Category: Science & Engineering

Officials have announced that an “unusual” La Niña weather pattern (that was supposed to start last summer) is finally underway. However, it is expected to be weaker and shorter than usual. La Niña is the cold phase of a natural climate pattern called the The Child Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, which is a pattern of […]

Thousands of scientists from around the world are gathered in Maryland this week to discuss new discoveries about the universe and the latest astronomical advancements during the so-called “Super Bowl of astronomy.” The 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, running Jan. 12 to Jan. 16, will feature many of the remarkable findings from the […]

Physicists are putting the finishing touches on the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory, or JUNO, which will delve into the secretive ways of neutrinos, a family of extremely lightweight subatomic particles with no electric charge, and their antiparticle partners, antineutrinos. Set to start taking data in summer 2025, JUNO aims to determine which of the three types […]

Many people use the new year to reflect on their relationship with alcohol. Just-released government guidelines are giving Americans another reason to consider a “dry January.” Over the past few decades, mounting scientific evidence has shown that as little as 1-2 alcoholic drinks per day can lead to increases in the likelihood of several cancers. […]

What it is: Spiral galaxy UGC 10043 Where it is: 150 million light-years away in the constellation Serpens When it was shared: December 12, 2024 Why it’s so special: This image of a spiral galaxy taken by the Hubble Space Telescope is a portrait more than two decades in the making. Like most full-color images […]

Astronauts aboard China’s Tiangong space station have been getting some assistance from an “intelligent” robot. Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze — the crew of the current Shenzhou 19 mission aboard Tiangong — have been working alongside a robot named Xiao Hang (“Little Space”) using human-robot collaborative interaction software. The software has allowed them […]

Living tissue from the memory centers of people’s brains reveals sparse nerve cell connections that provide strong, reliable signaling between cells. Source link

A serious knock to the head may also deliver an insidious blow to the human immune system – a one-two punch that could reawaken dormant viruses in the body, potentially contributing to neurodegenerative disease. A study using stem cell ‘mini brains’ has shown that a herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection already ‘arrested’ by the […]

The way scientists think about fusion changed forever in 2022, when what some called the experiment of the century demonstrated for the first time that fusion can be a viable source of clean energy. The experiment, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, showed ignition: a fusion reaction generating more energy out than was put in. In […]

Two private lunar landers are set to launch this week aboard the same rocket, kicking off a busy year of missions to the moon. A six-day window for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching the missions begins early Wednesday morning (Jan. 15), with liftoff scheduled for 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 GMT) from Launch Complex-39B at […]