How we think about our planet’s center may need to be seriously updated. New evidence suggests that, instead of consistently rotating faster than Earth’s spin, the solid inner core oscillates – spinning first in one direction with respect to the surface far above, then the other, changing direction every six years. This not only has
Month: June 2022
Humans are the only species to live in every environmental niche in the world – from the ice sheets to the deserts, rainforests to savannahs. As individuals we are rather puny, but when we are socially connected, we are the most dominant species on the planet. New evidence from stone tools in southern Africa shows
A new member of a category of star so rare we can count the known number of them on our fingers and toes has just been discovered in the Milky Way. It’s called MAXI J1816-195, located no greater than 30,000 light-years away. Preliminary observations and investigations suggest that it’s an accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar –
Have you ever caught a baby’s eyes and suddenly felt judged? New research suggests that feeling may not be entirely imaginary. If you’ve done something a baby disapproves of, they might be using their gaze to single you out. A series of experiments, conducted among 8-month-old infants, has now found evidence that preverbal children are
The oldest ‘belly button’ known to science has been found on an exquisitely preserved horned dinosaur fossil from China. The slit-like scar comes not from an umbilical cord, as it does in mammals, but from the yolk sac of the egg-laying creature that lived about 130 million years ago. Today, many living snakes and birds
Deep beneath the waves there’s a source of power quite unlike any other. To tap into it, Japanese engineers have constructed a true leviathan, a beast capable of withstanding the strongest of ocean currents to transform its flow into a virtually limitless supply of electricity. Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries – now known simply as IHI Corporation
For the first time, scientists have found the building blocks for life on an asteroid in space. Japanese researchers have discovered more than 20 amino acids on the space rock Ryugu, which is more than 200 million miles (320 million kilometers) from Earth. Scientists made the first-of-its-kind detection by studying samples retrieved from the near-Earth asteroid by
Packing material, disposable cutlery, CD cases: Polystyrene is among the most common forms of plastic, but recycling it isn’t easy and the vast majority ends up in landfills or finds its way to the oceans where it threatens marine life. Scientists at Australia’s University of Queensland have now discovered that superworms – the larvae of
From Talos, the giant bronze automaton who guarded the princess Europa in ancient Greek myths, to Cylons and Terminators, the idea of artificial humans has both fascinated and creeped us out for centuries. Now, we’re closer than ever to making a robot look remarkably like a human, with the development of living robot skin. This icky-looking
Scientists have found evidence of what might have once been the largest terrestrial hunter in Europe, thanks to a fossil discovery on an island off the south coast of England. Archaeologists suspect the remains of a huge two-legged carnivore, recently unearthed on the Isle of Wight, might be the largest theropod discovered on the continent
In its new home far from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope maybe isn’t quite as alone as it seems. The pocket of space occupied by the telescope isn’t a total vacuum – and now the inevitable has happened, with a tiny piece of rock, a micrometeorite, colliding with one of Webb’s mirror segments. But
The world’s oldest tree may have been standing for centuries when the first boulders were erected at Stonehenge, new research suggests. The ancient giant, an alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) known as the “Gran Abuelo” (or great grandfather in Spanish) that towers over a ravine in the Chilean Andes, may be roughly 5,400 years old, a new computer model
Scientists have published a map showing the Southern Ocean floor in unprecedented detail. The new images, generated from sonar data that took years to collect, show canyons, ridges, and mountains deep under the water. The map was published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Data on Tuesday. It is part of the Nippon Foundation General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans
We all have different preferences for when it’s the right time to bring out the winter blankets. And the thermostat’s setting often forms the basis of office arguments between women and men regarding the “correct” temperature for it to be set. Between the sexes, there are always more similarities than differences. But research does consistently
There are estimated to be around three million shipwrecks sitting on sea beds around the world, many of them made from wood – and these submerged wooden islands are proving a vibrant breeding ground for deep sea microbes, a new study reveals. Scientists say these human-made structures are having an important impact on the delicate
A newly discovered source of repeating fast radio bursts has deepened the mystery of what, precisely, could be producing these powerful outbursts. The source, first detected in 2019 and named FRB 190520B, seems to be frequently spitting out millisecond bursts of powerful radio waves. This has allowed astronomers to perform analyses that reveal information about
