If you’ve ever opened a science textbook, you’ve probably seen a picture of an atom, with a cluster of protons and neutrons making up its nucleus, around which whirls a swarm of electrons. But you also probably know that all these particles aren’t shaped like neat little spheres, as usually depicted. As far as we
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It’s been exactly 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci died, and even after all this time we’re still trying to discover new things about the famous Italian polymath. Two scientists have studied historical accounts of da Vinci’s life and come to the conclusion that he had a behavioural condition – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or
Mars and Earth may have a lot of things in common, but the processes that sculpt their sand dunes are not among them. Exactly how Martian sand moves around crevasses and impact craters has been something of a mystery – but we might finally have a better idea. Planetary scientists have comprehensively revealed how the
China attempted to launch a top-secret military payload into space early Thursday morning, but the attempt ended in a rain of wreckage. The loss of the Long March 4C rocket and its satellite marks the nation’s second launch failure of 2019. The first was a commercial launch in March by the Chinese aerospace startup OneSpace.
The battle for the thermostat has practically become a cliché in office culture, but it looks like the reasons may not be just about comfort. A new study suggests the temperature of a room also impacts our productivity, and for men and women that cognitive sweet spot is slightly different. Plenty of anecdotes and surveys
Scientists have developed a new way of achieving artificial photosynthesis, producing high-energy hydrocarbons by leveraging electron-rich gold nanoparticles as a catalyst. In photosynthesis, plants convert energy from sunlight into glucose by rearranging molecules of water and carbon dioxide. The new process mimics this natural ability via chemical manipulations that create liquid fuel, without requiring chlorophyll.
From deep in the shale beds of Arctic Canada, what seems to be the earliest evidence of life on land has emerged. The discovery of microscopic fossils just pushed back the earliest recorded appearance of fungus by more than half a billion years. This was the early Neoproterozoic Era, the last era in the Precambrian
In a couple of years, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) could have an important decision to make. A working group just voted 29 to 4 in favour of recognising a new modern epoch, and plans to formally make its case to the ICS in the next two years. If you haven’t heard of this commission,
Scientists in Germany have hit a new superconductivity milestone – achieving a resistance-free electrical current at the highest temperature yet: just 250 Kelvin, or -23 degrees Celsius (-9.4 degrees Fahrenheit). The work was led by Mikhail Eremets, a physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, who set the previous high temperature record for superconductivity
NASA has chosen 11 American companies to help them build the next lunar landers that will carry humans to the surface of the Moon. The 11 companies will conduct studies and work on prototype landers in the coming years. It’s all part of NASA’s Artemis mission, and the mission’s 2024 date with the surface of
The city of Baltimore is under attack, but not by someone armed with guns or bombs. Two weeks ago, cybercriminals used ransomware known as RobinHood to seize control of about 10,000 of the city’s computers, saying they won’t relinquish access unless Baltimore hands over about US$100,000 worth of bitcoin. Baltimore is refusing the meet the
As the world grows ever more urban, the lack of natural outdoor space could have lifelong consequences for our mental health. Growing up around greener spaces has consistently been linked to better health outcomes, and new research suggests these benefits could last a lifetime. It’s one of the first epidemiological studies to show an association
Sharks are pretty eclectic eaters. They’ll go for prey ranging from fish and invertebrates to sea mammals and turtles. A shark may even have a chomp on the odd surfer. If they can catch it, or scavenge it, and it’s made of meat, sharks will generally eat it. A new study identifying the contents of
The world produces a staggering 180 billion aluminium cans every year, but it’s a safe bet many of the people consuming those beverages don’t know about a hidden material concealed inside the metal cylinders. For decades, aluminium can manufacturers have lined the inside of their cans with plastic. Why? Well, it’s to protect the beverage
In November last year, geologists announced they’d picked up something really weird: a huge seismic event originating in the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, felt all across the globe, source unknown. A few months later, scientists used modelling to produce an answer – hypothesising a giant underwater volcanic eruption. And now it seems
If you pictured a fight between a snake and a squirrel, you probably wouldn’t bet on the squirrel coming out on top. But that’s exactly what happened in a particularly gruesome case in 2009, caught on camera by William Leggett, who was a ranger at West Texas’ Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The photo below shows
