With help from citizen scientists, astronomers have spotted the most powerful “odd radio circle” (ORC) yet. The discovery could give astronomers a better understanding of how these unusual objects — and the galaxies they encircle — form. “ORCs are among the most bizarre and beautiful cosmic structures we’ve ever seen — and they may hold … Read more
A weak spot in Earth’s magnetic field over the South Atlantic Ocean has ballooned in size since 2014, satellite data reveals. The region, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly, has grown by an area nearly half the size of continental Europe, sprouting a lobe in the direction of Africa where the field is weakening the … Read more
Earth may respond to the huge quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) that humans are pumping into the atmosphere by “overcorrecting” the imbalance, which could result in the next ice age arriving on time instead of being delayed by tens of thousands of years, as had previously been predicted. This is due to a newfound “thermostat” … Read more
If you’ve ever wanted to get lost on Mars, now’s your chance: You can fly over a maze-like canyon on the Red Planet in a stunning new video from the European Space Agency (ESA). The animation, based on data from ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, brings viewers on a “mesmerising flight over curving channels carved by … Read more
Most of the time, death is permanent — when someone’s heart stops beating, it rarely starts again. But sometimes, first responders can help bring a person back from the dead even after their heart stops. So what’s the longest time that someone has been clinically dead and come back to life? Generally, spending more than … Read more
Most of us have likely experienced artificial intelligence (AI) voices through personal assistants like Siri or Alexa, with their flat intonation and mechanical delivery giving us the impression that we could easily distinguish between an AI-generated voice and a real person. But scientists now say the average listener can no longer tell the difference between … Read more
A Chinese company has released footage of a lifelike robot head that blinks, nods, and looks around in a convincing imitation of a real human face. The video, posted to YouTube, shows the robot head’s quizzical expression as it appears to take in its surroundings. The head, created by robotics company AheadForm, might find use … Read more
The asteroid belt is found orbiting between Mars and Jupiter and is a vast collection of rocks that is thought to be a planet that never formed. When our Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago, the material in this region should have coalesced into a planet, however, Jupiter’s gravitational influence prevented this from happening, … Read more
A huge “wave” is rippling through our galaxy, pushing billions of stars in its wake, a new study reveals. The Milky Way’s galactic wave was spotted in mapping data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia space telescope, which charted the positions and movement patterns of millions of stars with high accuracy before retiring earlier … Read more
Scientists have been using ancient DNA to investigate questions about extinct animals since 1984, when researchers recovered two pieces of DNA from a museum specimen of a quagga, a zebra-like species that went extinct in the 19th century. Over the past 40 years, advancements in technology have allowed scientists to sequence older and older DNA … Read more
