News about space, physics, archaeology, animals, health, and more
We might be inching closer to a holy grail of medicine: an incredibly effective flu-killing drug that the virus can’t quickly adapt to. A new experimental treatment was able to rapidly reduce the flu virus in ferrets, but human trials are still a ways off. Researchers at Georgia State and Emory University have spent the … Continued
It’ll require a few more years—and thousands of more satellites—before SpaceX’s Starlink internet constellation achieves full functionality, but that didn’t stop Elon Musk from participating in an early test of the system, which apparently worked. Late last night, Elon Musk announced on Twitter that he was sending a “tweet through space via Starlink satellite.” A … Continued
A common bacterial infection that causes stomach ulcers and cancer has gotten increasingly harder to fend off, according to new preliminary research out this week. In Europe, it suggests, strains of the bacteria Helicobacter pylori have become more resistant to the first-line drugs used to kill it over the past 20 years, with resistance rates … Continued
Aye-ayes are among the strangest primates on Earth, with their oversized ears, spider-like hands, and—as new research shows—a previously undetected sixth finger. Five fingers per hand tends to be the norm in the animal kingdom, but scientists have documented several cases in which organisms feature a sixth finger, an anatomical quirk known as an “accessory … Continued
Just in time for Halloween, doctors in France say they witnessed a real-life horror tale involving an antibiotic-resistant superbug. In less than a month, their patient’s infection evolved resistance to the last-resort drug they had used to treat it. Thankfully, the doctors were still able to defeat the microscopic threat—and the case may have uncovered … Continued
NASA has worked hard to prevent microbes from hitching rides on our spacecraft and spreading around the solar system, but the agency’s tactics are now woefully out of date. A new report outlines the changes needed to modernize NASA’s planetary protection policies and prevent our germs from contaminating scientifically important targets like Mars. The new … Continued
In 2014, a rare polio-like illness that attacks the nervous system of its often young victims first emerged in the U.S.—an illness with no clear cause, according to health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, scientists at the University of California San Francisco say they’ve unearthed the most conclusive evidence to … Continued
This candidate for the loudest bird in the world screams from the treetops with chainsaw volume, directly into the ear of a potential mate. Meet the white bellbird, a member of the cotinga family that is famous for species with strange courtship displays. A pair of researchers measured the white bellbird’s songs and found that … Continued
Scientists have created a new gene-editing technique that overcomes some of the biggest drawbacks of the popular gene-editing tool CRISPR. Gene editing’s core goal is to quickly and accurately edit genetic code, as if you could simply rewrite parts to get certain desired traits. New gene-editing techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 and base editors are getting … Continued
Pig-tailed macaques in Malaysia love to visit oil palm plantations, where they snack on abundantly available fruit. Despite the damage inflicted on the crops, these monkeys actually do more good than harm owing to their predilection for an even-worse pest: rats. New research published today in Current Biology shows that southern pig-tailed macaques have been … Continued
Johnson & Johnson announced a voluntary recall of its talc-based baby powder products on Friday, after the Food and Drug Administration found traces of cancer-causing asbestos in sample testing. The recall follows legal losses and an investigative report linking asbestos exposure to the company’s talc products. The recall will affect only one lot of baby powder, … Continued
The equatorial dunes on Saturn’s moon Titan are among the most dramatic surface features in the Solar System, but scientists aren’t exactly sure how they formed. New experimental evidence suggests the dunes arose as a result of cosmic rays hitting Titan’s surface ice. Titan is one of the neatest places in the Solar System. It’s … Continued
If the seeds of a pandemic illness were planted tomorrow, how would the world fare? Well, according to a simulation carried out on Friday by Johns Hopkins University, the answer is: terribly. At a hotel near New York City’s Central Park, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted a pandemic exercise dubbed Event 201. … Continued
New images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are providing fresh views of NASA’s Insight lander and Curiosity rover on the Martian surface. The Opportunity rover died last year after being smothered by dust, which means NASA has just two robotic probes currently investigating the Martian surface: the six-wheeled Curiosity rover and the immobile InSight … Continued
The blue light that emanates from every smartphone and fluorescent bulb isn’t thought to be great for our health, particularly the health of our eyes. But a new study in fruit flies suggests that blue light can even be harmful to brains and speed up aging—again, in fruit flies. There’s a very long way to … Continued
NASA has rescheduled its first all-women spacewalk for this Friday. The milestone was initially scheduled for this past spring, but spacesuit troubles forced NASA to scrap the event. United States astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will leave the International Space Station in order to replace a failed power controller. https://gizmodo.com/nasa-all-women-space-walk-is-inevitable-but-sorry-no-1833572754 NASA TV coverage of … Continued
A comprehensive analysis of DNA from modern Melanesian people suggests an assortment of mutated genes inherited from extinct Neanderthals and Denisovans provided evolutionary advantages, such as the ability to consume new foods and avoid infections, among other important benefits. Neanderthals and Denisovans went extinct some 35,000 to 40,000 years ago, but not before these closely … Continued
Last year, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk went on YouTube host Joe Rogan’s show and smoked some weed. That was unfortunate, because SpaceX happens to be a U.S. military contractor with security clearances, and the U.S. government does not like marijuana—and in this instance, it disliked it so much it spent $5 million to … Continued
Scientists report that they may have found the earliest written record of a solar storm in ancient Assyrian tablets. Recent analyses have found evidence of an extreme solar storm that left energetic particles in tree rings and ice cores across the world sometime around 660 BCE. With this in mind, a research team in Japan … Continued
