Science

Nuclear Fusion Has Broken Even For the First Time Ever

Nuclear fusion, the same process that powers the sun, could provide us with limitless cheap energy—but experiments to date have always used more power than they created. Now, though, researchers have apparently tipped that balance, making fusion a real possibility. Researchers at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, have been conducting fusion experiments for…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

A Working Malaria Vaccine Could Be Used In Developing Countries By 2015

Malaria research has been advancing rapidly in recent years, and now there’s even more hope: scientists have developed a vaccine that can slash malaria incidence by half, and it could be introduced to the world’s worst-hit countries by 2015. The vaccine—called RTS,S and developed by GlaxoSmithKline—has been shown to halve the cases of malaria among…

Health Jamie Condliffe

5 Creatures That Have Evolved Into Badass Biological Machines

The natural world might be awe-inspiring, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t share similarities with the technological world that we inhabit. In fact, as biologists have come to look at creatures in closer detail, they’ve discovered that some of them have been using basics of engineering—that we now take for granted—all along. Here…

Biology Jamie Condliffe

Explore the Very Large Array, the Massive Observatory From Contact

Even if the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s 33-year-old Very Large Array doesn’t sound familiar, it probably looks familiar: It was the backdrop to Jodie Foster’s work in Contact. Wonderfully, Foster serves as the narrator of this awesome mini-doc about the VLA, which was recently rebuilt from the inside out in a massive reconstruction project. The…

Space & Spaceflight Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

8 Incredible Images That Make Mars Look Like A Petri Dish

Though NASA sadly spent its recent 55th birthday furloughing employees thanks to the government shutdown, the discovery of water in Martian soil just a week earlier made for a pretty thrilling development at the agency. Ironically, there couldn’t be a better time for the release of This is Mars, which offers all the photographic evidence…

Space & Spaceflight Jordan Kushins

This Is How NASA Made Composite Images Before Photoshop Existed

You might think that this image looks a little bodged together, and you’d be right to. After all, it’s literally a collage of photographs obtained by Voyager I—all the way back in 1979. Collected when the spacecraft passed Jupiter’s moon Io for the first time, the images were assembled by hand at NASA, revealing for…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

The First Man To Walk In Space Almost Got Stuck Out There

Today I found out that the first man to walk in space almost got stuck out there. That lucky individual was Alexei Leonov, who was born in the Soviet Union on May 30, 1934. He was one of the twenty Soviet Air Force Pilots to be chosen for the first cosmonaut group. Originally, his historic…

Space & Spaceflight Emily Upton - TodayIFoundOut.com

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Gravity (Spoilers)

Neil deGrasse Tyson took to Twitter last night to offer up his thoughts—largely scientific—on the sci-fi stomer Gravity. It’s received rave reviews, but what does everyone’s favorite scientist think? In a rare moment of artistic insight, he admits that he “enjoyed ‘Gravity’ very much”—but he also saw some problems. (If you’re looking for even more,…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Build Your Own LEGO Sputnik to Commemorate the Start of the Space Race

Fifty-six years ago today, humanity entered the Space Age as a 23-inch radio-pulsing metal sphere dubbed Sputnik 1 entered LEO. As it sped around the Earth at 18,000 mph, Sputnik set off a firestorm of envy from the Americans which directly incited a Space Race that would last until we put a man on the…

Space & Spaceflight Peter Reid & Tim Goddard

These Cubes With No Moving Parts Are Actually Self-Assembling Robots

There’s no shortage of proposed ideas for self-assembling robots, but they’re usually either incredibly complex or just a little boring. In contrast, these adorable little cubes have no obvious moving parts—but can still climb over and around one another, leap through the air, or roll across the ground. Called M-Blocks, these things—developed at MIT—contain a…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

NASA’s MAVEN Mission Spared Cancellation Despite Government Shutdown

This is a rare moment of sanity and clarity from the powers-that-be. Despite the current government shutdown, NASA’s MAVEN mission—slated for a November launch—has been allowed to go ahead. Fears had been building that the government shutdown would see the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) launch postponed, but the project has been “excepted”…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Why Is China Testing Satellite-Hijacking Space Weapons?

