‘Star Wars’ holds clues to making speedier spacecraft in the real world
A former intern at Audubon magazine and Atlanta’s NPR station, WABE 90.1 FM, he has reported a wide range of science stories for radio, print, and digital media.
An early hint of cosmic dawn has been seen in a distant galaxy
Over the next few hundred million years, as stars began to shine, their light ionised the hydrogen and helium, enabling photons to flow freely and making the universe transparent, though the exact timing of this is uncertain.
This never-before-seen eye cell could help restore lost vision
When transplanted right into the retina of computer mice with an illness comparable to retinitis pigmentosa, the stem cells from the organoids turned into the retinal cells needed to spot and process light signals. These new retinal cells inevitably enhanced the vision of the mice, contrasted with rats that didn’t obtain any transplanted cells. Emily...
An mRNA cancer vaccine may offer long-term protection
In a small clinical trial involving pancreatic cancer patients, the vaccine spurred a strong immune response in eight out of 16 participants, generating a legion of red flag–targeting T cells.
‘Shining anus’ volcano in Tonga coughs up cloud of smoke during recent eruption — Earth from space
However, the smoke in the image, which was pumping out of a volcanic cone north of the crater lake, known as Lofia, is a reminder that the island is still very much active and could blow its top once again in the future, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
Human memory is flawed. But a new book says that’s OK
Perhaps the comparison speaks to me because I have watched my kids create elaborate villages of Lego bricks, only to be dismantled, put away (after much nagging) and reconstructed, always with a similar overall structure but with minor and occasionally major changes.
Have we vastly underestimated the total number of people on Earth?
Josias Láng-Ritter and his colleagues at Aalto University, Finland, were working to understand the extent to which dam construction projects caused people to be resettled, but while estimating populations, they kept getting vastly different numbers to official statistics.
Dinosaurs: Facts about the reptiles that roamed Earth more than 66 million years ago
Dinosaurs likewise probably had very effective breathing thanks to air cavities within their light bones. These cavities assisted them take up oxygen during both breathing and exhalation. This may have contributed to their development to such gigantic sizes. Some dinosaurs might have made use of feathers to stay warm, court companions and even fly. For...
Fossils reveal what the fur of early mammals looked like
The team plans to expand its study by looking at additional early mammal fossils from elsewhere in the world, but Shawkey doesn’t expect the results to be much different.