He won a trip to space. Then he gave it away to a friend

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — He told his family and a few friends. He dropped hints to a couple of colleagues. So hardly anyone knew that the airline pilot could have — should have — been on board when SpaceX launched its first tourists into orbit last year.

Continue reading...

Psychologists have started to examine how hentai consumers differ from people who do not consume hentai

People who consume hentai appear to differ on several characteristics from those who consume other types of pornography, according to new research published in the journal Sexologies. But they do not appear to differ from others in regard to their attraction towards humans or their desire for a human relationship.

Continue reading...

Frog regrows amputated leg after drug treatment

Nearly complete limb develops over 18 months, raising exciting possibilities for human patients

Continue reading...

Do reptiles have emotions?

Continue reading...

Nasa’s TESS satellite has discovered 5,000 possible alien worlds in four years

The catalogue has increased by 1,600 objects in the last year alone

Continue reading...

How to Build a Better Metaverse

Second Life creator Philip Rosedale wants to prevent the Facebook-ization of virtual reality.

Continue reading...

Ancient ice reveals mysterious solar storm

Through analyzes of ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica, a research team led by Lund University in Sweden has found evidence of an extreme solar storm that occurred about 9,200 years ago. What puzzles the researchers is that the storm took place during one of the sun's more quiet phases—during which it is generally believed our planet is less exposed to such events.

Continue reading...

Snowfall in the Alps is full of plastics particles

New research from the Swiss Federal Laboratories For Materials Science And Technology (EMPA), Utrecht University, and the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics showcase the scale and huge range of pollution carried through the atmosphere.

Continue reading...

Researchers Build AI That Builds AI

Artificial intelligence is largely a numbers game. When deep neural networks, a form of AI that learns to discern patterns in data, began surpassing traditional algorithms 10 years ago, it was because we finally had enough data and processing power to make full use of them.

Continue reading...

Elon Musk says Tesla's humanoid robot is the most important product it's working on — and could eventually outgrow its car business

Tesla said in 2021 that it's developing a humanoid robot — codenamed "Optimus" — that can take over dangerous and repetitive tasks from humans.

Continue reading...

The Prisoner Who Revolutionized Chinese Language With a Teacup

While imprisoned for being a “reactionary,” physicist and engineer Zhi Bingyi began devising a system to help computing machines read Chinese characters.

Continue reading...

Scientists Express Horror at Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip

Researchers and scientists recently expressed their horror at Musk's goal to connect human brains to computer chips just as Neuralink enters human trials.

Continue reading...

To my surprise and elation, the Webb Space Telescope is really going to work

At times, it remains difficult to believe this is really happening.

Continue reading...

'Life finds a way': here's how rainbowfish survive in Australia's scorching desert

As climate change worsens, their findings highlight the importance of conserving natural river flows to enable freshwater species to respond and adapt.

Continue reading...

Astrophysicists May Have Found a Rare Species of Black Hole in the Andromeda Galaxy

A team of astrophysicists believe that a glob of stars in our next-door galaxy is hiding an intermediate-mass black hole, a type predicted to exist but that has never been observed for certain. The globular cluster in question is called B023-G078, and it’s situated on the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy, about 2.5 million light-years away. The researchers believe the cluster, which contains the mass of 6.2 million Suns, is actually a stripped nucleus: the remains of several small galaxies that glommed together.

Continue reading...

Teens who are “addicted” to TikTok experience worse depression and anxiety, and in turn, reduced working memory capacity

A study among teenage TikTok users found that those who showed addictive tendencies toward the platform performed worse when recalling number sequences. The findings, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, further suggested that this working memory deficit was in part due to increased depression and anxiety.

Continue reading...

For scientists, relief and joy abound as James Webb Space Telescope completes monthlong journey

NASA can breathe a $10 billion sigh of relief. The agency's James Webb Space Telescope arrived safely at its ultimate destination Monday (Jan. 24), in great health and carrying even more fuel than expected after several deep-space engine burns.

Continue reading...

Mars 'lake' may actually be volcanic rocks buried beneath the ice cap

Radar images of Mars’s southern ice cap indicated that there could be a lake there – but a new set of simulations hints that it could be volcanic rock instead

Continue reading...

