Science and Technolgy blog
Let’s talk neutrinos Two dark matter experiments have spotted signs of neutrinos knocking into atomic nuclei in their detectors. The finding portends a future obstacle for the detectors, Emily Conover reported in “ ‘Fog’ invades dark matter experiments” (SN: 8/24/24,…
This little lizard can fire blood up to 5 feet from its face, has spiky horns and inflates itself to choke predators.
Sea angels — a type of swimming slug — that live in the open ocean are carnivorous little creatures that have evolved to feed on sea snails.
A recent study in The Leadership Quarterly revisits the claim that women governors during COVID-19 achieved better outcomes, including fewer deaths. The study shows that earlier findings are highly sensitive to specific assumptions, and once adjusted, gender has no significant…
People all over the world believe they’ve seen or heard a ghost, but there’s no scientific evidence for spirits, hauntings or the paranormal. So what’s behind these “encounters”?
A photograph of the arched stone bridge that William Rowan Hamilton scratched his equation into.
The US Space Force’s Space Systems Command announced Friday it has ordered eight launches from SpaceX in the first batch of dozens of missions the military will buy in a new phase of competition for lucrative national security launch contracts.…
It is a matter of settled law on the Judge John Hodgman podcast that people like what they like, and you can’t force someone to like something. It is called the Tom Waits Principle. I thought about that principle constantly…
Many voters are willing to accept misinformation from political leaders – even when they know it’s factually inaccurate. According to our research, voters often recognize when their parties’ claims are not based on objective evidence. Yet they still respond positively,…
Evolution has turned out bizarre and baffling creatures, such as walking fish. It only gets weirder from there. Some of these fish not only walk on the seafloor, but use their leg-like appendages to taste for signs of prey that…
US District Judge Mark Walker had a blunt message for the Florida surgeon general in an order halting the government official’s attempt to censor a political ad that opposes restrictions on abortion. “To keep it simple for the State of…
A recent meta-analysis exploring the relationship between GPS use and navigational abilities found that individuals who rely more heavily on GPS tend to have slightly worse environmental knowledge and a poorer sense of direction. However, the study found no significant…
Amazon workers are being reminded that they can find work elsewhere if they’re unhappy with Amazon’s return-to-office (RTO) mandate. In September, Amazon told staff that they’ll have to RTO five days a week starting in 2025. Amazon employees are currently…
Fresh water we can use for drinking or agriculture is only about 3 percent of the global water supply, and nearly 70 percent of that is trapped in glaciers and ice caps. So far, that was enough to keep us…
Yesterday, it was reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) over suspicions that the chipmaker may have been subverting 5G export controls to make “artificial intelligence or smartphone chips for the Chinese…
Severe flu infections can lead to a range of deadly complications, especially in people whose immune systems are compromised by age or disease.
The well-preserved remains of a baby boy who died 17,000 years ago in what is now Italy reveal that he had blue eyes, dark skin and curly hair.
Elon Musk’s X updated its terms of service to steer user lawsuits to US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the same court where a judge who bought Tesla stock is overseeing an X lawsuit against the nonprofit…
The podcast ‘Does It Fly?’ asks whether the technology of Star Trek, Doctor Who and other popular sci-fi shows could really work.
Mesmerizing footage from a new PBS Nature show captures the bioluminescent beauty of brilliant blue waves crashing along San Diego’s coast.
On Thursday, OpenAI released an early Windows version of its first-ever ChatGPT app for Windows, following a Mac version that launched in May. Currently, it’s only available to subscribers of Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu versions of ChatGPT, and users…
In a recent study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology, researchers explored how the emotions associated with memories of political events, specifically the 2020 U.S. presidential election, fade over time compared to non-political events. They found that unpleasant emotions tend to…
At this point, we’re used to AI-powered image tools that instantly pull off previously high-effort edits, like filling in the missing bits of a scene or erasing unwanted parts of a photo without affecting the background. But a new Adobe…
Today, federal safety investigators opened a new investigation aimed at Tesla’s electric vehicles. This is now the 14th investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and one of several currently open. This time, it’s the automaker’s highly controversial “full…
Political scientists disagree over how to interpret a slight dip in the health of U.S. democracy.
