Recent Hydrothermal Activity May Explain Ceres' Brightest Area

The brightest area on Ceres, located in the mysterious Occator Crater, has the highest concentration of carbonate minerals ever seen outside Earth, according to a new study from scientists on NASA's Dawn mission. The study, published online in the journal Nature, is one of two new papers about the makeup of Ceres. "This is the first time we see this kind of material elsewhere in the solar system in such a large amount," said Maria Cristina De Sanctis, lead author and principal...

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Researchers Uncover Long-Lost Tunnel Used By Jews To Escape Extermination Pits

Using advanced imaging technology, researchers in Lithuania have uncovered a tunnel that Jewish prisoners used to escape Nazi extermination pits. By doing so, they have provided physical evidence of a well-known tale of heroism during the Holocaust — known before only through the testimony of 11 Jews who escaped. For the past 72 years, teams have been searching for the tunnel at the Ponar massacre site, located in a forest about 6 miles from Vilnius. The discovery was made using noninvasive technology that allowed researchers to go into burial pits without desecrating the gravesites.

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Holocaust escape tunnel discovery a blow against deniers: “It was dug out by spoons. By people who were shackled around the ankles”

The awful story of the Nazi treatment of European Jews may be most awful in Lithuania, then a part of the Soviet Union in which 95 percent of the Jewish population was killed. But a recent discovery near the nation’s capital, Vilnius, offers a glimmer of something a bit brighter: a tunnel through which a handful of Jews, awaiting execution underground, were able to escape. The tunnel’s exact location was only confirmed this month, as archeologists investigated near the place where 100,000 people...

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How Big Can Life Get?

An illustrated trip from smallest to biggest.

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This Illusion lets you 'feel' the invisible force field around your body

If you’ve ever caught yourself instinctively dodging an over-hanging branch or an uneven surface on the road based only on what your peripheral vision is telling you, congratulations, you’ve experienced a strange phenomenon known as your...

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The Artificial Intelligence Revolution

Part 1 of 2: "The Road to Superintelligence". Artificial Intelligence — the topic everyone in the world should be talking about.

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107 Nobel laureates sign letter blasting Greenpeace over GMOs

More than 100 Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The letter asks Greenpeace to cease its efforts to block introduction of a genetically engineered strain of rice that supporters say could reduce Vitamin-A deficiencies causing blindness and death in children in the developing world.

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Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock, dies aged 87

Toffler was one of the world’s most famous futurists who foresaw how digital technology would transform the world Alvin Toffler, a guru of the post-industrial age whose books, including Future Shock, anticipated the transformation brought about by the rise of digital technology, has died. He was 87. Toffler died in his sleep at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, on Monday, said Yvonne Merkel, a spokeswoman for his Virginia-based consulting firm Toffler Associates.

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'Tesla Solar' wants to be the Apple store for electricity

Tesla Motors Inc. 's bid to buy the biggest U.S. rooftop solar installer has little to do with selling cars. Rather, it's about solving two of the biggest problems standing in the way of the next solar boom. And perhaps a good deal more.

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Is Science Reliable?

It seems like every few months, there’s some kind of news about problems with the scientific publishing industry. Why does this keep happening? And what can be done to fix the system?

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Would a Work-Free World Be So Bad?

Fears of civilization-wide idleness are based too much on the downsides of being unemployed in a society premised on the concept of employment. People have speculated for centuries about a future without work, and today is no different, with academics, writers, and activists once again warning that technology is replacing human workers. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by inequality: A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in an impoverished wasteland.

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The shockingly beeflike veggie burger that’s not aimed at vegetarians

In Seth Goldman’s vision of the supermarket meat case of the future, he doesn’t see a meat case at all. He sees a protein case. And only some of the proteins in it will come from animals. “I want to see chicken protein, plant protein, beef protein,” he says. “Just like what has happened in the dairy case.” Goldman, who founded Honest Tea, last year became executive chairman of the board of Beyond Meat, the California company whose high-tech approach to plant-based meat substitutes has attracted such investors as Biz Stone and Bill Gates.