Last week, China tested out a satellite that’s capable of grabbing and capturing other satellites as they orbit the Earth. This normally wouldn’t be such a big deal, except that it amounts to China conducting a weapons test in space. And that’s worrisome—especially to the Pentagon. So what’s up with this space weapons test? First…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes

You Can Now Manage Diabetes With a Wearable, Artificial Pancreas

We’ve been relying on artificial insulin injections for diabetes management for over 30 years now—which is practically ancient in modern medicine terms. But now, the FDA (presumably pre-shutdown) has approved an artificial, wearable pancreas that may finally kick all those painful insulin injections to the curb. Made by Minneapolis-based medical device company Medtronic, the palm-sized…

Health Ashley Feinberg

A Crazy 3D-Printed Mouthpiece That Brushes Your Teeth For You

We can always get behind a 3D-printed object that does something practical. So we’re intrigued by the Blizzident 3D-printed toothbrush, because this insane thing basically does all the brushing for you. When you brush your teeth, you probably miss the plaque hidden in the nooks and crannies of your chompers. But that’s because your toothbrush…

Health Leslie Horn

The World’s Biggest Telescope Is Finally Online

With the arrival of the 54th—and final—12-meter wide radio telescope, the single largest astronomical project humanity has ever under taken can finally begin peering into the heavens at full strength. The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), a massive radio telescope array, will provide an unprecedented view of interstellar space where giant gas clouds slowly form…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Tarantola

Scientists Just Discovered a Key Plastic Ingredient–In Space

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft just detected propylene on Saturn’s moon Titan. You might recognize the name of the chemical as part of polypropylene, the material that the food storage containers in your cupboard are probably made of. It’s the first time that the plastic ingredient has ever been observed anywhere other than Earth. Besides being a…

Space & Spaceflight Mario Aguilar

Government Shutdown Could Delay a $650 Million NASA Mission Until 2016

The government started to shut down on Tuesday morning after Congress embarrassingly failed to come to an agreement on the budget. It’s bad news. While science and technology programs as a whole took a hit, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft set is particularly screwed. https://gizmodo.com/how-a-government-shutdown-would-affect-science-and-tech-1426859370 As the bulk of the space agency goes into hibernation for the…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes

How Do Gas Pumps Know When to Stop?

If you’ve ever put gas in a car, you’ll know that the pump magically knows when to stop spewing fuel into the tank. That’s super useful, and safe too. But how does it know when to stop? Is it witchcraft? Psychic powers? Clever guesswork? Or, you know, some simple but incredibly smart engineering? Watch this…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

A Full View of the Gigantic Asteroid Vesta

At 330 miles in diameter, Vesta is the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has been orbiting it for some time now, but it’s finally generated an image which shows the asteroid in all its glory. https://gizmodo.com/first-image-of-asteroid-vesta-captured-from-its-orbit-5822336 Dawn is the first man-made object to visit the asteroid belt, and this…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

A Real Astronaut Uncovers the Gaping Plot Hole in Gravity

Gravity looks pretty damn terrifying. Most philosophers would tell us that for a film to really be chilling to the bone, it must call to mind a real-life existential fear that’s buried within our souls. So Gravity is tugging at some deeply held fears we’ve got, then, right? Well, according to real astronaut Michael Massimino,…

Space & Spaceflight Mario Aguilar

Nuclear Fusion Has Broken Even For the First Time Ever

A Working Malaria Vaccine Could Be Used In Developing Countries By 2015

5 Creatures That Have Evolved Into Badass Biological Machines

Explore the Very Large Array, the Massive Observatory From Contact

8 Incredible Images That Make Mars Look Like A Petri Dish

This Is How NASA Made Composite Images Before Photoshop Existed

The First Man To Walk In Space Almost Got Stuck Out There

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Gravity (Spoilers)

Build Your Own LEGO Sputnik to Commemorate the Start of the Space Race

These Cubes With No Moving Parts Are Actually Self-Assembling Robots

NASA’s MAVEN Mission Spared Cancellation Despite Government Shutdown

Why Is China Testing Satellite-Hijacking Space Weapons?

You Can Now Manage Diabetes With a Wearable, Artificial Pancreas

A Crazy 3D-Printed Mouthpiece That Brushes Your Teeth For You

The World’s Biggest Telescope Is Finally Online

Scientists Just Discovered a Key Plastic Ingredient–In Space

Government Shutdown Could Delay a $650 Million NASA Mission Until 2016

How Do Gas Pumps Know When to Stop?

A Full View of the Gigantic Asteroid Vesta

A Real Astronaut Uncovers the Gaping Plot Hole in Gravity

Why ‘For All Mankind’ Season 5 Is the Key to the Rest of the Series

ASUS ZenScreen 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor Is Now Cheaper Than Black Friday in Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

Early Wildfires Are Surging Across the US—and Trump’s New Fire Agency Isn’t Ready

INIU Brings Another Power Bank to the Spring Sale as SnapGo Keychain Portable Charger Drops to Its Lowest Price

Attorney Hit With Historic Fine for Citing AI-Generated Cases

Travelers Experiencing the Longest Security Lines in TSA History

Could There Be a ‘Project Hail Mary’ Sequel?

Meta Has More Smart Glasses Coming Whether You Want Them or Not

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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