Seven studies describe progress thus far and challenges ahead for a revolutionary zero-emissions power source Two and a half years ago, MIT entered into a research agreement with startup company Commonwealth Fusion Systems to develop a next-generation fusion research experiment, called SPARC, as a precursor to a practical, emissions-free powerContinue Reading
The true toll is likely much higher. At least 1 million people have now died from COVID-19. This grim milestone comes over eight months after the public first learned that a mysterious respiratory virus was infecting people in China. The novel coronavirus swept quickly across the globe and overwhelmed hospitalsContinue Reading
The Milky Way’s core harbors two giants: the galaxy’s largest black hole and a cluster of tens of millions of stars around the black hole that is denser and more massive than any other star cluster in the galaxy. Most of the cluster’s many stars shine within just 20 light-yearsContinue Reading
The debate about when dinosaurs developed feathers has taken a new turn with a paper refuting earlier claims that feathers were also found on dinosaurs’ relatives, the flying reptiles called pterosaurs. Pterosaur expert Dr David Unwin from the University of Leicester’s Centre for Palaeobiology Research, and Professor Dave Martill, ofContinue Reading
Discovery may indicate modern humans and Neanderthals lived in the area concurrently Modern humans arrived in the westernmost part of Europe 41,000 — 38,000 years ago, about 5,000 years earlier than previously known, according to Jonathan Haws, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University ofContinue Reading
The scientists who re-engineered the plastic-eating enzyme PETase have now created an enzyme ‘cocktail’ which can digest plastic up to six times faster. A second enzyme, found in the same rubbish dwelling bacterium that lives on a diet of plastic bottles, has been combined with PETase to speed up theContinue Reading
“It was a brilliant red in the low morning light.” A mysterious, many-armed sea creature — initially described as a large “red glob” — lying on a rocky shore in Washington has drawn in cephalopod experts across the country, each wondering what this gelatinous animal is. The 3.5-foot-long (1 meter)Continue Reading
Unusual flashes of gamma rays could reveal that what appear to be giant black holes are actually huge wormholes, a new study finds. Wormholes are tunnels in space-time that can theoretically allow travel anywhere in space and time, or even into another universe. Einstein’s theory of general relativity suggests wormholesContinue Reading
It sank after being attacked by Japanese aircraft. Divers in Southeast Asia have located the lost wreck of what’s thought to be a U.S. Navy submarine that sank in 1943 after it was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The submarine wreck — almost certainly that of USS Grenadier — was foundContinue Reading
Black licorice contains a compound known to be toxic in large doses. A man in Massachusetts died after eating too much black licorice, which contains a compound known to be toxic in large doses, according to a new report. The 54-year-old man was in a fast food restaurant when heContinue Reading