Science and Technolgy blog
Blue Origin took another significant step toward the launch of its large New Glenn rocket on Tuesday night by rolling the first stage of the vehicle to a launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Although the company’s rocket factory in…
A new computer vision system inspired by the design of a feline eye could give future drones and other military robots the ability to track targets in low-visibility and dynamic environments.
Vespa orientalis fed an 80-percent-ethanol brew still did hornet tasks and had normal life spans. This trick may be an adaptation to gut-dwelling yeast.
A recent study published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications sheds light on why some people are more likely to change their beliefs after being presented with corrections to misinformation. Researchers found that people with higher fluid intelligence, a form…
There’s little doubt that some of the most important pillars of modern cryptography will tumble spectacularly once quantum computing, now in its infancy, matures sufficiently. Some experts say that could be in the next couple decades. Others say it could…
Eek! A horrible death could explain the horrified look on one Egyptian mummy’s face. Her remains were unearthed in the 1930s in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. They’d been found in a burial chamber from roughly 3,500 years ago.…
A new U.N. report has found the world will warm by twice the 1.5-degree-Celsius target adopted in the Paris Agreement by 2100 if countries fail to slash greenhouse gas emissions right now.
Experts explain how to shorten a flu infection.
Scientists have identified one of the largest carbon-based molecules in space yet. It could help us decode the origins of life as we know it.
Can a strong female character who is also highly sexualized inspire positive perceptions from players? Not necessarily, according to a new study in Communication Research. Researchers found that while strength in female video game characters might signal capability, it doesn’t…
African giant pouched rats can detect landmines and diseases. Now some have been trained to sense elephant ivory, pangolin scales and more.
African giant pouched rats can detect landmines and diseases. Now some have been trained to sense elephant ivory, pangolin scales and more.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a serious mental health condition that disrupts emotional stability, relationships, and a person’s sense of self. Individuals with BPD often experience intense emotional distress, characterized by rapid mood shifts, impulsive behavior, and difficulties in maintaining…
Many animals, including humans, have developed a taste for alcohol in some form, but excessive consumption often leads to adverse health effects. One exception is the Oriental wasp. According to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National…
Readers of those other sites may not care much about font size and column widths. “40-character line lengths? In 18-point Comic Sans? I love it!” they say. But not you, because you are an Ars reader. And Ars readers are…
The large language model-based coding assistant GitHub Copilot will switch from using exclusively OpenAI’s GPT models to a multi-model approach over the coming weeks, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke announced in a post on GitHub’s blog. First, Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet…
The James Webb Space Telescope may have found dozens of elusive brown dwarfs — strange objects larger than planets but smaller than stars — beyond the Milky Way for the first time ever.
Delta and CrowdStrike have locked legal horns, threatening to drag out the aftermath of the worst IT outage in history for months or possibly years. Each refuses to be blamed for Delta’s substantial losses following a global IT outage caused…
Recently, construction company ICON announced that it is close to completing the world’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood in Georgetown, Texas. This isn’t the only 3D-printed housing project. Hundreds of 3D-printed homes are under construction in the US and Europe, and more…
The rise of powerful generative AI models in the last few years has led to plenty of stories of corporations trying to use AI to replace human jobs. But a recent New York Times story highlights the other side of…
Archaeologists in Sweden were expecting to find an ancient settlement, but they were surprised to discover a Viking Age cemetery with boat-shaped burial outlines.
A first-ever biomechanics study of two First Nations weapons systems has identified the design features that make them so formidable.
A new study published in Psychological Science has found that racial minorities face challenges when building connections on social media, and these challenges persist across political affiliations. The researchers conducted a large-scale field experiment on Twitter (also known as X)…
A new imaging technique enabled scientists to film every step of ovulation as it unfolds in mouse cells.