Brain imaging study finds parental criticism disrupts children's adaptive responses to rewards and losses

According to a neuroimaging study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, children whose mothers are more critical toward them show reduced brain activity in response to monetary rewards and losses. The findings suggest that criticism from parents may impair the way children respond to environmental cues.

Continue reading...

The mystery deepens: Ghostly neutrinos and fast radio bursts don't come from the same place

The universe is a pretty busy place, with stars blowing up, black holes consuming material and high-energy radiation galore. Some of these events show up on Earth as high-energy neutrinos, ghostly particles that hardly ever interact with normal matter. Still others show up as fast radio bursts (FRBs), which are brief but intense flashes of radio energy.

Continue reading...

Psychological distress may increase your risk of contracting COVID-19 and worsen symptom severity, study suggests

A longitudinal study conducted during the pandemic has found evidence that people with greater psychological distress are not only more likely to get infected with COVID-19, but more likely to experience severe symptoms. The findings were published in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

Continue reading...

NASA captures violent flash from sun's mini eruption

On Thursday, our sun released its pent-up energy in the form of a little magnetic bomb. It's called a solar flare, and NASA caught the whole thing on camera. Solar flares, which are sudden explosions on the sun's surface caused by strong magnetic forces, are of concern to astronomers because these events can impact electrical power grids on Earth, causing regional blackouts. They also risk interference with radio communications.

Continue reading...

Machine to melt Moon rocks and derive metals may launch in 2024

In recent years, much has been said about mining water ice in shadowed craters at the Moon's South Pole for use as rocket propellant. Enthusiasm for this idea has led NASA to begin planning the first human missions of its Artemis Program to land near the South Pole instead of the mid-latitudes.

Continue reading...

What Happens If a Space Elevator Breaks

These structures are a sci-fi solution to the problem of getting objects into orbit without a rocket—but you don’t want to be under one if the cable snaps.

Continue reading...

Webb space telescope nearing destination a million miles away

Thirty days outbound from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope will slip into its parking orbit nearly a million miles away on Monday, an ideal spot to scan the heavens in search of faint infrared light from the first generation of stars and galaxies. But getting there — and successfully deploying a giant sunshade, mirrors and other appendages along the way — was just half the fun.

Continue reading...

Hubble Captures a Black Hole That is Forming Stars, Not Absorbing Them

The Hubble Space Telescope has observed a black hole at the center of a dwarf galaxy that is not acting like the destructive monsters they are often portrayed as. Instead, this black hole is creating stars rather than absorbing them. The black hole is at the center of dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10 that lies 30 million light-years away in the southern constellation Pyxis. According to NASA, the black hole is apparently contributing to a “firestorm” of new star formation taking place in the galaxy.

Continue reading...

Canadian Space Agency releases 674,000 images of Earth

As climate change continues to be an increasingly pressing issue, the Canadian Space Agency is making an unprecedented number of RADARSAT-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of Earth freely available to researchers, industry and the public. The 674,000 historical images are a significant increase to the 36,000 images already publicly available through the Government of Canada’s Earth Observation Data Management System.

Continue reading...

Dust Storm and Jezero Crater – NASA’s Mars Exploration Program

Multiple images from the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) were used to generate this view of a regional dust storm obscuring Syrtis Major and Jezero Crater (white circle). The images were acquired on Jan. 9, 2022.

Continue reading...

An X-ray glow suggests black holes or neutron stars fuel weird cosmic ‘cows’

A brilliant blast from a galaxy 2 billion light-years away is the brightest cosmic “Cow” found yet. It’s the fifth known object in this new class of exploding stars and their long-glowing remnants, and it’s giving astronomers even more hints of what powers these mysterious blasts.

Continue reading...

NASA's gamma-ray observatory is in safe mode after a possible wheel failure

NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has temporarily stopped its science observations while the mission team investigates an issue. On Tuesday night (Jan. 18), the observatory, a gamma-ray hunting space telescope originally called the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, went into safe mode and paused all science work. This maneuver may have been in response to a reaction wheel failure, which the mission team continues to explore.

Continue reading...

Oral CBD Prevented COVID-19 Infection in Real-World Patients, Study Suggests

While not a substitute for vaccines, "CBD has the potential to prevent infections, such as breakthrough infections," the study's lead author said.

Continue reading...