Our planet’s protective shell isn’t quite what it used to be. Over the past two centuries its magnetic strength has taken a nosedive, and nobody has the foggiest idea why. At the same time, a concerning soft-spot in the field called the South Atlantic Anomaly has blistered over the Atlantic ocean, and has already proven problematic
Why did people think cannibalism was good for their health? The answer offers a glimpse into the zaniest crannies of European history, at a time when Europeans were obsessed with Egyptian mummies. Driven first by the belief that ground-up and tinctured human remains could cure anything from bubonic plague to a headache, and then by
Astronomers have discovered two large, mysterious objects blasting out of the brightest black hole in the known Universe. Discovered in a 1959 survey of cosmic radio-wave sources, the supermassive black hole 3C 273 is a quasar – short for “quasi-stellar object”, because the light emitted by these behemoths is bright enough to be mistaken for starlight. While black holes
Scientists taking a very close look at the architecture of neuron cells in the brain have found a key structural difference between primates and non-primates in the cortical neurons – cells that are part of the cerebrum. The findings give us a greater insight into this most complex of organs, and how the form and
The US has succeeded in developing the world’s first ‘true’ exascale supercomputer, honoring a pledge made by President Obama almost seven years ago, and ushering the world into a new era of computational capability. Until now, the most speedy supercomputers in the world were still working in the petascale, achieving a quadrillion calculations per second.
The Curiosity rover has found an outstanding rock formation piercing the alien landscape of Mars. Amongst the shallow sands and boulders of the Gale Crater rise several twisting towers of rock – the spikes of sediment look almost like frozen streams of water poured from an invisible jug in the sky. In reality, experts say the columns were
For thousands of lucky people, the work week is now only four days long – and they’re still getting paid 100 percent of their regular income to do their jobs, even though they’ve gained an entire day of personal time. Does it sound too good to be true? It’s not necessarily an impossible dream. This
The Siberian tundra could disappear by the year 2500, unless greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced. Even in the best-case scenarios, two-thirds of this landscape – defined by its short growing season and cover of grasses, moss, shrubs and lichens – could vanish, leaving behind two fragments separated by 1,553 miles (2,500 kilometers), scientists recently predicted. And
A new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) models can produce “creative” images on-demand based on a text prompt. The likes of Imagen, MidJourney, and DALL-E 2 are beginning to change the way creative content is made with implications for copyright and intellectual property. While the output of these models is often striking, it’s hard to
Scientists have figured out how to make platinum more affordable as a catalyst: turn it into a low-temperature liquid. It’s been known for centuries that noble metals like platinum, gold, ruthenium, and palladium make excellent catalysts for chemical reactions, because they help break the chemical bonds between atoms more efficiently than other metals. But noble
Planting more crops isn’t the only way to feed a growing population. Cutting air pollution could go a long way towards increasing crop production while saving precious land and money, according to new research. If the world cuts the emissions of just one type of air pollutant in half, estimates suggest winter crops could yield
The idea of a mirror universe is a common trope in science fiction. A world similar to ours where we might find our evil doppelganger or a version of us who actually asked out our high school crush. But the concept of a mirror universe has been often studied in theoretical cosmology, and as a
Three Chinese astronauts arrived at the country’s space station on Sunday, the Chinese space agency for human flights said, the latest stride in Beijing’s aim to become a major space power. The trio blasted off in a Long March-2F rocket at 0244 GMT from the Jiuquan launch center in northwestern China’s Gobi desert, reported state
Simply being exposed to things we’re not familiar with – new objects or species of animals, for example – puts us in learning mode, new research has revealed, and makes us more ready to learn about the new thing later on. Once we’ve encountered a new thing, our brains are able to capitalize on a
There’s no question that young solar systems are chaotic places. Cascading collisions defined our young Solar System as rocks, boulders, and planetesimals repeatedly collided. A new study based on chunks of asteroids that crashed into Earth puts a timeline to some of that chaos. Astronomers know that asteroids have remained essentially unchanged since their formation
Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May were 50 percent higher than during the pre-industrial era, reaching levels not seen on Earth for about 4 million years, the main US climate agency said on Friday. Global warming caused by humans, particularly through the production of electricity using fossil fuels, transport, the production of