The window for climate action is closing before our very eyes, and as emissions continue to rise, researchers at Stanford are asking us to consider the lesser of two evils. In a new commentary, the authors propose a wild idea that would intentionally release more carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, while getting rid of
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting. Scientists have known this for years, but they’re only now realising how quickly that melting is happening. Greenland’s ice is melting six times faster now than it was four decades ago; the ice sheet is sloughing off an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year. In
It’s been almost exactly one year since US scientists reported a mysterious surge in ozone-destroying chemicals, known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Banned in 1987 under the globally signed Montreal Protocol, there was only one explanation: somewhere out there, in an unknown location, someone must have gone rogue, setting back progress on the ozone hole by a
Jade occupied a special place in the mysterious civilisation of the Maya people, crafted into elaborate trinkets rich with ancient meaning and lore. But this prized stone wasn’t reserved solely for ornamental finery. Jade – in the form of its mineral variety, jadeite – also seems to have had its uses in the toil of
There’s no doubt we have too much plastic in our oceans, and it’s all our fault. But an unexpected source of support might help us to solve this terrible environmental problem: marine microbes that eat plastic, breaking the ubiquitous waste material down. In new research, an international team of scientists studied how microbial communities build
You may not realise it, because we always see the same side of it from Earth, but the Moon is pretty weird. The side we see is very different from the far side, which is always facing away from us, and the contrast between these two sides has been a baffling oddity. Now we have a
Hurricane season doesn’t start until June 1, but the National Hurricane Center announced Monday evening that Subtropical Storm Andrea had formed. Called a subtropical storm because it has a blend of both tropical and nontropical characteristics, it is packing peak winds of 40 mph (64 kilometres per hour). The storm could strengthen slightly through Tuesday
If you think your mom is laying it on thick about producing grandchildren, take heart: At least you’re not a male bonobo. Bonobo mothers have been seen performing a variety of behaviors that seem to lend their sons an advantage when it comes to fathering babies, according to a study published Monday in Current Biology
It’s long been known that cannabis plants are indigenous to Central Asia, but a new study provides a fresh focus on where exactly this genus may have first evolved millions of years ago. Documents dating back to the middle ages show humans have been hypothesising about the geographical origins of cannabis for over a thousand
The Solar System might be a soggier place than we previously thought – even in the glacially cold reaches of the Kuiper Belt. There, dwarf planet Pluto could be harbouring liquid oceans under a shell of nitrogen ice. It was thought that the temperature required to maintain a liquid ocean on Pluto was too high
Sound isn’t just something we hear. It’s a formidable physical phenomenon – a wave of pressure that reverberates through the air around us. But the medium sound moves through doesn’t have to be air. Incredibly loud sounds can also travel through water, sometimes even being the result of particularly noisy fish. But if you really want
Finally, 130 years after it was established, the kilogram as we know it is about to be retired. But it’s not the end: tomorrow, 20 May 2019, a new definition will be put in place – one that’s far more accurate than anything we’ve had until now. After the shift was unanimously voted in at the
Sometimes, while waiting for quantum computers to become a thing, or complaining that your stupid laptop keeps dying on 5 percent battery, it’s easy to forget just how far technology has come over the past 50 years. Sure, we can all list off a whole bunch of innovations that have changed the way the world
Thirty years ago, archaeologists digging at one of England’s earliest medieval villages discovered the remains of 73 worn cooking pots. Used for the last time half a century ago, they still hold tiny remnants of their last meal. Which means they provide fascinating insight into what medieval people actually ate on a day-to-day basis. Chemically
After 12 successful seasons, “The Big Bang Theory” has finally come to a fulfilling end, concluding its reign as the longest running multicamera sitcom on TV. If you’re one of the few who haven’t seen the show, this CBS series centers around a group of young scientists defined by essentially every possible stereotype about nerds
Between 1946 and 1958, the US government tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands. It later dumped radioactive waste from the tests into a crater on one of the islands, placing an 18-inch-thick concrete dome over the horrifying sludge. Because the crater was only supposed to be a temporary storage solution, the bottom of