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China’s long march to the Moon began with a bang this weekend

Until recently it was fairly easy to dismiss China’s space program. Yes, China is one of just three nations to launch humans into space, but its technology has always seemed highly derivative of Russian spaceflight architecture. And when a recent article raised the question of whether China might develop reusable rocket technology, one Ars reader offered an amusing yet perhaps not entirely untruthful response: “That depends on how good SpaceX's IT security is.”

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Exploring Jupiter's Magnetic Field

NASA is sending the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter, to peer beneath its cloudy surface and explore the giant planet's structure and magnetic field. Juno's twin magnetometers, built at Goddard Space Flight Center, will give scientists their first look within Jupiter at the powerful dynamo that drives its magnetic field. In this interview, Deputy Principal Investigator Jack Connerney discusses the Juno mission and its magnetometers.

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‘Unprecedented’: Scientists declare ‘global climate emergency’ after jet stream crosses equator

Climate scientists this week expressed alarm after “unprecedented” data showed the Northern Hemisphere Jet Stream crossing the Equator.

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Little to no association between butter consumption, chronic disease or total mortality

An epidemiological study analyzing the association of butter consumption with chronic disease and mortality finds that butter was only weakly associated with total mortality, not associated with heart disease, and slightly inversely associated (protective) with diabetes.

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Why are Moral Decisions so Important for Self-Driving Cars?

Self-driving cars are in the news again, after several surveys were released showing how people would want their computer-controlled car to react in a situation where it has to decide whether to save the driver or pedestrians. Most survey results suggested the driver would want to limit the amount of casualties, though we have seen sometimes that humans do not choose that option and end up killing more people to save themselves.

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We Must Not Accept an Algorithmic Account of Human Life

One remarkable development of twentieth century science is the discovery that both physical structures and the communication of ideas can be assembled on...

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Has Physics Gotten Something Really Important Really Wrong?

It's possible that string theory or the multiverse may find strong links with data, but a recent book provides a view of what a truly different philosophical approach would look like. Adam Frank reports that Lee Smolin and Roberto Unger pull no punches in their sense that the lack of empirical data has led the field astray.

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Excitement Builds for the Possibility of Life on Enceladus

Saturn’s frozen moon Enceladus is a tantalizing world—many scientists are increasingly convinced it may be the best place in our solar system to search for life. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, currently orbiting Saturn, has made intriguing observations of icy jets spewing from a suspected underground liquid ocean on the mysterious world that might be hospitable to alien life. Cassini’s tour is due to wind down in 2017, and scientists badly want to send a dedicated mission to Enceladus to look for signs of life. In fact, some have already started seriously thinking about exactly how they might do this—including planetary scientist Carolyn Porco...

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Chronic fatigue syndrome is in your gut, not your head

Physicians have been mystified by chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition where normal exertion leads to debilitating fatigue that isn't alleviated by rest. There are no known triggers, and diagnosis requires lengthy tests administered by an expert. Now, for the first time, researchers report they have identified biological markers of the disease in gut bacteria and inflammatory microbial agents in the blood.

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4th Annual SymmyS Awards

Having fun with language: check out the winners for this years awards for the best palindromes. "Meek, ill, lewd - we'll like 'em."

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People who meditate are more aware of their unconscious brain

People who meditate are more aware of their unconscious brain activity – or so a new take on a classic “free will” experiment suggests. The results hint that the feeling of conscious control over our actions can vary – and provide more clues to understanding the complex nature of free will. The famous experiment that challenged our notions of free will was first done in 1983 by neuroscientist Benjamin Libet. It involved measuring electrical activity in someone’s brain while asking them to press a button, whenever they like, while they watch a special clock that allows them to note the time precisely.

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Ancient Birds' Wings Preserved in Amber

Two wings from birds that lived alongside the dinosaurs have been found preserved in amber. The "spectacular" finds from Myanmar are from baby birds that got trapped in the sticky sap of a tropical forest 99 million years ago.

