Dormant genes on the X chromosome may reawaken in old age, potentially giving the aging female brain a boost that the male brain doesn’t receive. This phenomenon may help to explain why, on many measures, females show a higher level of cognitive resilience in old age than males do. The findings come from a new … Read more
What if you could listen to music or a podcast without headphones or earbuds and without disturbing anyone around you? Or have a private conversation in public without other people hearing you? Our newly published research introduces a way to create audible enclaves — localized pockets of sound that are isolated from their surroundings. In … Read more
Scientists have developed a new method to break down plastic waste, using moisture from the air. By exposing a common type of plastic to an inexpensive catalyst and leaving it exposed to ambient air, researchers broke down 94% of the material in just four hours. The plastic transformed into terephthalic acid (TPA), a highly valuable … Read more
NASA scientists have confirmed that a mysterious object shooting toward us through the solar system is an “interstellar object” — only the third of its kind ever seen. Experts have also given the cosmic interloper an official name, and revealed new information about its origins and trajectory. News of the extrasolar entity, initially dubbed A11pl3Z, … Read more
A U.K. start-up has shocked the space exploration community after unveiling plans to use a novel nuclear fusion propulsion system to power an orbital fleet of reusable “alien-like” rockets, known as Sunbirds, which the company says could revolutionize how we explore the solar system — and beyond. The technology behind this ambitious project will begin … Read more
A quartet of Earth-like worlds, each about 20% to 30% the size of our planet, circle one of our closest stellar neighbors, a new study reveals. The rocky alien worlds are close enough that future generations of humans may be able to visit them with futuristic rocket propulsion technology. However, it is unlikely that we … Read more
Punishing artificial intelligence for deceptive or harmful actions doesn’t stop it from misbehaving; it just makes it hide its deviousness, a new study by ChatGPT creator OpenAI has revealed. Since arriving in public in late 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) large language models (LLMs) have repeatedly revealed their deceptive and outright sinister capabilities. These include actions … Read more
Without a doubt, since its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revolutionized our view of the early universe, but its new findings could put astronomers in a spin. In fact, it could tell us something profound about the birth of the universe by possibly hinting that everything we see around us is sealed … Read more
Scientists have devised a way to store and read data from individual atoms embedded in tiny crystals only a few millimeters in size (where 1 mm is 0.04 inches). If scaled up, it could one day lead to ultra-high density storage systems capable of holding petabytes of data on a single disc — where 1 … Read more
For the first time, scientists have observed water molecules splitting in real time to form hydrogen and oxygen. And right before they split, the molecules did something completely unexpected: They flipped 180 degrees. This micro acrobatic stunt takes energy, which offers a crucial explanation for why splitting water takes more energy than theoretical calculations suggested. … Read more
