Science

Move Over, Graphene: Borophene Could Be the Strongest Material Ever

Graphene is the best-known two-dimensional material, with its atom-thick layers proving plenty of fascinating material properties. But now a team of scientists has developed a new material with a similar structure that they’re calling borophene. The new two-dimensional sheet, developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy, is made up from atoms of boron.…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

This Sandbox Isn’t For Kids, It’s For Spacesuit Research

People that get to do the same thing for a living as they did when they were a child are lucky. The ones that get to do it while wearing a space suit, too? They just make me jealous. The guys in this image are testing space suits. In a sandpit. Here’s a little more…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

NASA’s 3D-Printed Rocket Engine Spews Fire and 20,000 Pounds of Thrust

This NASA rocket is, bewilderingly, mainly built from 3D-printed parts. And yet pumped full of liquid hydrogen and oxygen it spews flame and generates an insane 20,000 pounds of thrust. NASA has been developing 3D-printed rocket engines for a while now. But in its latest test, it’s pieced together a rocket engine where 75 percent…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Watching Goats Get Airlifted Is the Best Way to End Your Day

Airlifting wild animals is a time-honored tradition in the state of Idaho, where beavers were parachuting around in wooden boxes long before I was born. Nowadays, it’s mountain goats, which are possibly even worse suited for air travel. Since six individual goats were released in the 1960s, the number of mountain goats in the state…

Biology Maddie Stone

Don’t Get Too Excited Yet About the LHC’s Hint of a New Particle

Earlier this week, physicists at the Large Hadron Collider announced they’d found tantalizing traces of a possible new fundamental particle — perhaps a heavier cousin of the Higgs boson, or the elusive graviton, a quantum carrier of the force of gravity. The evidence comes from two separate, but complementary, experiments, known as CMS and ATLAS.…

Physics & Chemistry Jennifer Ouellette

There’s a Mystery Lurking in Curiosity’s Latest Drillholes

In its slow ascent up Mount Sharp, NASA’s Curiosity Rover has stumbled upon a mystery fit for the robot’s name: silica. Lots and lots of silica. And the discovery may shape our understanding of the Red Planet’s geologic past, including whether life could have lived there. Silicon is one of the most abundant elements on…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

These Images Are Only a Few Millionths of an Meter Wide

A new printing method lets us make images smaller than we’ve ever before managed. What’s more, these images are in color. Invented by scientists at the Technical University of Denmark, the new technique relies on a surface covered with tiny metal plates only a few micrometers wide. A high-intensity laser hits the plates for a…

Physics & Chemistry Esther Inglis-Arkell

These Fish Went From Saltwater to Freshwater in Just Fifty Years

Threespine sticklebacks hatch in fresh water pools near streams. When they mature, they need to make their way back to the ocean to live. So if their way to the ocean is cut off, they’re screwed. Or are they? The video tells the story of the 1964 earthquake in Alaska, and the fish it left…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell

An Eruptive Star Proves Our Galaxy Is Magical Even Without the Force

You don’t need force magic to witness cosmic wonders—just a great telescope. Fortunately, the citizens of Earth have Hubble, which has been capturing the majesty of our celestial landscape for 25 years. Just in time for Star Wars week, you can now feast your eyes on Hubble’s latest astronomical portrait, which looks suspiciously like a…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Astronomers Have Predicted an Exploding Star’s Appearance For the First Time Ever

Stars explode on a fairly regular basis, but they’re virtually impossible to predict. Now, for the first time ever, astronomers have captured an image of supernova they knew was coming. Here’s how they did it. It may sound weird, but this is the third time that astronomers have observed this particular supernova. Owing to a…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

The James Webb Telescope Will Probe the Depths of Space Starting in October 2018

The European Space Agency has announced that the James Webb Space Telescope will finally be launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in October 2018. The new telescope, which is planned to search space for the first galaxies in the Universe, as well as finding new stars and planets, has already been a long time in…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

The LHC’s Seen an Intriguing Glimpse of What Could Be a New Particle

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider have seen the first traces of what they believe could be a new fundamental particle. At a meeting on Tuesday, two separate teams of physicists reported that they’d made observations at the LHC which appear to hint at a new kind of particle. Both the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS)…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Admire This Picturesque Launch for an Imperfect Mission

Ooooh, pretty! This is the Soyuz spacecraft shaking the bonds of gravity to carry astronauts to the International Space Station in the wee hours of this morning. After a brief docking hiccup, the trio joined the station crew to kick off Expedition 46. Soyuz TMA-19M launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Image credit: NASA /…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon

Why Expectant Mothers Shouldn’t Panic About Taking Antidepressants

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that women who take antidepressants during the mid-to-late stages of their pregnancy experience an 87% increased risk of having a child diagnosed with autism. Here’s what the study actually found and why there’s no immediate cause for alarm. Pregnant women who…

Health George Dvorsky

Here’s a Rare View of the Soyuz Launch From the Hellish Flame Trench

NASA photographer Joel Kowsky found quite an unusual place to set up one of his remote controlled cameras for this morning’s Soyuz TMA-19M rocket launch: the concrete flame trench, which is intended to vent the exhaust away. Before this, I’d never seen the very first moment of a Soyuz rocket ignition from this point of…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

Astronauts On the ISS Will Soon Enjoy Authentic British Tea Time

Mark Watney’s tea may have been nothing but spent rocket fuel, but on the ISS, astronauts are about to get a lesson in good ol’ fashioned English tea time. That’s thanks to British celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, who’s working hard to figure out how to bring several of his country’s staples into zero-gee. Earlier this…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Peer Through the Smothering Haze of Titan to Admire Its Massive Seas of Dunes

Oh Titan, you are a beautiful, intriguing moon! This composite image uses infrared light to look at the surface of Saturn’s moon during a recent flyby by the Cassini spacecraft. It’s a look at the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Titan in the late spring. What are we looking at? The dark, sideways-H-shaped area represents the parallel…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon

This Morning’s Soyuz Launch Made It Safely Into Orbit

Bang on schedule, Yuri Malenchenko, Tim Kopra, and Tim Peake took off on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this morning. They made it safely into orbit. Now en route to the International Space Station, the crew seems relaxed. Indeed, Tim Peake gave this rather enthusiastic thumbs up from the Soyuz capsule. Top…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Why Doesn’t Science Understand the Menopause?

There are a few things science doesn’t know about the menopause: what it’s for, how it works and how best to treat it. Approaching her second – yes, second – menopause, Rose George finds herself with more questions than answers. My physio, a young woman called Lucy, was simply making conversation. She wanted to distract…

Health Rose George - Mosaic

Watch LIVE as Astronauts Break Free of the Planet in Space Station Crew Change

It’s launch day for the next batch of astronauts to head to the International Space Station! Watch live as Yuri Malenchenko, Tim Kopra, and Tim Peake blast off on a Soyuz rocket out of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan en route to the International Space Station. Looking up the Soyuz rocket from the launch pad. Image…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon

Move Over, Graphene: Borophene Could Be the Strongest Material Ever

This Sandbox Isn’t For Kids, It’s For Spacesuit Research

NASA’s 3D-Printed Rocket Engine Spews Fire and 20,000 Pounds of Thrust

Watching Goats Get Airlifted Is the Best Way to End Your Day

Don’t Get Too Excited Yet About the LHC’s Hint of a New Particle

There’s a Mystery Lurking in Curiosity’s Latest Drillholes

These Images Are Only a Few Millionths of an Meter Wide

These Fish Went From Saltwater to Freshwater in Just Fifty Years

An Eruptive Star Proves Our Galaxy Is Magical Even Without the Force

Astronomers Have Predicted an Exploding Star’s Appearance For the First Time Ever

The James Webb Telescope Will Probe the Depths of Space Starting in October 2018

The LHC’s Seen an Intriguing Glimpse of What Could Be a New Particle

Admire This Picturesque Launch for an Imperfect Mission

Why Expectant Mothers Shouldn’t Panic About Taking Antidepressants

Here’s a Rare View of the Soyuz Launch From the Hellish Flame Trench

Astronauts On the ISS Will Soon Enjoy Authentic British Tea Time

Peer Through the Smothering Haze of Titan to Admire Its Massive Seas of Dunes

This Morning’s Soyuz Launch Made It Safely Into Orbit

Why Doesn’t Science Understand the Menopause?

Watch LIVE as Astronauts Break Free of the Planet in Space Station Crew Change

Marvel Just Put ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 in a Very Weird Place in the MCU Timeline

Trump Drops $1B to Kill 2 Wind Farms, Then Watches a Bigger One Go Online

Scientists Found a Weird New Way to Wash Fruits and Vegetables

White House’s Mysterious ‘Covfefe Moment’ Was Stupider Than We Imagined

Gym Bros Are Pushing Mystery Muscle Drugs Doctors Barely Recognize, Study Warns

The Head of HBO Explains What it Takes to Get a ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff Going

Elon Musk’s Lawyer Claims Jury’s 420 ‘Joke’ Proves He Didn’t Receive a Fair Trial

‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ Is a Genre Blending Delight

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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