More than a thousand years ago, Heaven Lake flooded the surrounding area when the Changbaishan-Tianchi volcano, on the border between China and North Korea, erupted.
When faced with uncontrollable climate change, people often embrace conspiracy theories to regain a sense of control.
Anecdotal reports suggest that cryptocurrency mines can have harmful knock-on effects on people’s health, but the true scale of the problem is still unknown.
“Some of these features are surprisingly dark compared with their icy surroundings, earning their nickname of ‘cryptic terrain.’”
A new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family sheds light on the experiences of involuntary childlessness among people in the United States and Israel. Researchers found that nearly 70% of sexual minority adults in Israel and 50%…
Chronic pain has puzzled scientists for decades, but diagnoses and treatments have come a long way.
If you’re using a large battery for a specialized purpose—say grid-scale storage or an electric vehicle—then it’s possible to tweak the battery chemistry, provide a little bit of excess capacity, and carefully manage its charging and discharging so that it…
Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico is home to 119 known caves, including North America’s largest cave chamber, the Big Room.
Gossip phrased with concern provides female gossipers a social advantage while harming the reputations of their targets, according to research published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Research has documented that women engage in intrasexual competition through indirect tactics,…
A few months back, I put together a big fat guide on how to configure DNS and DHCP on your LAN the old-school way, with bind and dhcpd working together to seamlessly hand out addresses to hosts on your network…
Welcome to Edition 7.16 of the Rocket Report! Even several days later, it remains difficult to process the significance of what SpaceX achieved in South Texas last Sunday. The moment of seeing a rocket fall out of the sky and…
Elias Garcia-Pelegrin was looking for a quick magic trick that would capture the attention of people, not birds. He performed magic to help pay for university. And his “fast pass” fit the bill. But he soon realized that this trick…
The STAR1 robot can reach a top speed of 8 mph with the added help of a pair of sneakers.
From the discovery of gravity to the first mission to defend Earth from an asteroid, here are the most important physics experiments that changed the world.
A new study published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science sheds light on the motivations behind social media use among self-centered individuals. Contrary to the long-standing belief that such individuals use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok primarily to…
Viruses and bacteria have been around for billions of years, but which came first?
Climate change is putting monarch butterflies’ overwintering forests in Mexico at risk. Could planting new forests solve that problem?
The US Commerce Department announced Thursday it is easing restrictions on exports of space-related technology, answering a yearslong call from space companies to reform regulations governing international trade. This is the most significant update to space-related export regulations in a…
Recently, AI researcher Simon Willison wanted to add up his charges from using a cloud service, but the payment values and dates he needed were scattered among a dozen separate emails. Inputting them manually would have been tedious, so he…
It’s been a big year for Windows running on Arm chips, something that Microsoft and Arm chipmakers have been trying to get off the ground for well over a decade. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus are at the…
Since Redbox went bankrupt, many have wondered what will happen to those red kiosks and DVDs. Another question worth examining is: What will happen to all the data stored inside the Redboxes? Redbox parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul…
Dune: Prophecy will premiere on HBO and Max on November 17, 2024. New York Comic-Con kicked off today and among the highlights was an HBO panel devoted to the platform’s forthcoming new series, Dune: Prophecy—including the release of a two-and-a-half-minute…
Measles, whopping cough, polio, tetanus—devastating and sometimes deadly diseases await comebacks in the US as more and more parents are declining routine childhood vaccines that have proved safe and effective. The vaccination rates among kindergartners have fallen once again, dipping…
Between 1400 and 1775, a significant upsurge of witch trials swept across early-modern Europe, resulting in the execution of an estimated 40,000–60,000 accused witches. Historians and social scientists have long studied this period in hopes of learning more about how…
Don’t book your tickets for the launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission next year just yet. We have had reason to doubt the official September 2025 launch date for the mission, the first crewed flight into deep space in more…
