NASA’s Perseverance rover has found that Mars’ Jezero crater was at one point filled with water, offering a tantalizing hope that it may have already unearthed fossilized life on the planet. The rover, which first touched down on the crater in February 2021 along with its now-retired helicopter companion Ingenuity, made the discovery using ground-penetrating … Read more
Later this year, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Proba-3 mission into orbit around Earth. This unique project’s twin spacecraft will align with each other to create frequent, artificial eclipses in space, which will give researchers near-unlimited access to studying the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, for the first time. An upcoming terrestrial … Read more
A startup has unveiled its design for a fully electric passenger jet that can seat up to 90 passengers, with plans to launch it within the next 10 years. The E9X concept, designed by the Dutch company Elysian, is a battery-powered plane that can fly up to 500 miles (800 kilometers) on a single charge … Read more
When NASA attempted to return to the Moon for the first time in 50 years on January 8, more was at risk than just US$108 million worth of development and equipment. The agency earned the ire of the Native American Navajo people, who made a bid to stop the launch because of an unusual inclusion … Read more
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems that were trained to be secretly malicious resisted state-of-the-art safety methods designed to “purge” them of dishonesty, a disturbing new study found. Researchers programmed various large language models (LLMs) — generative AI systems similar to ChatGPT — to behave maliciously. Then, they tried to remove this behavior by applying several safety … Read more
After three years of soaring through the ultra-thin skies of Mars, NASA’s autonomous Ingenuity helicopter has finally been grounded for good. While power still flows through the 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) helicopter, recent images revealed that at least one of its rotor blades sustained irreparable damage after its last flight — Ingenuity’s 72nd flight over the … Read more
Did someone leave a communicator badge lying on Mars? NASA’s long-running Curiosity rover mission just spotted a familiar shape to “Star Trek” fans: The iconic delta-shaped emblem that Starfleet officers typically wear on their uniforms. Unfortunately, it would be highly illogical to say that a Starfleet landing party walked near Curiosity’s roving grounds, as the … Read more
Conservators at National Museums Scotland have reconstructed a 1,800-year-old segment of Roman armor that was broken into more than 100 pieces. The completed work will be part of an upcoming exhibition. For several weeks, museum conservators painstakingly pieced together what they’re calling an “ancient jigsaw puzzle.” The second-century brass armor was shattered into dozens of … Read more
Several children born with a rare, inherited form of deafness can now hear thanks to two new gene therapies, clinical trial results show. Both therapies target the gene for otoferlin, a protein in the inner ear that lets nerve cells translate vibrations from sound into electrical signals that can be interpreted by the brain. Mutations … Read more
Chinese scientists have built a nuclear battery that can produce power for up to 50 years without being recharged. The technology, which contains a radioactive isotope, or version of nickel, as its power source, will be the first of its kind available for general purchase, Betavolt representatives said on Jan. 8 in a translated statement. … Read more
