Great Barrier Reef outlook now 'very poor', Australian government review says

Five-yearly report says climate change is escalating the threat and window of opportunity for action is now

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Visiting space will be "just like going on a cruise" says space hotel architect

The first commercial space hotel will be more like a cruise ship than Stanley Kubrick's sleek space station from 2001, says Tim Alatorre, senior design architect of the Von Braun Space Station. The Gateway Foundation is designing the world's first space hotel – the Von Braun Space Station – with the aim of making visiting space accessible to everyone.

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Snorting Powdered Toad Secretions Just Once Is Linked to Feeling Happier For a Month

In the last few years, evidence has been emerging that several psychedelics seem to alleviate the symptoms of depression. Now scientists have tested a new compound - and early trials indicate that it, too, has potential.

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There’s no evidence that a ‘gay gene’ exists

Publication of the largest-ever study of the roles of genes in homosexual behavior is fanning the debate over whether being gay is due to genes or environment. First reported at a genetics conference in 2018, the study found five genetic variants associated with having a same-sex sexual partner (SN: 10/20/18). But those variants, called SNPs, don’t predict people’s sexual behavior, researchers report in the Aug. 30 Science.

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Earth’s chemical fingerprint could help identify habitable exoplanets

Canadian astronomers at McGill University, using satellite data collected over the past decade, have come up with a spectral “fingerprint” of Earth that could be compared to atmospheric signatures from exoplanet transits to help determine their ability to support life.

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Dark matter has never killed anyone, and scientists want to know why

“Death by Dark Matter.” That’s not the name of your new favorite metal band; it’s the literal title of a new study by a trio of American of physicists

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Are psychiatrists really ready for the AI revolution?

Machine learning can help manage a wide range of mental health disorders. But the psychiatric profession is worryingly unprepared for this change, according to a global survey.

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Cambridge startup claims breakthrough electric car battery that can charge in 6 minutes

A startup that spun out of Cambridge University claims a battery breakthrough that can charge an electric car in just six minutes. It’s something we heard before, but the difference here is that they claim that they can commercialize the new battery as soon as next year.

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A double whammy of gravitational waves sparks a burst of black hole speculation

Two detections of gravitational waves set off a flurry of excitement among astronomers. Was it a double observation of a single black-hole merger, or just a cosmic coincidence?

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Audiobooks or Reading? To Our Brains, It Doesn't Matter

The same brain regions are activated when both reading and listening to stories, a new study says. It's a new insight into how our brains process semantic meaning.

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Is Finally 100% Assembled

The milestone was a long time coming.

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There's a Big Problem With Making Vaccines Mandatory, And It's Worth Paying Attention

In 1904, the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro shook with violence as citizens rioted. Property was destroyed, dozens were wounded, and 30 people lost their lives as the population rose up against a perceived common enemy: a mandatory vaccine for smallpox

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Carolina scientists show how vaping induces reactions in lungs that can lead to disease

E-cigarette “vaping” is widely assumed to be safer than cigarette smoking, but scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have uncovered evidence suggesting that vaping promotes the same cellular responses found in smokers who suffer from emphysema.

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Busy older stars outpace stellar youngsters, new study shows

The oldest stars in our Galaxy are also the busiest, moving more rapidly than their younger counterparts in and out of the disk of the Milky Way, according to new analysis carried out at the University of Birmingham.

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A chip made with carbon nanotubes, not silicon, marks a computing milestone

Silicon’s reign in cutting-edge electronics may soon over. The carbon nanotube could be its successor.

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Deep Learning Is Going to Teach Us All the Lesson of Our Lives: Jobs Are for Machines

On December 2nd, 1942, a team of scientists led by Enrico Fermi came back from lunch and watched as humanity created the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction inside a pile of bricks and wood underneath a football field at the University of Chicago. Known to history as Chicago Pile-1, it was celebrated in silence with a single bottle of Chianti, for those who were there understood exactly what it meant for humankind, without any need for words.

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Scientists successfully fertilize northern white rhino eggs

Researchers have successfully fertilized several northern white rhino eggs with the sperm of the last two bulls, Suni and Saut, both now deceased.

