Researchers Want To Create Safe, Inclusive Virtual Reality Hangouts For Teens

The advent of the internet shifted how we socialise. Chat rooms, forums, and eventually social media platforms opened up new ways to both communicate and express ourselves. Online anonymity, for example, allowed us to be whoever we pleased to anyone with a connection — for better or worse. Psychological research followed this shift, and decades later there are troves of papers on almost every aspect of online interaction you could hope to explore.

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New Fossil Shows Ancient Human Relative "Walked Like Humans And Climbed Like Apes"

An international team of scientists from New York University, the University of the Witwatersrand and 15 other institutions announced today in the open-access journal eLife the discovery of ...

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A Space Telescope With one job: Find Habitable Planets at Alpha Centauri - Universe Today

Breakthrough Initiatives just announced a collaborative effort to launch a space telescope that will search for habitable planets around Alpha Centauri

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A Japanese robot cafe shows how avatars can foster human connection

The task of designing solutions for homebound populations is particularly acute in Japan, where over a quarter of its population is unable to work due to physical disabilities, mental illness, or old age

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It's Time to Fear the Fungi

Climate change could threaten humans' protection from fungal infections. It's time to fear the fungi.

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James Webb Space Telescope cleared for launch on December 22

After years of setbacks, the James Webb Space Telescope will finally launch next month. NASA has given the green light to begin fueling the observatory for launch, after engineering teams found no sign of damage from an incident last week.

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Ikea says it will eliminate plastic packaging by 2028

As part of the company’s goal to become fully circular, it needs to work to eliminate the 10% of its packaging that still uses plastic.

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Study suggests Sun is likely an unaccounted source of the Earth's water

Curtin University researchers have helped unravel the enduring mystery of the origins of the Earth's water, finding the Sun to be a surprising likely source.

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Government to push for international ban of autonomous weapons, or killer robots

Mass-produced killer robots in the battlefield will lower the threshold for war, disarmament minister says.

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Study: Massachusetts Gun-Control Legislation Has Had No Effect on Violent Crime

A new SPA study examined the impact changes to background checks and licensing policies has made on different types of violent crime in Massachusetts.

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Astronomers Discover Ancient “Failed Star” With Lithium Deposits Intact

A team of researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Mexico, has discovered lithium in the oldest and coldest brown dwarf where the presence of this valuable element has been confirmed so far.

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Inside the C.D.C.’s Pandemic ‘Weather Service’

The agency has created an ambitious $200 million center to predict future outbreaks — but diseases are a lot harder to model than storms.

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Astronaut Wang Yaping snaps Earth photos and more from Chinese space station

The first woman aboard China’s new space station has snapped some glorious shots of our homeworld during a six-month mission to space. Wang Yaping flew to the Tianhe core module in October aboard the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft along with her colleagues Zhai Zhigang and Ye Guangfu.

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Receiving a hug or engaging in self-soothing touch reduces cortisol levels following a stressful experience

A new study suggests that self-soothing touch, such as placing a hand over one’s heart, offers similar stress-reducing benefits to being hugged by another person. The study, published in Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, revealed that both self-touch and receiving a hug from a stranger lowered cortisol levels after a stress induction. ...

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In the quantum realm, not even time flows as you might expect

A team of physicists at the Universities of Bristol, Vienna, the Balearic Islands and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI-Vienna) has shown how quantum systems can simultaneously evolve along two opposite time arrows—both forward and backward in time.

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‘Super jelly’ can survive being run over by a car

Researchers have developed a jelly-like material that can withstand the equivalent of an elephant standing on it, and completely recover to its original shape, even though it’s 80% water.

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Ban Private Jets

No one should be able to take a private jet to a climate conference. In fact, no one should be able to take one anywhere at all.

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NASA wants to use the sun to power future deep space missions

Solar energy can make space travel more fuel-efficient. 

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Where did the time go? Blame the pandemic | CBC News

For many of us, the last 20 months have flown by. Experts say that's because the monotony of pandemic life has robbed us of the unique experiences our brains use to make memories and track time.

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Physicists detect signs of neutrinos at Large Hadron Collider

The international Forward Search Experiment team, led by physicists at the University of California, Irvine, has achieved the first-ever detection of neutrino candidates produced by the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN facility near Geneva, Switzerland.

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The Arctic Ocean began warming decades earlier than previously thought, new research shows

The Arctic Ocean has been warming since the onset of the 20th century, decades earlier than instrument observations would suggest, according to new research.

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NASA hopes to hit an asteroid now in case we really need to knock one away later

NASA is launching a spacecraft head-on into an asteroid, hoping to change the space rock's orbit. It is a test in case we really need to smack one out of the way someday.

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NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars just snagged its newest rock sample (photos)

NASA's Perseverance rover continues collecting Martian rocks. The car-sized robot just snagged its fourth Red Planet rock sample, drilling another core from an intriguing stone that it first sampled a little over a week ago. "A rock so nice, I sampled it twice! Just capped and sealed my fifth sample tube, with another piece from this interesting rock. I'm doubling up on samples at some high-priority targets like this one...

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Are scientists less prone to motivated reasoning?

A new study lays out a bit of a conundrum in its opening paragraphs. It notes that scientific progress depends on the ability to update what ideas are considered acceptable in light of new evidence. But science itself has produced no shortage of evidence that people are terrible at updating their beliefs and suffer from issues like confirmation bias and motivated reasoning. Since scientists are, in fact, people, the problems with updating beliefs should severely limit science's ability to progress.

