A viable nuclear fusion reactor — one that spits out more energy than it consumes — could be here as soon as 2025. That’s the takeaway of seven new studies, published Sept. 29 in the Journal of Plasma Physics. If a fusion reactor reaches that milestone, it could pave theContinue Reading
A brutal attack on an Iron Age town in northern Spain during the mid-fourth or late third century B.C. left more than a dozen bodies — men, women and children — scattered and smoldering in the streets, as the town burned. Injuries inflicted upon the people who died were horrific.Continue Reading
With several coronavirus vaccines barreling through late-stage trials, adults could receive an approved vaccine in months. But even then, we likely won’t know whether any of these vaccines work in children. Only a handful of coronavirus vaccine trials currently include children as participants — an Oxford-AstraZeneca trial being one ofContinue Reading
With the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole when the Universe was less than a billion years old. This is the first time such a close grouping has been seen so soon after the Big Bang and theContinue Reading
Until programmers recognize their own internal biases, the software they create will be problematic “Clow-dia,” I say once. Twice. A third time. Defeated, I say the Americanized version of my name: “Claw-dee-ah.” Finally, Siri recognizes it. Having to adapt our way of speaking to interact with speech-recognition technologies is aContinue Reading
A new study provides substantial evidence that the first fossil feather ever to be discovered does belong to the iconic Archaeopteryx, a bird-like dinosaur named in Germany on this day in 1861. This debunks a recent theory that the fossil feather originated from a different species. The research published inContinue Reading
Since first appearing in late 2019, the novel virus, SARS-CoV-2, has had a range of impacts on those it infects. Some people become severely ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and require hospitalization, whereas others have mild symptoms or are even asymptomatic. There are several factors thatContinue Reading
May the roundest boi (or girl) win. Bears are always large and in charge, but during September in southern Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve (KNPP), the brown bears that gather at Brooks River grow cartoonishly round, ushering in a magical time of year — Fat Bear Week. This annualContinue Reading
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX will launch its next big batch of Starlink satellites into orbit for the company’s growing megaconstellation today (Sept. 28), and you can watch the action live online. The Hawthorne, California-based company will loft 60 Starlink internet satellites on its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’sContinue Reading
SpaceX postponed the launch of a new fleet of Starlink internet satellites today (Sept. 28) due to bad weather at the mission’s Florida launch site. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch 60 Starlink satellites from Pad 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:22 a.m.Continue Reading