Science

You Can Train Your Body Into Thinking It’s Had Medicine

Can we harness the mind to reduce side-effects and slash drug costs? Marette Flies was 11 when her immune system turned against her. A cheerful student from Minneapolis, Minnesota, she had curly brown hair and a pale, moon-shaped face, and she loved playing trumpet in her high-school band. But in 1983, she was diagnosed with…

Health Jo Marchant - Mosaic

Why Finding Gravitational Waves Would Be Such a Big Deal

This article was originally published on 1/11/2016. This morning, the Internet erupted with rumors that physicists have finally observed gravitational waves; ripples in the fabric of spacetime predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago. While it isn’t the first time we’ve heard excited whispers about the elusive phenomena, the gossip feels more promising in light…

Physics & Chemistry Maddie Stone

Scientists Can Make Aerogel From Waste Paper

Aerogel is usually the preserve of expensive laboratory experiments—but what if you could make it from trash? Now, a team of researchers has developed a technique to turn scrap paper into an incredibly light, highly insulating super material. Most aerogels in the past have been made from silica, though versions made from materials like graphene…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

The Tron-Like Machine Visualizes Atoms on the International Space Station

This impressive-looking piece of equipment lives up to its appearance. The Plasma Kristall-4, to give the device its full name, recreates how atoms interact so we can understand the intricacies of basic physics and chemistry in space. The machine, a joint venture between the European Space Agency and Roscosmos, creates a stew of microparticles—a surrogate…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Michigan Will Use Biopesticides to Wipe Out Lampreys En Masse

Lampreys are tough, hungry, and invasive. Michigan and Canada have been fighting them for over half a century. Now, with the aide of pheromones, they may have found a new way to eradicate the lot of them. Since the 1950s, some companies have been doing good business in “lampricide.” This specially-targeted poison is meant to…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell

Birds Deliberately Spread Wildfires Because Birds Are Dicks

Crazy news from the outback, folks. Certain birds of prey are picking up burning sticks from brush fires and dropping them in dry grass. Why? Because then all the little critters will run away from the fire and out into the open, where the birds can snatch them up. Birds are dicks! But even dicks…

Biology Adam Clark Estes

Researchers Just Discovered Hundreds of Galaxies Hidden Behind the Milky Way

Astronomers just uncovered hundreds of hidden galaxies a mere 250 million light years away from Earth—well within our own galactic neighborhood. But how did they stay unknown for so long? The fault isn’t with them, it’s with our own Milky Way. The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research just completed a survey, published today in…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra

Bloodthirsty Ticks Have a Seriously Weird Genome

Ticks—those unbreakable, blood-lusting arthropods that haunt your summer camp memories—have some fascinating genetic secrets. The tick genome tells a tale of weaponized spit, expandable armor, and how to drink 100 times one’s body weight in blood. Strangest of all, it’s utterly enormous. “We knew the tick genome was going to be big going in, but…

Health Maddie Stone

Chinese Fusion Test Hits 90 Million Degrees for 102 Seconds

Tests at a fusion reactor in China have hit a major milestone. The experiments have created plasma with a temperature of 90 million degrees Fahrenheit —hotter than the core of our Sun—and sustained the state for over a minute and a half. The experiments were carried out in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak—known as EAST.…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Watch Stephen Hawking’s BBC Lectures on Black Holes with Chalkboard Illustrations

Now you can watch as well as listen as world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking expounds upon his latest ideas about the knotty black hole information paradox, playfully illustrated by chalkboard artist Andrew Park. Hawking recently joined a long line of illustrious figures who have given the annual BBC Reith Lectures, founded in 1948, with the very…

Physics & Chemistry Jennifer Ouellette

This Snowy Soyuz Launch Looks Like a Space-Themed Christmas Card

On Sunday, a Soyuz-2.1b rocket was successfully launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia’s northern space port, carrying a 3,119-pound Glonass navigation satellite into orbit. And boy was it snowy. As the photo shows, this nighttime launch was quite spectacular thanks to the location, close to the Arctic Circle. The shimmering snow, swirling smoke and illumination…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

Rumor Mill Heats Up Again for Discovery of Gravitational Waves [UPDATED]

Hey, remember when we told you about those rumors that physicists may have finally found gravitational waves? It’s been pretty quiet since then, but yesterday fresh rumors surfaced that yes, the discovery is real. And we could have an official announcement by February 11. UPDATE 2/8/16: The LIGO collaboration announced this morning that a press…

Physics & Chemistry Jennifer Ouellette

SpaceX Is Gearing Up To Build Lots and Lots of New Rockets

It’s been a few really good months for SpaceX, and now, the commercial spaceflight company is kicking rocket production into high gear in anticipation of a packed launch schedule. Speaking on Thursday at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Commercial Space Transportation Conference, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell explained that the company was transitioning from testing and development…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Scientists Explain the Physics of the Perfect Pancakes