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The Martian becomes reality: At least four crops grown on simulated Mars soil are edible

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37,000-year-old skull from Borneo reveals surprise for scientists

A new study of the 37,000-year old remains of the "Deep Skull" - the oldest modern human discovered in island South-East Asia - has revealed this ancient person was not related to Indigenous Australians, as had been originally thought. The Deep Skull was also likely to have been an older woman, rather than a teenage boy. The research, led by UNSW Australia Associate Professor Darren Curnoe, represents the most detailed investigation of the ancient cranium specimen since it was found in Niah Cave in Sarawak in 1958.

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The New Yorker, BuzzFeed, and the push for digital credibility

The fragmented nature of the digital landscape has created a conundrum for magazines and other news outlets. Being seen as reliable is crucial to a news organization’s survival. But if readers are finding stories in every corner of the Web, and may not even remember where they first read them, how can publishers build a loyal audience? Do brands even matter anymore?

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A.I. Downs Expert Human Fighter Pilot In Dogfights

In the military world, fighter pilots have long been described as the best of the best. As Tom Wolfe famously wrote, only those with the "right stuff" can handle the job. Now, it seems, the right stuff may no longer be the sole purview of human pilots. A pilot A.I. developed by a doctoral graduate from the University of Cincinnati has shown that it can not only beat other A.I.s, but also a professional fighter pilot with decades of experience. In a series of flight combat simulations, the A.I. successfully evaded...

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The Unbelievable Tale of Jesus’s Wife

A hotly contested, supposedly ancient manuscript suggests Christ was married. But believing its origin story—a real-life Da Vinci Code, involving a Harvard professor, a onetime Florida pornographer, and an escape from East Germany—requires a big leap of faith.

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Helium Discovery a 'Game-Changer'

Scientists say they have found a large helium gas field in Tanzania, amid concerns global supplies are running out.

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Three Futuristic Mars Machines That Aren’t Rovers

Human exploration of Mars dates back to the beginning of the space age. Our first machine emissaries buzzed the Red Planet in the 1960s, and... read more

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Scientist claims he's discovered a magnetic 'sixth sense' in humans

A researcher in US thinks he might have finally found evidence of humanity's sixth sense - the ability to detect, in some subconscious way, Earth's magnetic field. The ability to sense Earth's magnetic field has been confirmed in birds, insects,...

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Scientists are about to eat radishes grown in Martian soil

Pack your bags, because it looks like we are a step closer to making colonizing Mars a reality: researchers at the Netherlands’ Wageningen University have grown vegetables in nutrient-poor soil designed to closely mimic that of the moon and Mars. Looks like we weren’t the only ones intrigued by the possibilities in The Martian! And it worked! Just look at these radishes...

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Meet the Moringa Tree, an Overqualified, Underachieving Superfood

The plant is highly nutritious and thrives in hot, dry conditions. Could it be a solution to the food crisis brought on by climate change?

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Caltech glassblower's retirement has scientists sighing

Hunkered down in the sub-basement of the Norman W. Church Laboratory for Chemical Biology, underneath a campus humming with quantum teleportation devices, gravity wave detectors and neural prosthetics, Rick Gerhart chipped away at a broken flask. Blowtorch in hand, he pulled the softened glass apart like taffy, tweezing out glass shards with a flick of his wrist. Peering into the dancing flames, he examined his work for wrinkles — imperfections invisible to the untrained eye.

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Why the World Is Better Than You Think in 10 Powerful Charts

When I published Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think in February 2012, I included about 80 charts in the back of the book showing very strong evidence that the world is getting better. Over the last five years, this trend has continued and accelerated. This blog includes additional "Evidence for Abundance" that you can share with friends and family to change their mindset. We truly are living in the most exciting time to be alive.

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Why Do We Inherit Mitochondrial DNA Only From Our Mothers?

New research investigates why paternal mitochondria perish in embryos.

