Science hasn’t been giving us a tremendous amount of good news these days. We’re speeding toward climate catastrophe, for one. We’ve screwed up the environment so badly, it’s hard to even call it an environment anymore. And that’s coming back to bite (or sting) us: Bee populations, which we rely on to pollinate our crops,…
For almost a decade, NASA hasn't had a satellite watching the planet's melting sea ice. That's slated to change with tomorrow's planned launch of the $1 billion ICESat-2 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California. Once it settles into orbit 310 miles above the Earth, the satellite will start collecting data using a specially…
Michaela Cordova, a research associate and lab manager at Oregon Health and Science University, begins by “de-metaling”: removing rings, watches, gadgets and other sources of metal, double-checking her pockets for overlooked objects that could, in her words, “fly in.” Then she enters the scanning room, raises and lowers the bed, and waves a head coil…
Editor’s note, 11/14/18: The journal Nature is reviewing corrections to the study outlined in this story. They are related to the uncertainty in the authors’ measurements. We will update this story with new figures when they become available. The story appears below in its original form. If you ever meet a climate scientist, give them…
In 1963, Maria Goeppert Mayer won the Nobel Prize in physics for describing the layered, shell-like structures of atomic nuclei. No woman has won since. Quanta Magazine About Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering…
In July, a 65-year-old woman running a high fever checked into a hospital in the province of North Kivu, along the Democratic Republic of Congo’s border with Uganda. She was later discharged and returned home to her remote town, only to die a few days later. By the time health officials checked in on the…
Every time someone in a position of power (for example) says that a cold snap in winter proves that climate change is not a thing, a dutiful chorus responds with a familiar refrain: Weather is not climate. Weather happens on the scale of days or weeks, over a distance relevant to cities or states. Climate…
If policymaking is never easy, and military policymaking is very difficult, it stands to reason that space military policymaking is basically impossible. Yet today, in a speech at the Pentagon, Vice President Mike Pence announced the formation of a sixth branch of the US armed services: a SPACE FORCE! But can that really happen? Well,…
One of the most surprising announcements at Apple's annual hardware event on Wednesday wasn't a new iPhone, or even the new, thinner, next-generation Apple Watch. It was a feature on the Apple Watch. "We've added electrodes into the back sapphire crystal and the digital crown, allowing you to take an electrocardiogram," said COO Jeff Williams,…
I straddle my bike, clip into my pedals, and take a slow, deep breath. What I'm about to do won't take long, but it's going to hurt and I know it. Really, it's all I can think about. My bike is attached to a stationary trainer that controls how hard I must pedal to turn…