The moon exerts a previously unknown tidal force on the “plasma ocean” surrounding Earth’s upper atmosphere, creating fluctuations that are similar to the tides in the oceans, a new study suggests. In the study, published Jan. 26 in the journal Nature Physics, scientists used more than 40 years of data collected by satellites to track … Read more
Using a new machine-learning algorithm, scientists have picked up eight extraterrestrial signals that seem to bear the hallmarks of technology. The research, published Jan. 30 in the journal Nature Astronomy, doesn’t claim to have really found proof of intelligent aliens; a brief follow-up search for the signals detected in the study turned up only silence. … Read more
Miniature, lab-grown models of the human brain’s wrinkled surface can be used to patch injuries in the brains of living rats and thus repair broken connections in the rodents’ sensory processing systems, a new study shows. Someday, such minibrains — known as brain organoids — could potentially be used to mend the brains of human … Read more
Using ultracold temperatures and some steel ball bearings, scientists have created a brand-new, bizarre form of ice that has the same density of liquid water. The ice, known as medium-density amorphous ice, fits into a gap in the annals of frozen water that scientists weren’t sure would ever be filled. Unlike the crystalline ice that … Read more
Scientists have made one of the most precise maps of the universe’s matter, and it shows that something may be missing in our best model of the cosmos. Created by pooling data from two telescopes that observe different types of light, the new map revealed that the universe is less “clumpy” than previous models predicted … Read more
Scientists have spotted an enormous, ‘alien’ comet streaking straight towards the sun. The 3.7 mile-wide (6 kilometers) space iceball, called 96P/Machholz 1, is thought to have come from somewhere outside our solar system, and is being monitored by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft as it zips toward our star … Read more
As climate change transforms our world, the impacts will be felt unequally, with some animals struggling to survive and others finding ways to overcome the resulting challenges. This phenomenon is increasingly described as the “winners and losers under climate change,” said Giovanni Strona (opens in new tab), an ecologist and former associate professor at the … Read more
On May 22, 1960, a devastating earthquake hit southern Chile. For 10 minutes, the ground shook so violently that people were unable to stay on their feet. Cracks opened in roads, and buildings collapsed. One man, quoted in a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report (opens in new tab) about surviving the quake and its subsequent … Read more
The Teutonic Knights were one of the great chivalric orders that emerged from the Crusades, alongside the Hospitallers and Templars, but while those other knights made their names in the Holy Land, the Teutonic Knights fought their greatest battles in Europe. In the latest issue of All About History (opens in new tab), on sale … Read more
Scientists studying the surface of Mars recently found a piece of the rocky planet smiling back at them. In an image shared Jan. 25 by The University of Arizona (opens in new tab) (UA), what appears to be the face of an enormous Martian teddy bear — complete with two beady eyes, a button nose … Read more
