Science
Goodbye, Falcon 9: SpaceX planning to retire workhorse launcher when Starship is up and running
SpaceX plans to retire its workhorse Falcon 9 once it gets the next-gen Starship megarocket online. But what will removing one of the most-flown rockets in history do to the curre…
Perseverance Captures Another Phobos Transit
Description NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to capture the silhouette of Phobos, one of the two Martian moons, as it crossed in front of the Sun on Aug. 1…
Starstruck: NASA Research Shows How Sun’s Ancient History Shaped Earth
At the center of our solar system, the Sun influences every planet that orbits it. In two recent NASA-funded studies, scientists uncovered how ancient events in the Sun’s history …
One step closer to the ideal glass—simulations reveal hidden order at absolute zero
In the physical sense, glass is not limited to familiar window glass; it forms whenever a liquid is cooled so quickly that it cannot crystallize. As a result, glass has an amorpho…
NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman at Freedom 250 Grand Prix
NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman is seen in the two-seat IndyCar as he prepares for driver Conor Daly to take him on a lap ahead of the start of the Freedom 25…
Cowpea plants create underground defense system for the next generation after insect attacks
Plants might seem helpless when it comes to insect attacks, but they are known to employ various techniques to deter pests. One of these techniques involves sending out signals to…
MAIA Air Sensor at Work in Addis Ababa
Description This roof-mounted air sensor in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is one of 10 used by NASA’s Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) to study the city’s air qualit…
Mapping Air Pollution With MAIA Sensors in Addis Ababa
Description This map of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, shows the locations of 10 air sensors that NASA’s Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) mission is using to provide …
South Africa produces enough food, yet millions face hunger. Better cold storage could help change that
South Africa can produce enough food for its population, according to official statistics. But millions face hunger, partly because food is lost and wasted in the value chain. An …
Mechanical memory helps explain how cells adapt their movement to changing environments
Cells in our bodies squeeze through dense tissue channels, thread past neighboring cells and navigate every nook and cranny within the extracellular matrix—the mesh-like network t…
Corners in focus: Metasurface enables motion tracking without digital image processing
A research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) has developed a new optical corner-detection imaging method that uses azimuthal Hilbert transform metasurfaces and is des…
SpaceX will set rocket-reuse record on 100th Falcon 9 launch of the year early Aug. 25: Watch it live
SpaceX will set a new rocket-reuse record early Tuesday morning (Aug. 25), on its 100th Falcon 9 flight of the year. You can watch the action live.
Listening to the bush: How AI can help NZ rid its wilderness of 'hold‑out' pest possums
Possums are among New Zealand's most destructive introduced mammals. They damage native forests, prey on wildlife and remain a major target of the country's Predator Free 2050 pro…
Soil bacteria share amino acids, helping nearly half survive nutrient gaps
Bacteria, too, depend on good neighborly relations: A new study by the Osnabrück University, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Cambridge in England, shows t…
Remembering the ‘Visionary’ Author of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Rights Amendment
A monumental figure in Pennsylvania’s environmental movement passed away last week. Former state legislator Franklin Kury, who was 89, led Pennsylvania to become one of the first …
Tiny root hairs, big impact: How bacteria help plants survive drought
What helps plants cope better with drought? With heat waves and periods of extreme drought becoming increasingly common worldwide, the need for drought-tolerant plants is increasi…
Why do we care so much that Pluto isn't a planet?
Twenty years after Pluto became a dwarf planet, people are still fighting over its status. Experts explain why the debate feels so personal.
Antarctic bacteria share 'life‑support' genes to survive extreme conditions
Antarctica is one of the driest, coldest places on Earth. Very little life survives its extremes. In the soils scattered around the frozen ice sheets, however, communities of micr…
Our climate is changing rapidly – and our politicians sound increasingly surreal | Zoe Williams
On a panel show last week, everyone in the audience wanted to talk about the climate emergency, but the lines rolled out by a Tory MP simply dissolved on contact with realityAs it…
Tiny ocean plankton hold clues to the future of Maine lobster
The future of Maine's lobster industry may depend on a creature the size of a sesame seed. Researchers at the University of Maine have discovered that planktonic baby lobsters, or…
Is the Perseid meteor shower going to get even more spectacular? Jupiter could send more 'shooting stars' towards Earth in 2028
Jupiter's gravity could trigger an outburst of Perseid meteors as the 2028 shower hits its peak.
At 25% off, this beginner-friendly Celestron telescope will bring the lunar eclipse closer
Want great views of this week's partial lunar eclipse or a closer look at Saturn as it reaches opposition in October? This Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ, nearly 50% off at Walmart, i…
LST-1 and MAGIC telescopes shatter distance record for the very high-energy blazar OP 313
On Aug. 15, the CTAO LST Collaboration and the MAGIC Collaboration released findings from observations of OP 313, the most distant very-high-energy blazar ever recorded. The paper…
How chromosomes find their partners
For a long time, so-called satellite DNA was considered largely worthless. Now, ETH Zurich researchers have shown in fruit flies that these repetitive sections of genetic material…