Science

Smartphone Cameras Could Help Diagnose Ear Infections Right at Home

Ear infections, the number one reason parents take kids to the doctor, are an exceedingly common and exceedingly annoying fact of life. But a new smartphone app and accessory could help ease the irritation (of going to to the doctor’s on a false alarm) by promising to diagnose ear infections right from home. CellScope’s Oto…

A Scientific Defense of Santa’s Weight

“Santa’s behaviour and public image are at odds with contemporary accepted public health messages,” argues a British Medical Journal editorial written by Dr. Scrooge and colleagues. Given Santa’s tremendous popularity, particularly among children, the authors of the editorial argue the public should become aware of some of the less-than-ideal lifestyle practices advocated by jolly St.…

Rosetta Update: What It Found, What’s Next

Rosetta’s lander is hibernating on a comet now, waiting for a brighter sun. The mission’s scientists, though, have been hard at work, scrutinizing reams of data and predicting how the lander could wake up. Today, Rosetta’s scientists dropped some new photos and intriguing hints of what’s to come at the American Geophysical Union meeting, In…

SpaceX Plans to Land a Rocket on This Barge

SpaceX is working hard to make its rockets land-able and, by extension, reusable. Now, it plans to try and land its Falcon 9 craft on this barge. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-the-secret-of-spacexs-falcon-9-reusable-rocket-1593483305 The company has landed on water from altitude before and firm ground in tests. But landing from altitude on a floating platform—what won’t be tethered to anything—presents…

The Staggering Mass of the Craft We’ve Sent Into Space, Visualized

Ever tried to picture how much one rocket weighs compared to another, or how heavy some of the craft orbiting our planet really are? Well this chart explains all. Put together by XKCD’s Randall Munroe, the chart visualizes the changing mass of spacecraft over time, from the first Sputnik launches to the future SLS Block…

Penguin Robots and 9 Other Awesome Animal Science Stories from 2014

From dogs using magnetic fields to pee to tiny cameras hidden inside of penguin robots, science has its share of cute animals. The folks at Nature have put together their picks for the top 10 cute animal stories in science from the past year. We noticed at least one glaring omission… what else is missing?…

10 Gifts to Send a Space Fan Over the Moon

You have a space enthusiast in your family? Lucky you! There are tons of remarkable space gifts and collectible memorabilia out there you can surprise him or her with. The following 10 gift ideas may help you out when you need to choose the perfect present for your space fanboy/girl. Space Launch System (SLS) 1/144…

NASA Spent $349 Million on a Test Tower It May Never Use

Six months ago, NASA finished building a brand new $349 million vacuum test chamber—but it was no occasion for celebration. The space program it was built for was canceled years ago. This huge structure in Mississippi is now more readily seen as a massive symbol of pork. In the Washington Post today, David A. Fahrenthold…

This “GoreSat” Weather Satellite Will Keep an Eye on Solar Winds

When the solar winds blow strong, it plays havoc with electronics here on Earth. We can protect our sensitive electronic infrastructure—power grids, navigation and communication satellites, and such—but only with sufficient warning. And that’s where the new DSCOVR satellite comes in. When the sun ejects a solar flare into space, the high energy particles that…

The Flu Shot Isn’t a Good Match This Year. Is It Ever?

The CDC announced recently that this year’s flu vaccine is missing a key strain, one that accounts for 48% of what’s circulating. That strain, a “drifted” version of H3N2, was discovered in March 2014, but the vaccine strains for the Northern hemisphere, including the US, had been decided a month earlier. (The Southern hemisphere vaccine…

The Physics of Why You Get Confused When You Reverse a Car

Driving forwards is easy. Reversing is… weirdly much trickier. This video from Minute Physics explains why you shouldn’t feel dumb about it—because it’s all down to physics working against you. Drive forwards and you turn the wheels right there with you at the front, changing the direction you travel in with the rear wheels simply…

Could Cinderella’s Glass Slippers Physically Exist Without Shattering?

It is delightful to have my masters degree in Mechanical Engineering put to use in resolving age old engineering problems. One can never know the exact shape or size of the slippers that Cinderella wore, but one can hazard a guess that they must have looked something like: Now, let’s talk about failure. No, not…

You Can Discover New Planets with a DSLR 

Wouldn’t it be cool to discover a planet circling a lonely star light years away from Earth? Maybe you’d even get to name it. Actually exploring deep space is hard, but as IEEE Spectrum’s David Schneider points out, detecting exoplanets is pretty simple, simple enough that a basic DSLR and a telephoto lens can do…

Welcome to the Era of Virtual Reality Workout Programs

What’s better than doing your workout routine in your crappy, dank apartment? Oh, I dunno, how about doing your workout routine in a villa on the beach? Or on top of a beautiful hillside? Or what the hell why not, in the middle of a black hole? Well, that day is coming, and Runastic of…

This Is What Astronauts Actually See on Reentry

Ever wondered what astronauts see when they return from the International Space Station at the end of their mission, tucked tightly into a Soyuz space capsule? Well, it’s this. In this video, astronaut Mike Hopkins (Expedition 37/38 )—who returned to Earth back in March—shows you. The real fireworks start at 12:40. Oh and just as…

A Powder Made From Bacteria Waste Could Curb Overeating 

The bacteria living in our guts play in an active role is feeding us, whether it’s breaking down nutrients our own stomachs can’t handle, or synthesizing vitamins. Here’s one more intriguing piece of the puzzle: a molecule excreted by the bacteria digesting fiber makes usfeel more full. If you’ve ever perused a diet book, you’ve…

This false-color infrared image of southern Borneo reveals areas of vegetation in red, manmade constructions in white and swamps in blue. Looks closely, and you’ll notice the land divided into neat plots in different shades of red—revealing where different crops are grown across the region. [ESA]

NASA’s ‘All About That Space’ Parody Is Pretty Perfect

Most interns get coffee and do endless photocopying. At NASA, however, the interns make parody videos of pop songs. Personally, I can’t really imagine a better use of tax dollars. The video was made by the Pathway Interns at the Johnson Space Center, notionally to help publicize Orion’s first flight. But let’s be honest, this…

NASA Has Some Beautiful New Maps Of Saturn’s Moons

Back in the 1980s, NASA’s Voyager spacecraft made a brief flyby of Saturn’s moons, providing us with a tantalising glimpse of new worlds. Now, the Cassini mission has finished the job, providing us with high-resolution, color maps of Saturn’s six icy moons. The images aren’t just photos — they actually incorporate data from the ultraviolet…

NASA Orion and Delta IV heavy tribute in brick

This build by Wesley of Orion and the Delta IV heavy is just wonderful. Will we go to an asteroid, back to the Moon or to Mars? The future of Orion is unknown, but if the success of this launch is any indication, we can build it, we can do it. I hope to see…