Scientists in Germany have hit a new superconductivity milestone – achieving a resistance-free electrical current at the highest temperature yet: just 250 Kelvin, or -23 degrees Celsius (-9.4 degrees Fahrenheit). The work was led by Mikhail Eremets, a physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, who set the previous high temperature record for superconductivity
Month: May 2019
Jade occupied a special place in the mysterious civilisation of the Maya people, crafted into elaborate trinkets rich with ancient meaning and lore. But this prized stone wasn’t reserved solely for ornamental finery. Jade – in the form of its mineral variety, jadeite – also seems to have had its uses in the toil of
NASA has chosen 11 American companies to help them build the next lunar landers that will carry humans to the surface of the Moon. The 11 companies will conduct studies and work on prototype landers in the coming years. It’s all part of NASA’s Artemis mission, and the mission’s 2024 date with the surface of
Larry is the best sleeper in America. He is 70 and happy. Be like Larry. May is Better Sleep Month, and seniors should be celebrating. According to a new survey by The Better Sleep Council, retired adults and the nation’s baby boomers are sleeping great. And the Silent Generation—people born between 1925 and 1945—are the
It’s been almost exactly one year since US scientists reported a mysterious surge in ozone-destroying chemicals, known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Banned in 1987 under the globally signed Montreal Protocol, there was only one explanation: somewhere out there, in an unknown location, someone must have gone rogue, setting back progress on the ozone hole by a
A microscopic multicellular fungus named Ourasphaira giraldae, which lived in an estuary environment roughly 900 million to 1 billion years ago and was unearthed in the Northern Territories of Canada, is shown in this photograph from the University of Liege, Belgium released May 22, 2019. It is the oldest-known fossil fungus. Corentin Loron/University of Liege/Handout
PASADENA, Calif. – Olis Robotics, a company that offers software for mobile remote robots, sees many applications for its artificial intelligence to support internal and external space servicing, assembly, manufacturing and operational concepts,” Blaine Levedahl, Olis Robotics U.S. government programs director, said May 22 at the Space Tech Expo here. Olis Robotics announced its latest
In November last year, geologists announced they’d picked up something really weird: a huge seismic event originating in the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, felt all across the globe, source unknown. A few months later, scientists used modelling to produce an answer – hypothesising a giant underwater volcanic eruption. And now it seems
Sean Hunt and Gaurab Chakrabarti, cofounders of Solugen Solugen Houston-based chemical manufacturing startup Solugen, announced Wednesday that it has raised a $32 million series B round. The company, which was cofounded by Forbes Under 30 alumni Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt, will use to expand its manufacturing facilities. The round was led by Founders Fund,
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting. Scientists have known this for years, but they’re only now realising how quickly that melting is happening. Greenland’s ice is melting six times faster now than it was four decades ago; the ice sheet is sloughing off an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year. In
This article originally appeared in the May 6, 2019 issue of SpaceNews magazine. Some people see the proliferation of startups developing rocket engines as a sign of the space industry’s vibrancy. Jeff Greason calls it “f—ing insane.” “It’s a sign of the immaturity of the industry,” Greason, former XCOR Aerospace co-founder and chief executive, said
Sharks are pretty eclectic eaters. They’ll go for prey ranging from fish and invertebrates to sea mammals and turtles. A shark may even have a chomp on the odd surfer. If they can catch it, or scavenge it, and it’s made of meat, sharks will generally eat it. A new study identifying the contents of
The world produces a staggering 180 billion aluminium cans every year, but it’s a safe bet many of the people consuming those beverages don’t know about a hidden material concealed inside the metal cylinders. For decades, aluminium can manufacturers have lined the inside of their cans with plastic. Why? Well, it’s to protect the beverage
You started out as just a few cells but developed into trillions of cells that make up all the different organs in your body. For this to happen, your cells have had to divide into two new cells that each include all the cellular components and DNA they need. To help scientists study this important
The window for climate action is closing before our very eyes, and as emissions continue to rise, researchers at Stanford are asking us to consider the lesser of two evils. In a new commentary, the authors propose a wild idea that would intentionally release more carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, while getting rid of
PASADENA, Calif. — Despite a surge in Chinese launch activity and growth of commercial Chinese launch developers, executives with American companies said they’re not worried about potential competition with them. The issue of Chinese competition has become a particular concern in the last year for small launch vehicle developers. Several private Chinese companies are working
If you pictured a fight between a snake and a squirrel, you probably wouldn’t bet on the squirrel coming out on top. But that’s exactly what happened in a particularly gruesome case in 2009, caught on camera by William Leggett, who was a ranger at West Texas’ Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The photo below shows
Male Trinidadian guppies (Poecilla reticulata). Clelia Gasparini, Ecology and Evolution Researchers at Florida State University have recently discovered why female guppies, tiny tropical fish native to Central and South America, prefer males with unusual color patterns – and it has to do with fish psychology. In their new study, Dr. Kimberly Hughes and her team of
PASADENA, Calif. — The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an agency created in 2015 to accelerate the adoption of commercial technology to solve national security problems, is trying to reduce the time it takes to award contracts from 90 days to 60 days. DIU has always aimed for speed. “If you’ve got great technology and a
One soap bubble over green bush. Getty One of the most reliable anthropomorphic rules of thumb in physics is that any system “wants” to minimize its energy, and will move in the direction of the lowest-energy state available. Of course, inanimate physical objects don’t really have desires, so this is really just a statistical-likelihood kind
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