The sounds of sloshing lava are music to a volcanologist’s ears. The reverberating belches and burps can help reveal what’s going on deep within a volcano’s belly. Putting an ear to the Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii has allowed researchers to track the temperature of magma and the migration of volcanic gasses as they bubble to
With almost 90 billion neurons in our brains, it’s no wonder we’re still piecing together much about how these various types of cells do their work. A team of neuroscientists has now identified another neuron flavor in mice, and its place in the complex circuitry of mammalian brains. These cells are located in the hippocampus – part
Archaeologists have unearthed the ancient burial of a woman lying on a bronze bed near the city of Kozani in northern Greece. It dates to the first century BCE. Depictions of mermaids decorate the posts of the bed. The bed also displays an image of a bird holding a snake in its mouth, a symbol
Even if you’re enjoying gloriously fast broadband at home wherever you live in the world, you’re still going to be a long, long way behind the new record for data transmission: an incredible 1.02 petabits per second. That’s a million gigabits shifted down a line every single second. The record was set by a team
How many of what kinds of stars live in other galaxies? It seems like a simple question, but it’s notoriously hard to pin down because astronomers have such a difficult time estimating stellar populations in remote galaxies. Now a team of astronomers has completed a census of over 140,000 galaxies and found that distant galaxies
Decisiveness is about making calls quickly and efficiently – even if those choices aren’t always the correct ones. A new study looked at the relationship between confidence and decisiveness, finding that decisive people tend to be more confident about the decisions they’ve made. On the other end of the spectrum is indecision, a distinct inability to
In light of the brutal tug-of-war over resources that is natural selection, it’s been taken for granted that the giraffe’s iconic neck evolved to reach leaves other plant-eaters can’t possibly access. What seemed obvious to Charles Darwin has since attracted a great deal of scrutiny, with some biologists proposing those extended vertebrae aren’t for browsing,
This year in April, the Biden administration announced a renewed commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. The goal is now to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. The target is ambitious, but it isn’t a pipe dream. According to a newly published analysis of existing climate models, it’s more than possible with strong
The famous snow-capped peaks of the Alps are fading fast and being replaced by vegetation cover – a process called “greening” that is expected to accelerate climate change, a study said Thursday. The research, published in Science, was based on 38 years of satellite imagery across the entirety of the iconic European mountain range. “We
The world’s favorite herbicide is making it harder for buff-tailed bumblebees to keep their hives warm enough to incubate larvae, new research finds. Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) face food shortages due to habitat loss and the widespread monocultures of agricultural crops. Like honeybees, they feed on nectar collected from plants, and store more of it in
Physicists have just taken an amazing step towards quantum devices that sound like something out of science fiction. For the first time, isolated groups of particles behaving like bizarre states of matter known as time crystals have been linked into a single, evolving system that could be incredibly useful in quantum computing. Following the first
If archaeology has shown us anything, it’s the sobering impermanence of our lives. Human settlements come and go. We may remain in specific regions, but the cladding on that region changes, the past often buried in ruins hidden beneath our feet. But one place seems to have been so special that humans used it, if
Sky watchers have something extra special to look forward to later in June, as all five of the planets that we can see with the naked eye – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn – are going to line up in the sky. Not only that, but they’re going to appear in order of their distance
The human liver stays youthful even while the rest of our bodies grow old, according to new research, and on average the organ is is less than three years old, no matter what the age of the person it’s attached to. Using mathematical modeling and a technique called retrospective radiocarbon birth dating – which dates
The Milky Way galaxy isn’t very active, as far as galaxies go. Every year, it produces around three to four Suns’ worth of new stars in the entirety of its spiral body, and stars of all ages can be found sprinkled throughout. But there are some galaxies even quieter – elliptical galaxies, for which most
A new optical illusion can trick most of us into perceiving an expanding black hole, new research reports. The image is completely static, but researchers say it gives people “a growing sense of darkness, as if entering a space voided of light”. The illusory forward motion is probably our mind’s way of preparing us for