Science

Scientists Have Recorded the Sound of a Single Atom

What’s the sound of one atom moving? That might sound a bit like a silly philosophical question, but actually it’s a scientific puzzle that’s now been solved. If you’re wondering why the headline isn’t a more click bait-like “Listen to the Sound a Single Atom Makes,” it’s because you won’t be able to hear it.…

Physicists Are Making Solid Light

A team of researchers from Princeton University has started doing some very strange things with light. Instead of letting it zip by at incredibly high speed, they’re stopping it dead: freezing it into crystal. Crucially, they’re not shining light through crystal; rather, they making light into crystal. It’s a process that involves fixing the particles…

This majestic mess of curves and swirls isn’t modern art, but Lake Gairdner National Park in Australia. Hot and dry in the summer but a flooded salt lake in the wet, it’s perhaps most majestic when seen from this angle. [ESA]

Virgin Galactic Has Delayed Its First Flight

Things don’t always run smoothly for Virgin Galactic, though it is increasingly making progress. Now,those eager to make it into space on a plane may have more of a wait than they’d like though—because the company has had to push back its maiden voyage. While it was hoped that the first flight out of its…

Before Whale Falls, There Were Ichthyosaur Falls

When a whale dies out in the open ocean, its body slowly drifts to the seafloor, where it breathes life into a temporary ecosystem. But whales weren’t the first ones to live on after death; Jurassic giants did too. When a whale’s lifeless body finally rests on the ocean’s floor, tiny deep sea creatures turn…

The Squirrels Are Watching You

Squirrels are among the most recognizable, easy to find kinds of urban wildlife. And, as it turns out, they’re watching us. In a non-parody blog post that Scicurious wrote in advance of the video above (which is clearly a parody), she explains that squirrels pay attention to humans – in particular, they pay attention to…

Low Gravity Makes Astronauts Fall Over

In the good old days of moonwalks, NASA astronauts fell over quite a lot. But they weren’t being clumsy or struggling with their suits: despite what you might think, low gravity actually makes it harder for astronauts to say upright. New research from York University in Toronto, Canada, reveals that the low gravity on the…

Induced Stem Cells Will Be Tested on Humans for the First Time

Back in 2006, when controversy over embryonic stem cell funding was still raging, a piece of research came along that would make the debate essentially obsolete: normal adult cells can actually be reprogrammed into stem cells. No embryos necessary. The technique went on to win its inventor the Nobel Prize. And now, after many years…

Watch A Pod of Orcas Stalk, Attack, and Feast on A Tiger Shark

They don’t call them killer whales for nothing. In this gorgeous footage from filmmaker Edwar Herreño, a pod of six orcas make a meal out of a tiger shark in the waters off Costa Rica. Herreño isn’t just a photographer and filmmaker, he’s also a marine biologist. His work has appeared on CNN, Animal Planet,…

Here’s the Rosetta Spacecraft Lining Up Its Asteroid Landing Shot

After a decade of interplanetary travel and a harrowing orbital entry, the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft is finally cruising within 50 kilometers of its target, the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko asteroid. To commemorate the momentous event, the Rosetta snapped this selfie with its target in the background. Up next: landing on the rapidly spinning space rock. The Rosetta program…

The Science of Dog Training: Is It Okay To Use A Shock Collar?

No matter what you call them – shock collars, e-collars, or the more scientific-sounding “collar mounted electronic training aids” – are designed with the most basic form of learning in mind, operant conditioning. How Do Shock Collars Work? From a psychological perspective, the idea is remarkably simple. An animal has a behavior you’d like to…

Here’s Some Great 4K Space Porn to Test Your Expensive Display

Like space timelapses? Spend a lot of money on monitors and TVs? Then today is your lucky day, because this time-lapse, shot by astronaut Alexander Gerst, will let you enjoy both at once. (It also looks perfectly lovely on a normal display, too.) All the images in this video we captured by the European Space…

Ancient Egyptian Art Contains The Records of Past Extinctions

Six thousand years ago, the Egyptian wilderness was a very different place. Lions ruled, zebras gathered in large herds, giraffes foraged from tall trees. We know that, in part, thanks to drawings on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs. Can ancient art help us better understand modern Egyptian wildlife? Fossilized remains of plants and animals…

How Long Humans Can Live in Space—and What Happens if We Stay Too Long

How long can humans live in space? We don’t know the answer to that. But every crew that resides on the International Space Station provides us information that we use to adjust our protocols and extends that period of time. The longest contiguous amount of time a human has spent in space is 437 days.…

NASA’s Next-Generation Orion Space Capsule Is Ready for Riders

After a decade of development, NASA’s next-generation Orion crew module is finally complete! Now comes the hard part: ensuring that it actually works. Crews have just its completed construction at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They’re now in the process of transferring the Orion to a different…

How Long You Can Survive in Space Without a Suit

Getting blown out of an airlock and into space without a suit is not a pleasant experience. But if it were to happen, just how long could you survive? In fact, longer than you probably think. While you’ll be unconscious within 15 seconds, you might be able to cling on for as long as three…

Part of an Asteroid Set to Skim Earth Fell and Made a Big Crater

An asteroid known as 2014 RC was due to skim past our planet over the weekend. But instead of passing by in the distance, it’s believed part of the rock fell to earth in Nicaragua creating a gigantic crater. The BBC reportsthat a meteorite landed close to the Nicaraguan capital of Managua on Sunday, around…

Our New High-Res Public Satellite Uses Infrared to See Through Smoke

Much like donning a pair of magical X-ray spectacles, DigitalGlobe’s recently launched high-res imaging satellite WorldView-3 can see straight through things like smoke—to identify what’s really happening on the surface of the Earth. While WorldView-3 will create images that are twice as detailed as Google Maps, it also has other tricks up its sleeve—like a…

What Kind of Demon Sorcery Created This Laser-Spitting Fish?

It’s not a mutant fish nor a piscine wizard. The source of the light is actually the defense of the clever, microscopic animal who just wants to get through the day without being gobbled up. Is that too much to ask? The see-through cardinalfish evolved in lockstep with tiny little crustaceans called ostracods. The millimeter-long…

Space Station Defies Humans, Launches Satellites Without Permission

The International Space Station has a cannon that launches tiny CubeSat microsatellites into orbit. Most of the time, those launches are triggered by human scientists on board or back on Earth. But this week, the ISS launched two CubeSats entirely on its own. This is how the uprising begins. Yes, on Thursday night, ISS commander…