This eco-friendly glitter gets its color from plants, not plastic
Minuscule arrangements in cellulose reflect light in specific ways to give rise to vibrant hues All that glitters is not green. Glitter and shimmery pigments are often made using toxic compounds or pollutive microplastics (SN: 4/15/19). That makes the sparkly stuff, notoriously difficult to clean up in the house, a
Large Hadron Collider switches on at highest ever power level to look for dark matter
The detector is set to run at its highest energies yet. The Large Hadron Collider has been turned back on today (July 5) and is set to smash particles together at never-before-seen energy levels. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. Located at
Scientists grew living human skin around a robotic finger
The advance brings Terminator-like cyborgs a small step closer to reality The Terminator may be one step closer to reality. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have built a robotic finger that, much like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s titular cyborg assassin, is covered in living human skin. The goal is to someday
Turbulence Equations Discovered After Century-Long Quest
The formulas describe the complex behavior of a liquid when it meets a boundary Since at least the 1920s, scientists have been puzzled by the turbulence that arises when a liquid hits a wall. For instance, what happens when water violently sloshes against the side of a pool or when
Tesla recalls 50,000 cars that disobey stop signs in self-driving mode Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2307147-tesla-recalls-50000-cars-that-disobey-stop-signs-in-self-driving-mode
The “rolling stop” feature introduced by Tesla in October meant that cars rolled past stop signs instead of stopping, as many states require by law Tesla is recalling more than 50,000 cars in the US because the AI behind its self-driving feature acted too aggressively, rolling past stop signs rather
Conservationists Promote the Annual Big Butterfly Count as Two-Fifths of British Butterflies Face Threat
In 2013, scientists said that around five out of the millions of invertebrates, including butterflies, were at risk of extinction. These beautiful creatures have shown signs of a significant decline in population and conservationists have been fighting for a law to be implemented to protect butterflies. The annual Big Butterfly
Alien earthworms have spread to almost all parts of North America
Invasive worms, considered a major threat to native ecosystems, have been found in 97 per cent of areas for which there are records in North America As North Americans have busied themselves about their various concerns, unseen invaders have slowly been amassing beneath their feet. There are now more alien
James Webb Space Telescope Set to Study Two Strange Super-Earths
Space agency officials promise to deliver geology results from worlds dozens of light-years away The James Webb Space Telescope plans to explore strange, new rocky worlds in unprecedented detail. The telescope’s scientific consortium has an ambitious agenda to study geology on these small planets from “50 light-years away”, they said
Amazon nears ‘tipping point’ where rainforest could transform into savanna
The Amazon may be nearing a “tipping point.” If deforestation continues, the Amazon rainforest could reach a critical tipping point where most of it transforms into a dry savanna, a new study warns. The study, published Monday (March 7) in the journal Nature Climate Change, suggests that more than 75%
Weighted-blanket use may boost sleep hormone melatonin, small study hints
A small study links weighted-blanket use at bedtime to increased melatonin production. Using a weighted blanket at bedtime may boost the body’s production of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, a small study suggests. However, at this point, it’s unclear why the hefty blankets might increase melatonin levels and whether this significantly
Woman who spontaneously vomited up to 30 times a day likely had rogue antibodies
A woman’s unusual vomiting episodes may be linked to an autoimmune disorder. A young woman experienced spontaneous vomiting attacks during which she would sometimes retch more than 30 times a day and heave up to 1.6 gallons (6 liters) over the full course of an episode. It turns out, the
In First, Scientists Use CRISPR for Personalized Cancer Treatment
The “most complicated therapy ever” tailors bespoke, genome-edited immune cells to attack tumors A small clinical trial has shown that researchers can use CRISPR gene editing to alter immune cells so that they will recognize mutated proteins specific to a person’s tumours. Those cells can then be safely set loose
RSV Is Surging: What We Know about This Common and Surprisingly Dangerous Virus
Your questions answered about what RSV is, how it spreads, what vaccines are on the way and who is most at risk As flu season picks up and experts weigh concerns about another possible COVID surge, children’s hospitals are already filling with patients with another viral threat: respiratory syncytial virus,
Nuclear fusion reactor ‘breakthrough’ is significant, but light-years away from being useful
Useful, cost-effective nuclear fusion remains a distant dream, despite a small step in the right direction from the government’s NIF reactor. Scientists have just announced a breakthrough in nuclear fusion ignition: For the first time the heart of a powerful fusion reactor has briefly generated more energy than was put
Distant ‘hell planet’ with diamond core is the victim of a gravitational catastrophe
The planet 55 Cancri e, also known as the “hell planet,” appears to have been dragged closer to its sun’s equator due to a gravitational anomaly. Scientists studying a distant “hell planet” where clouds rain lava, the oceans are molten and the core is filled with diamonds have found that
Part of a lost, ancient star catalog has now been found
Greek astronomer Hipparchus is thought to be the first to attempt to precisely map the stars Fragments of a star catalog from the second century B.C. have turned up in a manuscript that had been erased and written over centuries later. A new analysis of the religious manuscript shows that
Marsquakes hint that the planet might be volcanically active after all
The finding, based on more than 1,000 quakes, suggests the planet isn’t geologically dead Researchers have analyzed a slew of recent temblors on the Red Planet and shown that these Marsquakes are probably caused by magma moving deep under the Martian surface. That’s evidence that Mars is still volcanically active,
What’s the world’s oldest civilization?
Did the first civilization arise in Mesopotamia, or elsewhere? Countless civilizations have risen and fallen over the millennia. But which one is the oldest on record? About 30 years ago, this question seemed to have a straightforward answer. Around 4000 B.C., the earliest phase of the Sumerian culture arose as
Pottery, swords and jewelry: Rich Stone Age and early medieval graves found in Germany
The discoveries hint that humans occupied the region longer than locals thought. Archaeological treasures, including Stone Age pottery and medieval graves with swords and jewelry, have revealed a long history of human habitation near the Danube River in Germany. At the site, in the Geisingen-Gutmadingen district of Tuttlingen, in southwestern
The Aztec Empire: History, maps, religion and fall
The Aztec Empire flourished in the Valley of Mexico between A.D. 1325 and 1519 and was the last great civilization before the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century. The Aztec Empire flourished in central Mexico during the Postclassic period of Mesoamerican history, from approximately A.D. 1325 to
Metal detectorist in UK finds ancient Roman penis pendant
Silver penis pendants like this are rare. A metal detectorist recently discovered a silver, penis-shaped pendant in Kent, England that was likely worn around the neck to protect a person from misfortune around 1,800 years ago. Ancient Roman writers such as Marcus Terentius Varro (lived 116 B.C. to 27 B.C.)