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Meet Pandia, Eirene and More! 5 Jupiter Moons Get New Names

Five of Jupiter's many moons have new names thanks to suggestions from the public.

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This Crab’s Blood Is the Reason You’re Alive

Horseshoe Crab blood is an irreplaceable medical marvel, and biomedical companies are bleeding thousands of crabs and throwing them back in the ocean.

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Insect-based food 'better for pets than top steak'

Pet owners are being urged by vets to feed their dogs and cats on a diet rich in insects. The British Veterinary Association (BVA) says some insect-based foods may be better for pets than prime steak. The vets expect resistance from some pet lovers, but they say surveys suggest many would accept insect-based food.

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Crows love cheeseburgers. And now they’re getting high cholesterol.

But it’s not clear that eating ‘people food’ is necessarily bad for urban birds.

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India Develops the World's First Iron-ion Battery

A research team from India's IIT (Institute of Technology) Madras has officially developed the world's first iron-ion battery.

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NASA's new moon-landing supercomputer is more powerful and more eco-friendly

NASA has officially opened its new supercomputer, Aitken, at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. It uses a modular design which requires less electricity and power than traditional facilities and and it will allow researchers to run complex simulations more quickly.

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Children Raised Without Religion Are Kinder And More Empathetic, Study Finds

According to a study published in Current Biology in 2015, children raised without religion tend to be kinder than children brought up in very religious households. The study was a collaborative effort between numerous academics from seven different universities that are spread out all over the world.

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The late summer heat wave will intensify across a large part of Europe until early September, locally again near +35 °C

Europe is in for another heat wave after this weekend as strong upper level ridge / Omega blocking pattern establishes. Temperatures will be back into low/mid 30s across many parts of our continent. Very warm weather is also expected across Scandinavia.

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Study from the Captain Obvious Center for Music Research finds heroic music stimulates empowering and motivating thoughts

A study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides new insights into the effects of music on thoughts. The research indicates that heroic music tends to evoke more empowering and motivating thoughts, while sad music tends to evoke more relaxing or depressive thoughts.

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‘Key player’ identified in genetic link to psychiatric conditions

Scientists have identified a specific gene they believe could be a key player in the changes in brain structure seen in several psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia and autism. The team from Cardiff University’s Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute has found that the deletion of the gene CYFIP1 leads to thinning of the insulation that covers nerve cells and is vital for the smooth and rapid communications between different parts of the brain.

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Tech time not to blame for teens’ mental health problems

A new study, published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science, suggests that the time adolescents are spending on their phones and online is not that bad. The study tracked young adolescents on their smartphones to test whether more time spent using digital technology was linked to worse mental health outcomes.

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A fungus makes a chemical that neutralizes the stench of skunk spray

A puppy pal that gets sprayed by a skunk is no friend to human noses. The nasty odor can linger for weeks or more. But at least one kind of Tolypocladium fungi makes a chemical that can snuff out the stink. Called pericosine, it reacts with skunk spray’s sulfur-containing compounds, forming residues that aren’t offensive to the nose and can be more easily washed away, researchers report in the July 26 Journal of Natural Products.

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New York Times: Astronaut accessed estranged spouse's bank account in possible first criminal allegation from space

NASA is examining a claim that an astronaut improperly accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse from the International Space Station, The New York Times reported Friday -- potentially the first criminal allegation from space.

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Need a mental break? Avoid Your Cellphone, Rutgers Researchers Say

Using a cellphone during breaks led to mental depletion, poorer performance in a recent study

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This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through August 24)

From a giant computer chip to superpower AI to the coming quantum internet, check out this week's awesome tech stories from around the web.

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ISS gets a new docking port for future spaceships

Two NASA astronauts successfully installed a new docking adapter Wednesday for incoming SpaceX and Boeing vehicles that may arrive with crew as early as this year.

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Scientists say sustainable forestry organizations should lift ban on biotech trees

Look at anything made from trees—a ream of paper, a cardboard box, lumber—and it's probably stamped with the logo of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or an equivalent organization. These nonprofits certify that forests are managed sustainably, and one common requirement is no genetically modified (GM) trees. But that ban hinders research and should change, researchers say in today's issue of Science. The technology, they argue, has important potential to remedy many pressing problems facing forests.