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Physicists just confirmed a pear-shaped nucleus, and it could ruin time travel forever

Physicists have confirmed the existence of a new form of atomic nuclei, and the fact that it’s not symmetrical challenges the fundamental theories of physics that explain our Universe. But that's not as bad as it sounds, because the discovery could...

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Just 30 minutes of nature a week could reduce your risk of depression and heart disease

Just 30 minutes a week spent outdoors - whether you’re visiting the park, hiking, or exploring new tracks with your dog - is enough to lower your risk of developing high blood pressure and depression, a new study has found . Australian researchers...

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Human or Machine: Can You Tell Who Wrote These Poems?

Can a computer write a sonnet that's indistinguishable from what a person can produce? A contest at Dartmouth attempted to find out. With our online quiz, you too can give it a try.

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An MIT Algorithm Predicts the Future by Watching TV

The next time you catch your robot watching sitcoms, don’t assume it’s slacking off. It may be hard at work. TV shows and video clips can help artificially intelligent systems learn about and anticipate human interactions, according to MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Researchers created an algorithm that analyzes video, then uses what it learns to predict how humans will behave. Six-hundred hours of clips from shows like The Office and Big Bang Theory...

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Jupiter Awaits Arrival of Juno - Spectacular VLT images of Jupiter presented just days before the arrival of the Juno spacecraft

In preparation for the imminent arrival of NASA’s Juno spacecraft, astronomers have used ESO’s Very Large Telescope to obtain spectacular new infrared images of Jupiter. They are part of a campaign to create high-resolution maps of the giant planet. These observations will inform the work to be undertaken by Juno over the coming months, helping astronomers to better understand the gas giant ahead of Juno’s close encounter.

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Texas 'Frack Master' Bilked Investors Out of Millions

Texas oilman Chris Faulkner built a high-profile public persona, raised millions for his oil and gas ventures and courted politicians. But the SEC has alleged that behind the scenes, he cheated investors out of $80 million to fund a "debauched" jet-setting lifestyle.

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Feathers, hair, and scales have a common ancestor, study finds

Scientists have long pondered whether or not the hair of mammals, the feathers of birds, and the scales of reptiles had a common evolutionary link, and now, after decades of debate, they finally have an answer, thanks to new research published today in the journal Science Advances.

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The Strange History of Microfilm, Which Will Be With Us for Centuries

From carrier pigeons to comic books.

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AI world populated by a ‘sea of dudes,’ Melinda Gates says

According to Melinda Gates, there aren’t enough women working in the field of artificial intelligence. “The thing I want to say to everybody in the room is: We ought to care about women being in computer science,” Gates said at a recent ReCode conference, according to Bloomberg Technology. “You want women participating in all of these things because you want a diverse environment creating AI and tech tools and everything we’re going to use.”

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Hyperloop One to offer ultra-fast trains underwater

If the idea of super-fast trains did not seem exciting enough, one of the two startups working on Hyperloop says it would actually be possible to make the technology work underwater too. The Hyperloop system is a concept proposed by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, equipping trains to travel at supersonic speeds up to 800mph (1,300km/h) using reduced pressure tubes. Pressurised capsule pods (the train carriages) ride on an air cushion in steel tubes driven by linear induction motors and air compressors, which allows them to go faster than current trains.

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Beijing has fallen: China's capital sinking by 11cm a year, satellite study warns

Pumping of groundwater blamed for causing soil to collapse as development roars ahead above, with railways among infrastructure at risk, say scientists

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Can we harness bacteria to help clean up future oil spills?

By Nina Dombrowski, University of Texas at Austin and Brett J. Baker, University of Texas at Austin In 2010 the Deepwater Horizon oil spill released an estimated 4.2 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico – the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. The spill caused widespread damage to marine species, fisheries and ecosystems stretching from tidal marshes to the deep ocean floor. Emergency responders used multiple strategies to remove oil from the Gulf: They skimmed it from the water’s surface, burned it and used chemical dispersants to break it into small droplets. However, experts struggled to account for what had happened to...

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How Scientists Are Bringing People Back From The Dead

Pressing pause could mean the difference between life and death

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