Most people are familiar with optical lasers through their experience with laser pointers. But what about a laser made from sound waves? What makes optical laser light different from a light bulb or the sun is that all the light waves emerging from it are moving in the same direction and are pretty much in
Consider yourself lucky if you’re in a job that you love, but be aware that there’s a potential downside – other people might take advantage of your passion for your work. New research shows that managers often set extra hours without pay, or give out demeaning tasks to employees, to those who are particularly passionate
Using the combined might of two of Hawaii’s powerful telescopes, astronomers have captured what they are describing as “groundbreaking” sharp new images of a planetary system still in the process of being born. They also found no evidence of three previously detected planets. The star is LkCa 15, a young, Sun-like T Tauri star 473
Millions of cryptocurrency investors have been scammed out of massive sums of real money. In 2018, losses from cryptocurrency-related crimes amounted to US$1.7 billion. The criminals use both old-fashioned and new-technology tactics to swindle their marks in schemes based on digital currencies exchanged through online databases called blockchains. From researching blockchain, cryptocurrency and cybercrime, I
Climate breakdown is already having a massively negative impact on the world’s wildlife, but it seems there are even more ways animals can be harmed by our negligence. Marine biologists have just demonstrated for the first time that low oxygen levels in the water can send marine invertebrates blind. With rising global temperatures already lowering
In the Chinese science fiction film The Wandering Earth, recently released on Netflix, humanity attempts to change the Earth’s orbit using enormous thrusters in order to escape the expanding Sun – and prevent a collision with Jupiter. The scenario may one day come true. In five billion years, the Sun will run out of fuel
They say a tree never forgets, and apparently, neither does its resin. For more than ten thousand years, an ancient chewing gum, made from the tar of a birch bark tree, has held the memory of Scandinavia’s first human settlers. Discovered in the 1990s, in a prehistoric hunter-fisher site on the Swedish coast, known as the Huseby
Unknown to many travellers in southeast Asia, the ‘jars of the dead’ in Laos are a 2,000-year-old mystery that has never been solved. Speckled across thousands of square kilometres of the Xieng Khouang plateau – now known as the ‘Plain of Jars’ for that very reason – these empty megalithic structures from the Iron Age
When Victor Vescovo’s submarine hit the floor of the Mariana Trench, it sent the sediment swirling. “At bottom,” the Texas businessman-turned-extreme-explorer said into his headset. “Repeat: at bottom”. In a control room more than 35,850 feet (10.9 km) above, Vescovo’s dive team clapped and cheered. Congratulations were in order: they had just set a record.
The world watched avidly earlier this year when NASA spacecraft New Horizons made a historic encounter. It flew past an object called 2014 MU69 – AKA Ultima Thule – the farthest named single object in the Solar System. We know what it looks like. We know it’s a bit of a weirdo. But now scientists
Peacock spiders are so adorable, they stand a chance to sway the feelings of the most seasoned spider hater. These creatures are tiny – a mere 5 millimetres (0.2 inches). They’re also fluffy, the males have incredibly colourful butts, and they love to dance. Now we’ve discovered these spiders also have an interesting superpower – the
Did you know that there are forests in the Arctic? Lush underwater forests of large brown seaweeds (kelps) are particularly striking in the Arctic, especially in contrast to the land where ice scour (scraping of sea ice against the sea floor) and harsh climates leave the ground barren with little vegetation. Kelp forests have been
Yutu 2, the Chinese rover that landed on the far side of the Moon earlier this year, just examined the first-ever samples of the Moon’s mantle. The samples are believed to have been dug out by a meteorite impact so strong that it crashed through the Moon’s crust, according to research published in the journal
Researchers have pinpointed a previously unknown source of volcanoes in the extreme depths of Earth – in the transition zone between the upper and lower mantle. Until now, we thought we had a handle on the ways in which volcanoes form, welling up from the molten regions in the upper mantle beneath our planet’s crust,
Scientists have reworked the DNA of Escherichia coli to help us understand apparent redundancies in its genetic code. At four million base pairs in size, they now have the results of the most ambitious attempt at a completely synthetic form of life. For all its immense variation, life on Earth all shares a common language in its
Reactor number four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered an explosion during a technical test on April 26, 1986. As a result of the accident, in the then Soviet Union, more than 400 times more radiation was emitted than that released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Japan) in 1945. It remains the
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