Have you ever wondered why your pancakes sometimes have ugly craters, or a weird ring around their edges? A new analysis of pancake recipes could help you exploit physics to make the perfect pancake — and possibly one day save your sight. In the journal Mathematics TODAY, a group of researchers from University College London…

Physics & Chemistry Esther Inglis-Arkell

New Zika Guidelines Advise Pregnant Women to Avoid Sex

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking pregnant women to abstain from sex if their partner has recently visited an area where Zika is currently active. The CDC’s updated guidelines also offers advice for men and their nonpregnant partners. Sexual transmission of Zika is possible, and because the mosquito-borne disease has been…

Health George Dvorsky

An Asteroid Will Pass Earth So Closely Next Month That We Could See It in the Sky

Let’s be very clear here: There is simply no possibility that Asteroid 2013 TX68 will get close enough to hit Earth when it flies by on March 5th. What it may do, though, is come close enough to be visible. What would it look like? That mostly depends on the trajectory the asteroid takes, which…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra

Brazilian Doctors Find Active Zika Virus In Urine and Saliva

Brazilian health officials have discovered active Zika virus in urine and saliva samples, the Associated Press reports. While it isn’t clear at this time whether Zika is communicable through these bodily fluids, the prospect raises the ominous specter of the Zika epidemic spreading even more rapidly. Zika virus is typically transmitted through mosquito bites, but…

Health Maddie Stone

Scientists Made the Perfect Skipping Stone and Skipped It Across Their Lab

Scientists at Utah State University have figured out how to make the perfect skipping stones. The secret was making sure they were made out of a material that had much more give than stone. Inspired by a toy called the Water Bouncing Ball, the USU team, led by the Splash Lab’s Tadd Truscott, collaborated with…

Physics & Chemistry Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Mystery of Pluto’s Moving Hills Has Finally Been Solved

Something strange has been happening on the surface of Pluto. There’s a series of hills, each about a couple miles across, and they appear to be moving. NASA has an intriguing new explanation for the phenomenon: Those aren’t just hills that we’re seeing—they’re also icebergs. It’s certainly a tidy explanation, except for one issue. That…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra

These Are the First Photos Taken From the Surface of the Moon in 37 Years

In 2013, China became the third country to land a vehicle on the moon. Now, a trove of photos from Chang’e-3’s historic expedition—35 Gigabytes in all—are easily searchable on the web. These are our first fresh images taken from the surface of Earth’s nearest neighbor in forty years. The data from Chang’e-3’s moon landing expedition…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

You Can Train Your Body Into Thinking It’s Had Medicine

Why Finding Gravitational Waves Would Be Such a Big Deal

Scientists Can Make Aerogel From Waste Paper

The Tron-Like Machine Visualizes Atoms on the International Space Station

Michigan Will Use Biopesticides to Wipe Out Lampreys En Masse

Birds Deliberately Spread Wildfires Because Birds Are Dicks

Researchers Just Discovered Hundreds of Galaxies Hidden Behind the Milky Way

Bloodthirsty Ticks Have a Seriously Weird Genome

Chinese Fusion Test Hits 90 Million Degrees for 102 Seconds

Watch Stephen Hawking’s BBC Lectures on Black Holes with Chalkboard Illustrations

This Snowy Soyuz Launch Looks Like a Space-Themed Christmas Card

Rumor Mill Heats Up Again for Discovery of Gravitational Waves [UPDATED]

SpaceX Is Gearing Up To Build Lots and Lots of New Rockets

Scientists Explain the Physics of the Perfect Pancakes

New Zika Guidelines Advise Pregnant Women to Avoid Sex

An Asteroid Will Pass Earth So Closely Next Month That We Could See It in the Sky

Brazilian Doctors Find Active Zika Virus In Urine and Saliva

Scientists Made the Perfect Skipping Stone and Skipped It Across Their Lab

The Mystery of Pluto’s Moving Hills Has Finally Been Solved

These Are the First Photos Taken From the Surface of the Moon in 37 Years

Anker’s 100W Power Bank Hits Its Lowest Price of the Year on Amazon, Packing 25,000mAh and 3 Ports

Beats Solo 4 at 40% Off Is Now Apple’s Lowest-Cost Headphone Pick During Amazon’s Spring Sale

Now the Oscars Aren’t Just Moving to YouTube, They’re Moving Out of Hollywood

Fitbit Versa 4 Drops to a Record Low as Google Makes Another Push into Fitness Smartwatches Following the Pixel Watch

JBL Boombox 4 Speaker Didn’t Stay at Full Price for Long as Amazon’s Spring Sale Pushes It Close to Used Pricing

Final Call: Get NordVPN at $266 Off + Amazon Gift Card (Few Days Left)

C-3PO’s Head From ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Sold for a Cool Million

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Delivers Fast Speeds, Low Monthly Prices and Cash Back

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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