most experienced Steam shoppers’ lives where they wonder what would happen if their account was canceled or stolen, or perhaps they just stopped breathing. It’s scary to think about how many games in your backlog…
A few years ago, the idea of running PC games on a Mac, in Linux, or on Arm processors would have been laughable. But the developers behind Asahi Linux—the independent project that is getting Linux working on Apple Silicon Macs—have…
Music publishing companies notched another court victory against a broadband provider that refused to terminate the accounts of Internet users accused of piracy. In a ruling on Wednesday, the conservative-leaning US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit sided with…
Participants “navigating” on a lab computer have shaped navigation knowledge. Studies that add in the environment challenge those findings.
“Car back!” If you’ve ever been on a group bike ride, you’ve no doubt heard these two words shouted by a nearby rider. It’s also the name of Trek’s new bike radar. For safety-conscious cyclists, bike radars have been a…
We love all the feedback that Ars readers have submitted since we rolled out the Ars Technica 9.0 design last week—even the, err, deeply passionate remarks. It’s humbling that, after 26 years, so many people still care so much about…
A new study published in Nature Neuroscience has uncovered an important role for a specific type of brain cell, called oligodendrocytes, in the formation of amyloid plaques—a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. These cells, previously thought to be unrelated to plaque…
Two years ago, Tesla’s Optimus prototype was an underwhelming mess of exposed wires that could only operate in a carefully controlled stage presentation. Last night, Tesla’s “We, Robot” event featured much more advanced Optimus prototypes that could walk around without…
In June 1924, a British mountaineer named George Leigh Mallory and a young engineering student named Andrew “Sandy” Irvine set off for the summit of Mount Everest and disappeared—two more casualties of a peak that has claimed over 300 lives…
Saturn joins the sun’s other giant planets that have Trojans, space rocks that orbit along the same path.
If you’re going to eat a bear, make sure it’s not rare. You’d be forgiven for thinking that once the beast has been subdued, all danger has passed. But you might still be in for a scare. The animal’s flesh…
A new study suggests that endometriosis could be detected using a simple stool test, which could accelerate diagnosis rates.
The MIT-led project asked young users to talk to an AI-powered simulation of their 60-year-old selves through a chatbot interface, and the experience led to.
New research published in PLOS One suggests that the vocalizations babies make in their first year of life follow specific patterns, challenging the long-held belief that these early sounds are random. By analyzing all-day home recordings of infants, researchers found…
After a US court ruled earlier this week that Google must open its Play Store to allow for third-party app stores and alternative payment options, Microsoft is moving quickly to slide into this slightly ajar door. Sarah Bond, president of…
On Thursday, AMD announced its new MI325X AI accelerator chip, which is set to roll out to data center customers in the fourth quarter of this year. At an event hosted in San Francisco, the company claimed the new chip…
Genetic analysis of cavity crud from two famed man-eating lions suggests the method could re-create diets of predators that lived thousands of years ago.
The boot containing a sock bearing Irvine’s name and the remains of a foot.
Scientists extract DNA from hair embedded in the Tsavo lions’ jaws that reveals the species of prey they ate while they were alive.
New research published in Sex Roles suggests that increases in vegetarianism over the past 15 years are primarily limited to women, with little change observed among men. Previous research has consistently shown that women are more likely than men to…
Last night, after a wait of roughly an hour after the official start time, Elon Musk spoke to a crowd of Tesla fans and some journalists on a film studio backlot in California to give us an update on the…
This first successful treatment of tumors with radioactive ion beams could one day lead to treating human patients’ tumors with millimeter precision.
The Windows 11 2024 Update, also known as Windows 11 24H2, started rolling out last week. Your PC may have even installed it already! The continuous feature development of Windows 11 (and Microsoft’s phased update rollouts) can make it a…
In a recent study published in npj Mental Health Research, scientists sought to clarify the role of subjective experiences, such as dissociation and mystical states, in the therapeutic outcomes of treatments involving psychedelics like ketamine and psilocybin. They found that…
