As kids, many of us dream of going to space; increasingly that dream can become a reality thanks to the rapid development of commercial space flight. Today, more space dreams came true as the remaining two crew members of the first all-civilian Inspiration4 mission were announced. Inspiration4 is the brainchild of billionaire Jared Isaacman, who
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Over the past few decades, a number of important advances have helped revolutionize our picture of the Universe. The astrophysical evidence for dark matter is overwhelming, teaching us that the majority of mass in our Universe doesn’t arise from any of the particles we know. The Universe’s expansion is accelerating, revealing the existence of a
The CDC has now confirmed what we have hoped for: the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna are highly effective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection in real world conditions. It was known previously from clinical trials that these vaccines were effective at preventing symptomatic disease. What was not known was whether they prevented asymptomatic infection.
Earlier this month 40 finalists competed in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. Within that group, four promising Latinx students showcased projects that took on some of the world’s larger problems. These young men and women have become an inspiration to a
Did you see the “Super Worm Moon?” By some definitions the first of four supermoons in 2021, the “Super Worm Moon” sparkled in the night sky on Sunday, delighting sky-watchers and photographers around the world. This picture taken on March 27, 2021 shows a view of the full “Worm Moon” rising at night over the
Zenith Tandukar, originally from the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, is now part of an effort to domesticate a wild plant into a brand new oilseed crop suitable for biofuels, jet fuels, and food oil. Tandukar, who is currently a PhD candidate at University of Minnesota, says the idea is to breed a wild plant called
Like the rest of the world, I am paying attention to the large container ship stuck in the Suez Canal. It is a fascinating story at the intersection of our engineered society and nature. However, it is also more than that. Headley White, a professor at Bethune-Cookman University, told me, “The Suez Canal situation shows
A half century from now, one of Elon Musk’s current space competitors may be running tours to Olympus Mons, our solar system’s largest known volcano. This truly extraordinary landform mass in Mars’ western hemisphere is without compare in terms of its sheer height and mass. Some 25 km high, or two and a half times the
Topline The U.S. recorded 77,339 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University, and the rolling 7-day average of cases nationwide has increased by more than 10% over the previous week, with more than two dozen states trending in the wrong direction, leading to the Centers for Disease Control and
Hurricanes get your attention. They are powerful storms that cause life-altering changes for people and communities. Hurricane Michael (2018), for example, destroyed coastal and tourist communities and then plowed into my state of Georgia with 100+ mph winds destroying critical agricultural crops. While we tend to be U.S-centric, hurricanes are part of a broader class
What the shell? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), small turtles may be the source of a new Salmonella outbreak that has already left at least 22 people sick across seven different states. That’s five cases in California, two in Connecticut, one in Florida, one in Maryland, two in New Jersey,
Many people are asking if we will be able to eradicate SARS-CoV-2 through herd immunity. The answer is complicated. Here are a few reasons why. The rise of variant strains I have already written about the immunology of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the possibility that survivors may be reinfected. A related issue concerns the rise of
Just after 9:00 p.m. PT Thursday, folks across the Seattle area reported and recorded brilliant, blazing streaks overhead. The lights were not not the latest sightings of Elon Musk’s growing Starlink mega-constellation of broadband satellites. At least, not directly. Rather, they were the remains of a SpaceX rocket that did send a recent batch of
Ask anyone — even someone with no background in science — to name something that Einstein did, and odds are they’ll come back with his most famous equation: E = mc². In plain English, it tells us that energy is equal to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared, teaching us an enormous amount
New research into the mass death of millions of shearwater birds in 2013 suggests seabirds are eating non-food materials including floating pumice stones, because they are starving, potentially indicating broader health issues for the marine ecosystem. The research led by Australia’s national science agency investigated a 2013 seabird mass mortality event (MME) in which up
The San Andreas Fault is a roughly 800-mile (over 1.200 kilometers) system of fractures that runs much of the length of California and is capable of producing magnitude 7+ earthquakes, powerful enough to cause widespread destruction. As the Pacific and North American continental plates move past one another, the southern San Andreas Fault carries about
It’s been over 100 years since the first solution for a black hole was discovered in General Relativity. For generations, scientists argued over whether these objects were physical, existing all throughout our Universe, or whether they were mere mathematical artifacts. In the 1960s, Roger Penrose’s Nobel-winning work demonstrated how black holes could realistically form in
Although there is evidence that adoption occurs in many species of animals, it is rare for scientists to actually observe adoption in the wild. Researchers studying bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo say they observed something even more unusual. Between April 2019 and May 2020, two female bonobos adopted infants from outside their
At least one fifth (21%) of the world’s 2,000 largest public companies have committed to meet net zero targets, according to a new report called ‘Taking Stock: A global assessment of net zero targets.’ The companies together represent sales of nearly $14 trillion. The report has been put together by Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU),
There’s no such thing as absolute time. No matter where you are, how fast you’re moving, or how strong the gravitational field is around you, any clock you have on you will always record time as passing at the same rate: one second per second. For any solitary observer, time simply flows. But if you