Polish researchers invent anti-smog sound cannon

In a battle against Poland's constant smog, scientists are testing out a new "cannon" that uses soundwaves to push toxic particles higher into the atmosphere to allow residents to breathe.

Continue reading...

YouTuber Accused of Crashing His Plane for Views. Now the Feds Are Investigating

AYouTuber and former Olympic snowboarder has been accused of crashing his plane on purpose for clicks, and the FAA has opened an investigation to get to the bottom of the growing mess.

Continue reading...

Cutting the food chain? The controversial plan to turn zooplankton into fish oil

A budding industry that aims to catch zooplankton for health supplements and fish food has scientists fearing that its effects on marine ecosystems could be devastating

Continue reading...

The One Essential Ingredient for Happiness and Well-Being

New research explores the role of autonomy in affect, engagement, and meaning. Might greater autonomy also contribute to well-being and happiness? Perhaps. A recent article by Kukita, Nakamura, and Csikszentmihalyi—published in the January/February issue of The Journal of Positive Psychology—describes the use of real-time assessments to determine the effects of situational and motivational factors, like autonomy, on the above three components of well-being.

Continue reading...

When should someone trust an AI assistant’s predictions?

MIT researchers created a method that helps humans develop a more accurate mental model of an artificial intelligence teammate, so they have a better understanding of when they should trust the AI agent’s algorithmic predictions.

Continue reading...

Watch two Russian cosmonauts take a spacewalk outside the International Space Station today

Two Russian cosmonauts are planning to take a spacewalk today (Jan. 19) to ready a new International Space Station module for visiting spacecraft, and you can watch it live. Expedition 66 Cmdr. Anton Shkaplerov and flight engineer Pyotr Dubrov, both of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, will spend the day working together outside the International Space Station. Coverage will start at 6 a.m EST (1130 GMT) and will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, NASA social media and here at Space.com.

Continue reading...

After Omicron, we could use a break. We may just get it

With fingers crossed, some experts think we may get a bit of a break from the Covid roller coaster after Omicron.

Continue reading...

What really makes a planet habitable? Our assumptions may be wrong

If we find an Earth-size planet around a star that sits outside the "habitable zone," we shouldn't write it off just yet.

Continue reading...

How Exxon is using an unusual law to intimidate critics over its climate denial

America’s largest oil firm claims its history of publicly denying the climate crisis is protected by the first amendment

Continue reading...

Now You Can Rent a Robot Worker—for Less Than Paying a Human

Automation is reaching more companies, imperiling some jobs and changing the nature of others.

Continue reading...

Craving Sweets? You Might Need More Sleep

Sleep deprivation can increase sugar consumption.

Continue reading...

Virgin Galactic launched 7 satellites into orbit. Here's what they'll do

Richard Branson and Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart explains to CNN's Jake Tapper how the company launched 7 satellites from their 747, and what the new satellites will do in orbit.

Continue reading...

Chemical pollution has passed safe limit for humanity, say scientists

Study calls for cap on production and release as pollution threatens global ecosystems upon which life depends

Continue reading...

Tackling ageing may be best way to prevent multiple chronic conditions from developing in older people

Over half of UK adults over the age of 65 live with two or more long-term health conditions – commonly known as multimorbidity. People living with multimorbidity not only have a shorter life expectancy, but they may also experience poorer physical and mental health.

Continue reading...

Gene therapy targets epilepsy

Anti-seizure medication doesn’t work in every person with epilepsy. But a treatment option is emerging that would spare the need for brain surgery.

Continue reading...

FAA to change how some planes land in effort to cut emissions

In an effort to cut emissions, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it's changing the way some planes land at U.S. airports.

Continue reading...

Dimming Sun's rays should be off-limits, say experts

Planetary-scale engineering schemes designed to cool Earth's surface and lessen the impact of global heating are potentially dangerous and should be blocked by governments, more than 60 policy experts and scientists said on Monday.

Continue reading...

Breakthrough TAU Discovery Key to Reversing ALS

Findings may lead to ways to delay, or even roll back, the course of the fatal disease in its early stages

Continue reading...

A Science Journalist’s Journey to Understand AI

As a teenager, I discovered a worn copy of the book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter on a bookshelf at home. It still had a computer punch card in it that my Mom had used as a bookmark, back when she briefly worked as a

Continue reading...