Today, Polestar electric vehicles gained access to the Tesla Supercharger network. That means US Polestar drivers have access to 17,800 more DC fast chargers than they did yesterday—once they get a NACS adapter, which can also be ordered today from…
Did the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement measures reduce immigrant crime rates as promised? A study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests otherwise, revealing that immigrant arrests remained largely unaffected by stricter policies. By analyzing arrest data from California and…
Zettabytes—that’s 1021 bytes—of data are currently generated every year. All of those cat videos have to be stored somewhere, and DNA is a great storage medium; it has amazing data density and is stable over millennia. To date, people have…
It’s Halloween. You’ve just finished trick-or-treating and it’s time to assess the haul. You likely have a favorite, whether it’s chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, those gummy clusters with Nerds on them, or something else. For some people, including me,…
Apple’s week of Mac announcements continues today, and as expected, we’re getting a substantial new update to the Mac mini. Apple’s least-expensive Mac, the mini, is being updated with new M4 processors, plus a smaller design that looks like a…
As construction of a pipeline nears, an effort to preserve an Indigenous trail in Canada tests whether heritage management can keep up with advances in archaeology.
Complications that arise after surgery are more likely to be underrecognized and undertreated in women than in men, leading to higher death rates, new research suggests. Why?
Research published in the International Journal of Sexual Health shows that moral incongruence and frequency of pornography use jointly mediate the relationship between sexual satisfaction and psychological distress from pornography use. Research has shown mixed outcomes from pornography use, with…
Older adults are at higher risk of suffering health consequences during heat waves. Fans may not do enough to prevent that.
Motion capture requires special equipment and infrastructure that can cost upward of $100,000 — but scientists have created a smartphone app and AI algorithm to do the same job.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have recently uncovered insights into how specific brain pathways influence cocaine addiction. The study, published in Neuropharmacology, found that dopamine signaling from the ventral tegmental area (a brain region associated with reward) to the…
Above the cloud tops, thunderstorms throb with a complex, frenzied light show. But these bright flashes cannot be seen with the eye. They give off a type of invisible, high-energy light known as gamma rays. NASA’s ER-2 aircraft has now…
From Roman “fish scale” armor to Japanese samurai suits, these examples of battle armor were designed to protect and impress.
A recent study published in Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health suggests that individuals who had COVID-19 may experience lingering cognitive difficulties, especially in areas like working memory and planning. Researchers discovered that, even six to twelve months after infection,…
A 2014 photo shows a massive, iceberg-littered pool of vibrant blue meltwater sitting alone on top of a glacier in Alaska. Similar “melt ponds” are becoming increasingly common in the Arctic due to climate change and are further accelerating the…
This powerful Newtonian reflector telescope has hundreds of 5-star Amazon reviews and a previous Black Friday best price-beating discount.
For those who follow NASA’s human spaceflight program, a burning question for the last year-and-a-half has been what caused the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield to crack and chip away during atmospheric reentry on the unpiloted Artemis I test flight in…
The history of the Silk Road, a vast network of ancient and medieval trade routes connecting Beijing and Hangzhou with Constantinople and Cairo, has mostly been focused on its endpoints: China and the West. Less was known about the people…
The new city, dubbed Valeriana, was a dense urban settlement with temple pyramids and a ball court.
On Monday, Microsoft came out guns blazing, posting a blog accusing Google of “dishonestly” funding groups conducting allegedly biased studies to discredit Microsoft and mislead antitrust enforcers and the public. In the blog, Microsoft lawyer Rima Alaily alleged that an…
Apple will adapt the classic educational game The Oregon Trail into a big-budget movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR). The film is in early development, having just been pitched to Apple and approved. Will Speck and Josh Gordon (Blades…
Researchers have found that forensic “DNA mixture analysis” is less accurate for certain groups of people with lower genetic diversity, which could falsely link them to crime scenes.
For his most recent trip to the International Space Station, in lieu of bringing coffee or some other beverage in his “personal drink bag” allotment for the stay, NASA astronaut Don Pettit asked instead for a couple of bags of…
A new study in Computers in Human Behavior has found that the seemingly harmless act of “phubbing”—ignoring others to check one’s phone—can have surprising social consequences. Researchers discovered that being phubbed makes people feel uncertain about others’ intentions, causing them…
On Saturday, an Associated Press investigation revealed that OpenAI’s Whisper transcription tool creates fabricated text in medical and business settings despite warnings against such use. The AP interviewed more than 12 software engineers, developers, and researchers who found the model…
Today, Apple released iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia 15.1, tvOS 18.1, visionOS 2.1, and watchOS 11.1. The iPhone, iPad, and Mac updates are focused on bringing the first AI features the company has marketed as “Apple Intelligence” to users.…