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Webb Telescope Not Damaged Following Mounting Incident, NASA Says

A processing incident that caused the entire Webb Space Telescope to shake did not cause any perceptible damage to the observatory, a NASA-led investigation has concluded.

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Mouse study shows microplastics infiltrate blood brain barrier

Much of the millions of metric tons of plastic waste that washes into the sea each year is broken down into tiny fragments by the forces of the ocean, and researchers are beginning to piece together what this means for organisms that consume them. Scientists in Korea have turned their attention…

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Over 90 Percent in Europe’s Cities Breathe Dangerous Air

Countries have downplayed hazards of air pollution despite evidence that it leads to 430,000 shortened lives a year.

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The Gender Gap in Censorship Support

Across decades, topics, and studies, women are more censorious than men. Compared to men, women support more censorship of various kinds of sexual and violent content and content perceived as hateful or otherwise offensive to minorities.

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Rolls-Royce's all-electric airplane smashes record with 387.4 MPH top speed

Just two months after its maiden flight, Rolls-Royce's "Spirit of Innovation" has hit a record top speed of 387.4 MPH..

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Vast satellite constellations are alarming astronomers

They get in the way of the cosmos

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Thrilled Astronomers in Chile Are First to Photograph a Moon-forming Disc Around an Exoplanet

Using the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimeter Array), astronomers have unambiguously detected the presence of a disc around a planet outside our Solar System for the first time. The observations will shed new light on how moons and planets form in young stellar systems.

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A Brief Scientific History of Glass

Featuring ingots, shipwrecks and an international trade in colors, the material’s rich past is being traced using modern archaeology and materials science.

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China’s new space reactor ‘will be 100 times more powerful than Nasa’s’

Prototype design for a powerful nuclear reactor for the country’s space programme has been completed and some components have been built, according to researchers.

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Scientists use seismic noise to image first hundred meters of Mars

Mars' winds create enough noise to see what's underneath the InSight lander.

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Is the music industry’s future on the blockchain?

Record labels look vulnerable and this startup is pouncing

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Astronomers spot first possible exoplanet outside our galaxy

Saturn-sized planet candidate has been identified in Whirlpool Galaxy 28m light years away

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NASA Plans to Put a Nuclear Reactor on the Moon Within a Decade

The agency put out a request for proposals for a lunar nuclear power plant that can power surface exploration.

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We May Have Underestimated The First Known Outbreak of Bubonic Plague

The Justinianic Plague spread through west Eurasia between the 6th and 8th centuries CE, signifying the first known outbreak of bubonic plague in this part of the world. According to a new analysis of ancient texts and genetic data, its impact was much more severe than some recent studies have suggested.

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Lobsters and crabs are sentient beings and shouldn't be boiled alive, UK report says

Octopuses, crabs and lobsters are capable of experiencing pain or suffering, according to a review commissioned by the UK government, which has added the creatures to a list of sentient beings to be given protection under new animal welfare laws.

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New deep learning method adds 301 planets to Kepler's total count

Scientists recently added a whopping 301 newly validated exoplanets to the total exoplanet tally. The throng of planets is the latest to join the 4,569 already validated planets orbiting a multitude of distant stars. How did scientists discover such a huge number of planets, seemingly all at once? The answer lies with a new deep neural network called ExoMiner.

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NASA's asteroid-slamming mission will test new ion drive system

NASA's mission DART will test our ability to redirect an asteroid by quite literally crashing into it — but the spacecraft will also test a new type of propulsion system for the agency.

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Scientists figure out what happens to Earth's disappearing crust

Like a giant broken-up cookie whose pieces float atop a sea of scalding milk, Earth's outer shell is made of (less-tasty) rocky rafts that constantly bump into and dive beneath each other in a process called plate tectonics.

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Plant-derived antiviral drug is effective in blocking highly infectious SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, say scientists

A plant-based antiviral treatment for Covid-19, recently discovered by scientists at the University of Nottingham, has been found to be just as effective at treating all variants of the virus SARS-CoV-2, even the highly infectious Delta variant.

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Britain seeks ban of single use plastic plates and cutlery in England

Single-use plastic plates and cutlery and polystyrene.

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Portugal's power production goes coal-free long before deadline

Portugal shut down its last remaining coal plant over the weekend, ending the use of the polluting material for electricity generation and becoming the fourth country in the European Union to do so.

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Autism affects the microbiome, not the other way around

Microbiome composition is associated with dietary choices, not a diagnosis of autism.

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In a first test of its planetary defense efforts, NASA's going to shove an asteroid

NASA is about to launch an unprecedented mission to knock an asteroid slightly off-course. In the first real-world test of a technique that could someday be used to protect Earth from a threatening space rock, a spacecraft is scheduled to blast off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, November 23 at 10:20 pm PST.

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Flying Taxis Just a Few Years Away According to Paper of Record

Have you ever imagined getting to the airport in a flying taxi, soaring over the chumps who are stuck in traffic below? It’s been a dream of the future for decades. But the New York Times says it could be coming soon. Again.

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Age, sex and waning COVID-19 antibodies

Antibody levels after COVID-19 vaccination vary by age and sex, but across the board, antibody levels dropped significantly within six months. As widely-anticipated decisions about COVID-19 vaccine boosters roll out from U.S. agencies today, insights from an independent study underscore why boosters are important for all adults.

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Scientists report finding a second person ‘naturally’ cured of HIV

“This gives us hope that the human immune system is powerful enough to ... eliminate all the functional virus,” said the senior author.

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