Ryan F. Mandelbaum, Author at Gizmodo

Scientists Model Rare Ball Lightning With Help From Tangled ‘Skyrmion’ Quasiparticle

There’s an eerie and incredibly rare phenomenon witnessed by few that has long puzzled scientists: ball lightning. These flashes, which typically appear in the evenings during thunderstorms and look like small, bright spheres, have gone mostly unexplained aside from some theories. But now, using some of the most mind-bending physics around, physicists think that they’ve…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Mar 2 '18

New Research Tells a Complex Story Behind Gender-Affirming Surgery in the US

There are huge gaps in scientists’ knowledge about gender-affirming surgery in the United States. How common is it? Who gets it, and whose insurance covers it? New research reveals that more patients than ever before are getting gender-affirming surgeries, and those operations are largely uncovered by insurance plans. Where in the US these surgeries take…

Health Ryan F. Mandelbaum Mar 2 '18

Huge Advancement in MRI Tech Captures Teeny Molecules With Incredible Resolution

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines in hospitals are great at creating pictures of the human body. For decades, scientists have hoped that the same technology could be used to examine much smaller things, like individual molecules. Now, a team from Canada and the United States has revealed a new, high-resolution MRI method with resolutions…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Mar 1 '18

What’s With All The Dental Floss in IBM’s Quantum Computers?

On a large plot of land beneath circling turkey vultures an hour north of New York City sits a crescent-shaped building. Inside of it are some of the world’s most cutting-edge quantum computers, stored in dilution refrigerators about the right size to hold an adult human. And beside one of those setups, atop a large…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 28 '18

National Geographic Just Sent Me a Crystal Healing Water Bottle [Updated]

Hi, National Geographic, it’s me, Ryan. I got your package today and I guess I’m wondering—why did you send me a pseudoscientific crystal healing water bottle with your name on it? National Geographic, usually known for photos of animals and the adventures of rich people visiting other countries, is premiering their Will Smith-narrated, Darren Aronofsky-produced…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 28 '18

Landmark Cosmic Observation Provides Tantalizing Hints of Dark Matter

Today, scientists announced that they’d seen evidence of a long-sought signal from the first stars. This slight change to some ambient radio waves could herald the first step in a new kind of astronomy. But maybe, just maybe, it’s also evidence of dark matter interacting with regular matter in the ancient universe. The discovery consisted…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 28 '18

Scientists Discover Long-Sought Evidence of First Stars Forming

When you sweep across the FM radio band, you don’t always hear music—mostly, you hear static. Lots of this ambient noise is actually garbled signals from throughout the Milky Way. If you had perhaps the most sensitive FM receiver on Earth, you might pick up the tiniest dip in volume: a signal that comes not…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 28 '18

Meet the Woman Who Guides NASA’s Juno Probe Through Jupiter’s Killer Radiation

On the night of July 4th, 2016, scientists successfully maneuvered a basketball court-sized probe into the orbit of the largest planet in the solar system. Some at the Florida launch cheered, some breathed a sigh of relief. But for NASA’s Heidi Becker, this could have been the mission’s end. “Yes, we were in orbit,” she told…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 28 '18

Giant Flare Around Proxima Centauri May Kill Hope for Planetary System

Scientists have discovered a flare off of the sun’s closest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri. Many are reporting that it could spell trouble for any hope for life on its exoplanet, Proxima b—but it might also kill off a presumed set of other planets around the star. Last fall, lots of folks, including me, reported on…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 27 '18

Strange Pole-Shifting Physics Conjures a Truly Alien World

Perhaps there’s a life-supporting, Earth-like planet orbiting close to a red dwarf star many light years away. Perhaps this planet orbits so close to the star that only one half of it ever faces the light. Maybe some sentient species evolved during that infinite day, on some massive supercontinent. And maybe one day, the sun…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 27 '18

Scientists Create Mind-Bending Rydberg Polarons, Atoms Full of Atoms

Some of the most exciting, mind-blowing physics happens when things get really, really cold—such as atoms clumping beneath the shell of a far-out electron. Imagine a bunch of people huddled under an awning, except the people are atoms, and the awning is… also an atom. This new assemblage, recently discovered by an international team of…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 27 '18

Incredibly Detailed Image of Our Galaxy’s Center Shows How Things Move Around a Black Hole

There’s a black hole called Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy. It has 4 million times the mass of the sun, but is only around the size of Mercury’s orbit. It’s 26,000 light years away, but let’s say some unfortunate mishap brought you within a light year or two of that behemoth. What…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 26 '18

Rare Yellow Cardinal Spotted in Alabama

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of seeing a rare bird. But not all birds are rare because of their species. Some are common birds that are just… really weird looking. Take this yellow cardinal that has drawn birdwatchers and scientists to Alabama. Reports AL.com: Auburn University biology professor Geoffrey Hill said the cardinal in…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 23 '18

In a ‘Key Milestone,’ Scientists Get a Clear Look at Huntington’s Disease Protein

Scientists announced that they have observed the structure of huntingtin, a large and essential protein in many animals’ bodies which, when produced by a mutated gene, causes Huntington’s disease in humans. Huntington’s disease is a heartbreaking disorder that causes degrading brain cells, leading to difficulties controlling movement and behavior, and eventually death. There’s no known…

