August 2020 - Science News

We just found another obstacle for quantum computers to overcome – and it’s everywhere

Keeping qubits stable – those quantum equivalents of classic computing bits – will be key to realising the potential of

This weird creature is the first we know of that hibernated – 250 million years ago

Animals have been hibernating for a long, long time, a new study shows. Researchers have analysed 250 million-year-old fossils and

SpaceX may attempt 3 rocket launches this Sunday

SpaceX is aiming to launch three rockets on Sunday, including two back-to-back Falcon 9 launches in Florida and a Starship test flight

Tropical songbirds have an extreme drought survival tactic: they stop breeding

Songbirds in tropical rainforests curtail their reproduction to help them survive droughts, according to a study Monday. Species with longer

This is the most exciting crisis in cosmology

For as long as there has been a Universe, space has been expanding. It winked into existence roughly 13.8 billion

In Canada, people are fighting to save a majestic tree that’s older than Canada

In the shadow of Canada’s largest cluster of skyscrapers, Toronto is looking to preserve a majestic, centuries-old oak tree –

Breakthrough in artificial photosynthesis lets scientists store the Sun’s energy as fuel

Plants have a seemingly effortless skill – turning sunlight into energy – and scientists have been working to artificially emulate this photosynthesis process.

There’s a theory beyond relativity that would allow you to fly through a wormhole

Wormholes are a popular feature in science fiction, the means through which spacecraft can achieve faster-than-light (FTL) travel and instantaneously

Microbes living deep below Earth’s surface could be remnants of ancient life forms

There’s an enormous variety of life thriving deep beneath Earth’s surface. A new analysis of two major groups of subsurface

Physicists just found a new quantum paradox that casts doubt on a pillar of reality

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

More than half the ice shelves currently buffering Antarctica are at risk of crumbling

More than half the ice shelves ringing Antarctica that prevent huge glaciers from sliding into the ocean and lifting sea

‘Swapping bodies’ with a friend swaps your beliefs, strange experiment reveals

Spend some time in someone else’s body, and your sense of self and your memory starts to shift, new research

There’s a strange glow in the centre of our galaxy, and it’s not what we thought it was

The centre of the Milky Way is glowing. Yes, there’s a big chonkin’ black hole there, and it’s a very

Silica takes on a strange ‘half way’ form in meteorite impacts, experiment suggests

What happens to materials in Earth’s crust when a meteorite slams into them? Specifically, what happens to the quartz found

Google says it just ran the first-ever quantum simulation of a chemical reaction

Of the many high expectations we have of quantum technology, one of the most exciting has to be the ability

Simple cells just solved one of the world’s most infamous mazes

For a single cell, the human body is a gargantuan maze of tissues, chemicals and capillaries, crammed full with trillions of other

Where did Earth’s water come from? Study casts doubt on the current meteorite theory

Water covers 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and is crucial to life as we know it, but how it

Making one simple change to wind turbines could cut bird deaths by 70 percent

As a source of clean energy, wind farms come with many benefits - but they can be a danger to local

Incredibly rare dinosaur embryo reveals hatchlings possessed strange facial horn

An 80-million-year-old embryo has revealed some unexpected features of the most titanic animals to ever have walked the Earth. Sauropods,

New evidence finally confirms the theory of how stars get shredded by black holes

When a star ventures a little too close to a black hole, we know – broadly – what happens. The

Physicist predicts how the Universe might end: with explosions like none in existence

At the end of the Universe, long after the last shining stars flicker out, there might be one final set

Scientists Measured The Global Magnetic Field of The Sun’s Corona For The First Time

The Sun’s corona, its outer atmosphere of searing hot plasma, is a source of constant fascination for scientists – and

A vast radio ‘bridge’ has been found connecting 2 galaxy clusters about to merge

A rare merger between clusters of galaxies has just revealed an even rarer sight. Astronomers have found a vast, low-frequency

Puppy preserved in permafrost ate a chunk of one of Earth’s last woolly rhinos

Just before a tiny pup died during the last ice age, it ate a piece of meat from one of

Flies fall for optical illusions just like us, despite millions of years of evolution

Sometimes our eyes play tricks on us, and sometimes, we play tricks on them. Optical illusions have entranced neuroscientists for

Massive study of 24,000 dreams suggests they really are continuations of reality

Where do dreams come from? It’s an age-old question, something people have been wondering and theorising about for millennia. Whereas

Scientists just narrowed down the age of Earth’s inner core

At some point in Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history, its entirely liquid iron core cooled enough to form a solid ball in

Up to half the world’s water supply is being stolen, a troubling report reveals

Our planet’s water supply is an incredibly valuable resource that we need to protect, and worrying new figures show between

This spiraling stream of gas just revealed the rotation of historic Comet NEOWISE.

When Comet NEOWISE streaked by Earth in July, we were dazzled by a plethora of stunning photographs of the twin-tailed

A collapsed cliff has revealed 313 million-year-old fossil footprints in the Grand Canyon

A chance discovery during a hike in Grand Canyon National Park in 2016 ended up revealing strange footprints left by

Strange, ‘long-lost’ elephant shrew has been rediscovered in Africa after 50 years

For half a century scientists feared that the Somali elephant shrew had vanished from the face of the Earth. No

This is why the Californian wildfires are so dangerous this year

Firefighters on Sunday battled some of California’s largest-ever fires that have forced tens of thousands from their homes and burned

Earth lost a ‘staggering’ 28 trillion tonnes of ice in just 23 years

Scientists from Leeds and Edinburgh universities and University College London analysed satellite surveys of glaciers, mountains, and ice sheets between

Up to half of the world’s oceans are already affected by climate change

The world’s oceans have turned into a veritable sponge for our emissions, and new climate models suggest we’ve soaked them

Weaponised disinformation could unleash city-wide blackouts, researchers warn

In 2020, we’re sadly used to hearing how disinformation campaigns are being waged to influence people’s thinking, spread fake news,

Researchers just set a new record for the fastest internet speed ever

The internet has transformed most areas of our lives over the last few decades, and the technology keeps improving: researchers

For the first time, two hurricanes may hit the Gulf of Mexico at the same time

Next week for the first time on record, two hurricanes could hit the Gulf of Mexico at the same time.

In a lab on Earth, scientists just replicated pressures found on white dwarf stars

For the first time, pressure over 100 times that found in Earth’s core has been generated in a lab, setting

Greenland’s ice sheet has lost a record half-a-trillion tonnes in a single year

Greenland’s massive ice sheet saw a record net loss of 532 billion tonnes last year, raising red flags about accelerating

Ancient sculptures hint at universal expressions of feeling across time and culture

Prehistoric sculptures depicting human-like faces have some scientists thinking certain expressions might well be universal across time and culture. New