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CRISPR cuts turn gels into biological watchdogs

Wunderkind gene-editing tool used to trigger smart materials that can deliver drugs and sense biological signals.

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Can Intelligent Machines Find Intelligent Aliens?

There is a strange forest in an otherwise unremarkable stretch of empty land north of San Francisco, where 42 steel trees sweep their parabolic canopies across the skies like industrial sunflowers. It’s quiet here, at the Allen Telescope Array, but the silence is deceiving. Just ask the trees, which are condemned to listen to a shrieking cosmos so that they might hear an extraterrestrial whisper—a whisper so faint that the sound of a snowflake falling to the earth is deafening by comparison. The astronomers who walk among these trees are preoccupied by the Big Question: What will the whisperer say? Will it be a greeting? A warning?

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"World's first" autonomous oil spill boat takes to the water

Oil spills can spell big trouble for the environment, and an efficient and swift response is critical in trying to contain the problem. In the not-too-distant future folks dealing with such incidents may have a robotic helper to call on...

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Repeated signals coming to Earth from another galaxy, scientists say

One of the sources of mysterious energy blasts could be relatively nearby, scientists say

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Traces of new dark matter candidate could be found in crystals deep inside the Earth

Although it outnumbers regular matter by a ratio of five to one, dark matter is frustratingly elusive. Many experiments have been and are being run to try to hunt down different types of candidate particles, but so far no direct trace has been found of any of them. Now, researchers from Max Planck have proposed a new hypothetical particle that might be behind dark matter – the superheavy gravitino – and outlined just how we might find them.

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Nepal bans single-use plastics in Everest region

Nepal will make the Everest region a plastic-free zone by 2020 by banning single-use plastics, a move that will curb excessive pollution on the highest point of the Earth’s surface. The executive council of Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality in Solukhumbu district reached this decision on Wednesday, the Efe news reported.

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Painless Colonoscopy: Available Techniques and Instruments

During colonoscopy, air insufflation to distend the lumen and facilitate careful inspection and scope insertion can induce pain and cause discomfort. Carbon dioxide (CO[2] ) insufflation can decrease abdominal pain and discomfort during and after colonoscopy. ...

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Researchers create electronic lens that works better than the human eye

The technology is likely to revolutionize the lenses used in VR/AR headsets as well.

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Why Does Elon Musk Want to Nuke Mars?

Mars has the closest resemblance to Earth in our solar system. So, when humans become capable of interplanetary travel and consider colonising any planet, Mars would automatically be the first target due to its proximity and similarity to Earth.

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Researchers Move Closer to a Blood Test for Predicting When People Might Die

It’s not as morbid as you think; having a reliable way of predicting people’s mortality, especially as they age, could help to improve how doctors treat disease.

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Volocopter reveals its first commercial aircraft, the VoloCity air taxi

It’s a race to the skies in terms of which company actually deploys an on-demand air taxi service based around electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. For its part, German startup Volocopter is taking another key step with the revelation of its first aircraft designed for actual commercial use, the VoloCity. The VoloCity is the fourth-generation eVTOL vehicle that Volocopter has created, but the first three were created for testing and demonstration purposes, and have flown more than 1,000 times in service of that goal.

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It’ll be hard, but we can feed the world with plant protein

Legumes could be the answer, writes Richard Trethowan from the University of Sydney, Australia.

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With Artemis, NASA at risk of repeating Apollo mistakes, scientist warns

"To look forward to the Moon, we need to learn from the past."

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The Mystery of ‘Skeleton Lake’ Gets Deeper

Hundreds of skeletons are scattered around a site high in the Himalayas, and a new study overturns a leading theory about how they got there.

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The weird, repeating signals from deep space just tripled

Fast radio bursts are getting more attention from scientists, who can now detect more of them.

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Scientists discover star dust in Antarctic snow

A team of scientists hauled 500 kilograms of fresh snow back from Antarctica, melted it, and sifted through the particles that remained. Their analysis yielded a surprise: The snow held significant amounts of a form of iron that isn't naturally produced on Earth.

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