Science

A Northrop Grumman engineer checks that the sunshield for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope unfolds properly before it has to do so in space. (Fortunately, it does.) [NASA]

Reuters: Facebook Is Working on Its Own Healthcare Services

Facebook already knows the most intricate of details about your life—but now, according to Reuters, it has plans to monitor your health, too. The newswire reports that Facebook, not far behind Google andApple, has started working on its own take on digital healthcare. Three people “familiar with the matter” claims that Zuckerberg & Co. are…

One Weird Trick for Controlling the Spread of Invasive Plants

You might assume, by virtue of being called the “common reed,” that it’s a common element of Eastern United States marshes. And you’d be right. But the common reed is an invader from the Old World, and it must be stamped out. Kill it with fire, etc. Okay, the truth is that most ecologists have…

The Most Detailed Map of the Ocean Floor Ever Was Made From Space

The bottom of the ocean is dark, mysterious, and vast—nearly all of it unmapped. Today, however, scientists reveal the clearest map of the ocean floor ever. They didn’t explore the ocean floor. They didn’t even send instruments into the water. Instead, they used gravity measurements from two satellites orbiting in space. The map shows thousands…

Scientists Make the World’s Smallest “Microphone” From a Single Molecule

With a name like “microphone,” you’d expect something small—but perhaps not quite as small as this. Scientist have figured out how to use just one molecule to detect the vibrations from sound. Although we talk about “hearing” rather than “feeling” sound, sound is made up of the physical vibrations through some medium, usually air but…

Titan Has a Huge Toxic Cloud Swirling Over Its South Pole

If you’re thinking of heading off on a spacecation, can we recommend that you don’t visit Titan’s south pole. Because not only is it cold and stormy—but new research also reveals that it’s toxic, too. The international Cassini mission has discovered a huge swirl of cloud above the south pole of Saturn’s largest moon. The…

Stunning Depictions of Ancient Comets That Scared the Hell Out of Humans

Long-tailed stars and mysterious glowing fireballs from the heavens were among the biggest and most fearful mysteries for stargazing humans throughout history. With the development of astronomy science, comets, meteors, meteorites and shooting stars became familiar objects of our universe, and with the advent of photography, depicting them became more precise. But before that, talented…

Half of Our Planet’s Wildlife Is Gone. Here’s Why.

“In less than two human generations, population sizes of vertebrate species have dropped by half.” That’s the startling conclusion offered by the World Wildlife Foundation, as they release their biennial “Living Planet Report.” But what does that mean? Every couple years, the WWF assesses the status of 10,380 representative populations of 3,038 mammal, birds, reptiles,…

How Cramped Is It Inside a Space Shuttle?

Here’s a simple visual exercise you can do to get a better feel for the approximate living area inside one of our amazingly complex and now-retired space shuttles. You’ll need three adults. Have them stand in a row facing an audience. Now, have the adult in the middle turn sideways (they will be perpendicular to…

Why the Human Body Can’t Handle Heavy Acceleration

Our bodies are surprisingly resilient in many situations, but rapid acceleration is not one of them. While the human body can withstand any constant speed—be it 20 miles per hour or 20 billion miles per hour—we can only change that rate of travel relatively slowly. Speed up or slow down too quickly and it’s lights…

I Went to Brooklyn to Try on a Bonafide Spacesuit

If you want to experience what it’s like to wear a real-life spacesuit, you can go to one of two places: Russia or Brooklyn. (Or, you know, space.) We took the easy route and recently paid a visit to Final Frontier Design in the Brooklyn Navy yard to try on the outfit of an astronaut.…

Would You Swallow a Pill Covered in Needles Instead of Getting a Shot?

After the first shudder, it sounds even more terrifying: a pill coated with tiny needles that injects you from the inside of your intestine. But the scientists at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital who developed the capsule say that these swallowable microneedles could be a new (and painless!) way to deliver drugs. No more shots!…

Holy Shit This New Interstellar Trailer

This is the final trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. If you’re not already dying to see this movie, you will be now. In this trailer, you watch post-True Detective Matthew McConaughey choose between saving the world, and never seeing his family again. And he’s gotta go to space to do it. I am on the…

Garmin Forerunner 920XT: The Best Triathlon Watch Gets Even Better

Since early 2012, the Garmin Forerunner 910XT has been the best triathlon watch, period. Others have tried to step up, but to this date nothing has equalled its wealth of features. And now it seems Garmin has raised the bar for itself. The new Forerunner 920XT is everything the 910 was, and much more. First,…

Moon Seismometers From Apollo Are Still Helping Solve Physics Mysteries

When Apollo astronauts landed on the moon, they left flags and footprints, yes, but also dozens of scientific instruments. Among them was a network of seismometers originally meant to study moonquakes. Forty years later, data from these seismometers are still helping physicists understand how to detect elusive gravitational waves—a challenge even with our fancy modern…

NASA’s New Recoverable Telescope Will Float Above the Clouds by Balloon

Both terrestrial telescopes and their orbital counterparts have some pretty significant limitations—ground based observatories must deal with the obscuring effects of the Earth’s atmosphere and space telescopes are incredibly expensive to launch. But NASA’s newest telescope will deliver space-quality observations at a Earth-bound ‘scope price. The Balloon Observation Platform for Planetary Science (BOPPS) is, essentially,…

Watch A Hyena Climb Inside a Buffalo Carcass And Play Peek-a-Boo

When hyenas and lions get into a shouting match over a buffalo carcass, it’s a loud, raucous scene. One hyena apparently had enough of the shouting so it decided to climb inside of the warm, wet, meaty carcass, where the buffalo’s tasty muscles no doubt provided an acoustic barrier. The main thing we learn from…

Apple’s HealthKit Now Sends Medical Data Right to Your Health Record

iHealth was the first company to sell a medical device through Apple, so it’s only natural it’s also the first to fully integrate its products with Apple’s HealthKit. That means all the data iHealth’s connected monitors and trackers collect not only gets sent straight to the app, it’s also automagically logged in your electronic health…

These 14 Handpicked HealthKit Apps Have Their Own iTunes Section

Health, powered by Apple’s HealthKit API, was one of the many lauded features of iOS 8. It’s Apple’s attempt to corral all your health data into one place and also empower disparate health apps with new features. Now, the platform is in full swing, complete with a new iTunes storefront. Right now, Apple’s curated content…

The 9 Deadliest Minerals We’ve Ever Mined

Precious minerals make the modern world go ’round—they’re used in everything from circuit boards to tableware. They’re also some of the most toxic materials known to science, and excavating them has proved so dangerous over the years, some have been phased out of industrial production altogether. Here are the nine most toxic minerals we’ve ever…