Science

It’s Time to Plan for How Quantum Computing Could Go Wrong, Say Entrepreneurs and Physicists

Quantum computers that can crack our strongest encryption methods might be decades away—but a group of entrepreneurs and researchers think we better start talking ethics now. Perhaps one of the year’s biggest stories was our collective realization that our data isn’t nearly as secure as we thought—and that tech companies aren’t acting in our best…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 13

Historic Virgin Galactic Flight Reminds Us That ‘Space’ Is Just a Concept, Man

Earlier today, Virgin Galactic sent its SpaceShipTwo commercial aircraft into space, a historic first for the private company. But at a maximum altitude of 51.4 miles (82.68 kilometers), the spaceplane fell 10.6 miles (17.32 kilometers) short of the Karman line—the internationally recognized boundary separating the atmosphere from space. Prompting the inevitable question: What the hell…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Dec 13

The New Bad Tick Is Going to Take Over Half the United States, Study Finds

A disease-carrying, newly invasive tick to the United States, the Asian longhorned tick, is poised to spread across much of North America, suggests a new study published Thursday in the Journal of Medical Entomology. According to the study, the tick might be able to live anywhere from Southeastern Canada to most of the eastern half…

Health Ed Cara Dec 13

Two Stalagmites Found in Chinese Cave Are a ‘Holy Grail’ for Accurate Radiocarbon Dating

Since its inception in the 1950s, radiocarbon dating has proven indispensable to archaeologists and climate scientists, who rely on the technique to accurately date organic compounds. But a good thing just got better, owing to the discovery of two stalagmites in a Chinese cave containing a seamless chronological atmospheric record dating back to the last…

Human History George Dvorsky Dec 13

Scientists Virtually Reconstruct Magnificent Pre-Incan Temple

The 1,500-year-old Pumapunku temple in western Bolivia is considered a crowning achievement of Andean architecture, yet no one knows what the original structure actually looked like. Until now. Using historical data, 3D-printed pieces, and architectural software, archaeologist Alexei Vranich from UC Berkeley has created a virtual reconstruction of Pumapunku—an ancient Tiwanaku temple now in ruins.…

Human History George Dvorsky Dec 12

Deep Earth Is Teeming with Mysterious Life

It may seem fantastical, but there is a living world deep, deep beneath our feet. Go below the soil, beyond the bedrock, and you’ll find a hot, sweaty underworld teeming with life that puts the surface biosphere to shame. Just how much life is down there has been an open question that the 1,200 scientists…

Earth Science Brian Kahn Dec 12

Antarctic Scientists Are About to Drill Into One of the Most Isolated Lakes on Earth

Buried beneath 4,000 feet of Antarctic ice lies Lake Mercer, a subglacial body of water that formed thousands of years ago and has been long separated from the rest of the world. A project to explore this lake—and its mysterious contents—is finally set to begin later this month. Called Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access, or…

Earth Science George Dvorsky Dec 12

Eye Worms, Octopuses on MDMA, and More: The Strangest Science Stories of 2018

Truly, 2018 has been a year filled with news that made us look blankly ahead and utter ‘wat’ into the void, frozen in confusion, every day. But there were a few stories that were cream of the crop when it came to their sheer weirdness. And that’s especially true within the world of science and…

Reviews Ed Cara Dec 12

NASA’s InSight Lander Strikes a Confident Pose for Its First Martian Selfie

In the very first selfie taken by InSight, the NASA probe looks ready and rarin’ to go. This wonderful mosaic, which consists of 11 individual photos, shows the entire probe as it’s sitting pretty on the Martian surface. The photos were captured by the Instrument Deployment Camera on InSight’s robotic arm. The lander’s two solar…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Dec 12

Young Warrior in Gruesome Iron Age Grave Was ‘Killed’ Again After Death

He was somewhere between the age of 17 and 25 when he died, apparently of natural causes. But for reasons that are unclear, this warrior’s body was speared and clubbed prior to burial, in what is now a fascinating Iron Age mystery. A distinct possibility is that it was done to prevent him from rising…

Human History George Dvorsky Dec 11

Physicists Create Incredible ‘Quark Soup’ Droplets That Expand Like Little Big Bangs

The universe began with a bang—and things immediately got weird. Stars and galaxies didn’t form right away. Scientists think that matter was initially a near-perfect fluid of quarks, the smallest known component of atoms. They have found evidence of these fluids in high-energy particle collider experiments. Now, evidence continues to mount that these liquids can…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 11

Watch Russian Cosmonauts Inspect Mysterious ISS Hole in ‘Unprecedented’ Spacewalk

Russian cosmonauts are preparing to inspect a mysterious hole on the exterior of a damaged Soyuz capsule, a complex spacewalk that could take upwards of six hours to complete. The mission is scheduled to start at 11:00 am ET, and you can watch it live right here. As TASS reports, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and…

