More than eight decades after they were predicted to exist, physicists have found evidence of discrete units of matter that could help us better understand the electrical equivalent of ferromagnetism. Called hysterons, these nano-scaled stacks of molecules act like independent particles in a crowd, solving a long standing mystery while laying the groundwork for advanced
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Ending a romantic relationship is never easy, and there’s something about a bad relationship that makes it especially hard to break off. Researchers are still not entirely sure what that “something” is, but a new study suggests it may be a curious sign of altruism. You might assume people who stay in an unhappy relationship are
An awful lot can happen in any given week, and it’s no easy task keeping up with all the excitement – both in the world of science and beyond. To keep you up to date with our coverage at ScienceAlert, each week we put together this shareable image with some of the past week’s highlights.
Getty royalty free Tis’ the season for scary movies, one after another, as horror movie marathons pave the way to Halloween. For those of us who love horror flicks, that’s pretty close to bliss. For others, it’s a stomach-churning onslaught. So what is it exactly that makes us seek out the scary – is it just
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The Pentagon official responsible for space policy says he expects an “exciting and interesting discussion” in Congress next year when the House and Senate take up the administration’s proposal to establish a Space Force. In a speech at the American Astronautical Society’s Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium here Oct. 25, Stephen Kitay,
Perhaps one of the world’s best known fossils is Archaeopteryx. With its beautifully preserved feathers, it has long been regarded as the first bird in the fossil record, and is often called “the icon of evolution“. Only a handful of specimens have ever been found, its elusivity adding to its fascination. But was it really
There’s something out there, watching us from the night sky. We can’t see it, but it can see us. European Southern Observatory (EOS) has recently released a new and eerie view of the active star-forming region NGC 2467, ominously known as the Skull and Crossbones Nebula. The image is both beautiful and sinister. Bound by the whims
The next time you pee, think about this: Your urine could one day create the sustainable building materials of the future. Dyllon Randall is a research engineer at the University of Cape Town. He’s also the supervisor on a new project in which students harvested urine from urinals so they could transform the waste into
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin The NHC’s forecast for Subtropical Storm Oscar at 5:00 PM EDT on October 27, 2018.Dennis Mersereau Subtropical Storm Oscar formed out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on Friday evening. The fifteenth named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season began its life like so
HELSINKI — Landspace suffered an issue with the third stage of its Zhuque-1 solid launch vehicle Saturday as it bid to become the first Chinese private launch company to reach orbit. The three-stage Zhuque-1, named after the Vermillion Bird from Chinese mythology, lifted off from a mobile platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest
Forests are often dubbed the lung’s of the Earth. But as beautiful as that metaphor is, trees don’t actually breathe in the common sense of the word – or do they? A creepy new video has captured a dense forest in Quebec rising and falling as if a giant monster were snoring under its mossy
On February 11th, 2016, scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) made history when they announced the first detection of gravitational waves. Originally predicted made by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity a century prior, these waves are essentially ripples in space-time that are formed by major astronomical events – such as the merger of
Mars is a sizable planet about nine times the mass of our moon. The latest scientific research suggests Mars, despite looking like a giant desert, may harbour enough subsurface water and warmth to support microbial life today. But against the deep, dark backdrop of space, the rusty-red world looks as humble and insignificant as Earth. NASA underscored this stark reality with
A bag of pills that a person dropped off in the box at the drug take back station in the Back Bay parking lot, one of several locations for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Once the boxes are full they are marked and taken by the police and then the prescription drugs are destroyed.
WASHINGTON — NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has resumed normal operations after controllers fixed a faulty gyroscope on the spacecraft, the agency announced Oct. 27. In a statement, NASA said that Hubble resumed normal science operations at 9 p.m. Eastern Oct. 26, and completed its first science observations, of a distant galaxy using the spacecraft’s Wide
Strange-looking black pouches have been washing up on beaches along North Carolina’s shores. But despite how they might look, they’re not plastic pollution, as officials have reminded the well-meaning public. That’s because they’re actually something much cooler – the egg casings of sea skates. Sometimes known as mermaid’s or devil’s purses, based on their weird
A JAMA study compared vaccine effectiveness in kids who had and had not gotten the flu vaccine the prior year. (Photo: Getty Images) Getting a flu vaccine is like wearing underwear. Just because you did it last year, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it this year. Also, similar to underwear, the protection offered by a flu
Deputy Defense Secretary Shanahan: “The Space Development Agency gets after how we, as a government, develop and field capability more quickly.” WASHINGTON — Much of the criticism aimed at the Trump administration’s Space Force plan is that it creates an expensive new bureaucracy that the Pentagon does not need. Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan
Humans have got a lot to answer for when it comes to interfering with nature. And we can add noisy cargo ships to the rather shameful list of ways we’re affecting the lives of the animals we share the planet with. A new study reveals low-frequency hums from this maritime traffic are causing whales to
Photo credit: Getty Royalty Free Some captive elephants create paintings or even smash and consume giant pumpkins in Halloween kickoff events, but what about their mathematical abilities? Three Asian elephants named Artit (a 15-year-old male), Surya (an 18-year-old female), and Authai (a 14-year-old female) are the stars of a recent elephant math study published in the Journal of Ethology. The