Health Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 23 '18

First Evidence that Microplastics Travel Up the Food Chain and Into Seal Bellies

You’re familiar with the food chain: little fish eats plankton, bigger fish eats the little fish, then a seal eats the bigger fish, thus consuming the energy from all three smaller animals. But what if the little fish had also eaten an indigestible piece of plastic? New evidence demonstrates the plastic could make it all…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 23 '18

Why Scientists Taught Monkeys to Associate Brand Logos With Genitals

Humans assign value to brands. Brands represent wealth, strength, and yes, sex. We are our brands. And for some rhesus macaques in a lab, one brand, Adidas, represents monkey genitalia. You may have seen the wacky image above circulating online. It’s from a fairly incremental set of scientific results that don’t say much about us…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 22 '18

Just Look at This Freakin’ CGI Fur

When you look at fur, the light has taken an extended journey before hitting your eye, bouncing around lots of fur fibers and their microscopic structures. You can imagine that it’s quite difficult for filmmakers to render these structures in CGI. Researchers at the Universities of California in San Diego and Berkeley have devised an…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 22 '18

Martian Sand Is Swallowing the Phoenix Lander and Nothing Beside Remains

The Phoenix Lander detected water on Mars during its three-month mission in 2008, and now it is being swallowed by the planet’s dust. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped the above two images, one in 2008 and the other in December of 2017. If Percy Bysshe Shelley…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 22 '18

Model Brains-on-a-Chip Reveal the Physics of Brain Folding

Brains fold in on themselves as they grow. That’s just what they do. How and why they do it is a different story, and studying it requires some pretty interesting science. Science like growing simple mini-brains on a chip under a microscope. Israeli scientists wanted to study brain folding from a physics perspective. Growing brain…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 22 '18

Amateur Astronomer Spots Supernova Right as It Begins

Amateur astronomer Victor Buso was testing his camera-telescope setup in Argentina back in September 2016, pointing his Newtonian telescope at a spiral galaxy called NGC613. He collected light from the galaxy for the next hour and a half, taking short exposures to keep out the Santa Fe city lights. When he looked at his images,…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Feb 21 '18

Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Scientists Model Rare Ball Lightning With Help From Tangled ‘Skyrmion’ Quasiparticle

New Research Tells a Complex Story Behind Gender-Affirming Surgery in the US

Huge Advancement in MRI Tech Captures Teeny Molecules With Incredible Resolution

What’s With All The Dental Floss in IBM’s Quantum Computers?

National Geographic Just Sent Me a Crystal Healing Water Bottle [Updated]

Landmark Cosmic Observation Provides Tantalizing Hints of Dark Matter

Scientists Discover Long-Sought Evidence of First Stars Forming

Meet the Woman Who Guides NASA’s Juno Probe Through Jupiter’s Killer Radiation

Giant Flare Around Proxima Centauri May Kill Hope for Planetary System

Strange Pole-Shifting Physics Conjures a Truly Alien World

Scientists Create Mind-Bending Rydberg Polarons, Atoms Full of Atoms

Incredibly Detailed Image of Our Galaxy’s Center Shows How Things Move Around a Black Hole

Rare Yellow Cardinal Spotted in Alabama

In a ‘Key Milestone,’ Scientists Get a Clear Look at Huntington’s Disease Protein

First Evidence that Microplastics Travel Up the Food Chain and Into Seal Bellies

Why Scientists Taught Monkeys to Associate Brand Logos With Genitals

Just Look at This Freakin’ CGI Fur

Martian Sand Is Swallowing the Phoenix Lander and Nothing Beside Remains

Model Brains-on-a-Chip Reveal the Physics of Brain Folding

Amateur Astronomer Spots Supernova Right as It Begins

The First Look at ‘Alien: Isolation 2’ Calls You Back for More

Scare Your Neighbors With This Incredible Life-Size ‘Alien’ Halloween Decoration (Exclusive)

A Dangerous Bacteria Is Moving Up the East Coast. Here’s What That Means for You

Ecovacs Deebot X12 OmniCyclone Robot Vacuum and Mop Drops $250 Off, All-in-One Cleaning Solution at Its Lowest Price Yet

Soundcore Space 2 Review: A Shockingly Stellar Value for Budget ANC Wireless Headphones

Largest 3D Map of the Universe Is Adding Serious Fuel to the Cosmology Crisis

SpaceX Becoming a Publicly Traded Company May Rob Elon Musk of a Cool Source of Easy Cash

Xbox’s Big Turnaround Hedges Everything on Gamers’ Nostalgia

The First Trailer for ‘Strange New Worlds’ Season 4 Teases a Weird and Scary Galaxy

The ‘Invincible’ Game’s Story Brings Action and New Voices

Anker’s UV Printer Can Handle Almost Anything… If You Know What You’re Doing

HP’s EliteBoard Keyboard-Computer Proves We Can Stick a PC in Anything

Sleep-Tracking Earbuds Didn’t Fix Me, but They Did Open My Eyes

I’ve Tested a Lot of Bad Smart Glasses and These Are the Worst Yet

Roborock’s Qrevo Curv 2 Flow Is the Ultimate Robot Mop—If You Don’t Have Corners or Walls

Alienware’s $350 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor Nixes Everything for a Pretty Screen

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real