Tech News George Dvorsky Dec 11

NASA Spacecraft Spots Signal of Water on Asteroid Bennu

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has already detected evidence of water on its target, the asteroid Bennu, just a week after arriving. The OSIRIS-REx mission’s goals include understanding what kinds of stuff asteroids contain, characterizing Bennu’s motion in case its trajectory ever threatens Earth, and learning about what the Solar System was like in its earliest days.…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 10

It’s Official: Voyager 2 Has Entered Interstellar Space

A human-made object has entered the space between the stars for the second time in history, scientists report. NASA will announce the details live at a press conference today at 11 a.m. ET, at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Washington. You can watch the press conference live here. NASA launched Voyagers…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 10

Squid Expert on Apple’s Tortured Squid Emoji: It’s Like ‘Having a Butt on Your Forehead’

In what now seems to be an egregious oversight on the part of Apple, the scientific community this week flagged an anatomically incorrect squid emoji in the manner any good critic does: by mercilessly owning it on Twitter. The Monterey Bay Aquarium pointed to the error this week in a tweet stating that Apple’s squid…

Tech News Catie Keck Dec 8

‘Cute Aggression’ Study Explores Why We Want to Squeeze Cute Babies and Animals

You’ve probably heard the term “cute aggression” thrown around over the years. It describes the odd but seemingly common compulsion to smoosh, bite, or pinch—but not hurt—adorable things like babies and animals. Researchers have for years been looking into why some people report feeling this way. Katherine Stavropoulos is an assistant professor of special education…

Tech News Catie Keck Dec 8

Childhood Antibiotics Could Raise Risk of Mental Illness, Study Finds

For all the good that antibiotics do, relying on them too much can have pretty drastic drawbacks. In particular, their overuse can help create bacterial superbugs resistant to future antibiotics. But a new study published this week in JAMA Psychiatry suggests there’s another, more subtle consequence of antibiotic use, at least in young people: a…

Health Ed Cara Dec 7

Can You Spot What’s Special About This Photo of the Crescent Moon?

Astronomer Steven Bellavia at Brookhaven National Labs caught a neat picture of the crescent Moon this past Monday, which he passed along for Gizmodo to share. Can you see what’s so special about it? Go ahead and examine it closely. … . . . . . . . . . There’s a little crescent planet…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 7

Chinese Spacecraft Launches on Mission to the Far Side of the Moon

China launched its Chang’e 4 lander and rover today (December 8, 2:22 a.m. local time) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, as part of a mission that hopes to land on the far side of the Moon. Chang’e 4 is the next in the line of China’s Chang’e missions, and would be the first craft…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 7

These Birders Flock to Google Street View to Spot Birds Around the World

I noticed something in the distance while clicking along rural U.S. Route 59 in Minnesota, 80 miles southeast of Fargo, North Dakota. Two grainy heads appeared out of the water like a pair of Loch Ness monsters. I couldn’t make them out for certain, but given the location (Minnesota) and time of year (summer), I…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 7

It’s Time to Plan for How Quantum Computing Could Go Wrong, Say Entrepreneurs and Physicists

Historic Virgin Galactic Flight Reminds Us That ‘Space’ Is Just a Concept, Man

The New Bad Tick Is Going to Take Over Half the United States, Study Finds

Two Stalagmites Found in Chinese Cave Are a ‘Holy Grail’ for Accurate Radiocarbon Dating

Scientists Virtually Reconstruct Magnificent Pre-Incan Temple

Deep Earth Is Teeming with Mysterious Life

Antarctic Scientists Are About to Drill Into One of the Most Isolated Lakes on Earth

Eye Worms, Octopuses on MDMA, and More: The Strangest Science Stories of 2018

NASA’s InSight Lander Strikes a Confident Pose for Its First Martian Selfie

Young Warrior in Gruesome Iron Age Grave Was ‘Killed’ Again After Death

Physicists Create Incredible ‘Quark Soup’ Droplets That Expand Like Little Big Bangs

Watch Russian Cosmonauts Inspect Mysterious ISS Hole in ‘Unprecedented’ Spacewalk

NASA Spacecraft Spots Signal of Water on Asteroid Bennu

It’s Official: Voyager 2 Has Entered Interstellar Space

Squid Expert on Apple’s Tortured Squid Emoji: It’s Like ‘Having a Butt on Your Forehead’

‘Cute Aggression’ Study Explores Why We Want to Squeeze Cute Babies and Animals

Childhood Antibiotics Could Raise Risk of Mental Illness, Study Finds

Can You Spot What’s Special About This Photo of the Crescent Moon?

Chinese Spacecraft Launches on Mission to the Far Side of the Moon

These Birders Flock to Google Street View to Spot Birds Around the World

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

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