Study identifies psychology of attraction to religious deities and superheroes

A new psychological study published by University of Otago researchers has addressed centuries-old questions about how and why supernatural beings are worshiped. The "Mickey Mouse problem" commonly referenced in religious psychology refers to the difficulty in predicting which supernatural beings are capable of eliciting belief and religious devotion.

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NASA is making Transformers-style robots for a 2026 mission to Titan

NASA is testing out flying, rolling and swimming cobots

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Elon Musk to Unveil SpaceX's New Starship Design Tonight. Here's What to Expect

It's that time again. Elon Musk will unveil the latest design of SpaceX's Starship Mars-colonization architecture tonight (Sept. 28) during a presentation at the company's South Texas facilities, near the village of Boca Chica.

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We Need More Bans on New Technologies

The more powerful a technology is, the more care it requires to safely operate.

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How Fossil Fuel Companies Are Killing Plastic Recycling

So many things we buy come packaged in plastic containers or wrappers that are meant to be used once, thrown away and forgotten ― but they don’t break down and can linger in the environment long after we’re gone. It’s tempting to think that we can recycle this problem away, that if we’re more diligent about placing discarded bottles and bags into the curbside bin, we’ll somehow make up for all the trash overflowing landfills, choking waterways and killing marine life.

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Sale of heartburn drug suspended over cancer fears

CVS pharmacies become the latest to withdraw Zantac, a drug being investigated for cancer links.

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Transplanting poop can be beneficial—swapping vaginal fluids may be even better

In the afterglow of successful fecal transplants, researchers are now sniffing around vaginal fluids for the next possible bodily product to improve health—and they’re roused by the possibilities.

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Man who predicted 9/11 and the GFC reveals what’s next

Dr Richard Hames knows what the future holds, and he sees capitalism as our next hurdle.

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Discovery By International Team of Scientists may Change Models of Planets Formation

A surprising discovery by an international team of scientists may change our understanding of the formation of planets. An international team of astrophysicists has discovered a large planet, more than half the mass of Jupiter, around a small, cool red dwarf star.

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NASA Just Recorded A Black Hole Devour A Sun-Sized Star For The First Time Ever

Astronomers say this type of cosmic event happens once every 10,000 to 100,000 years.

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First fully rechargeable carbon dioxide battery is seven times more efficient than lithium-ion and carbon neutral

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have successfully tested a lithium-carbon dioxide battery prototype running up to 500 consecutive cycles of charge/recharge processes.

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Why engineers in Alberta think they've found a way for the oilsands to produce clean fuel

As the world reaches for cleaner energy, hydrogen has long been viewed with a lot of hope. Often called the fuel of the future, the gas can be used to generate electricity and power vehicles. It produces water — not carbon — when burned.

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This building produces twice the energy it consumes, and it’s the future

It’s the latest “Powerhouse,” a name the architects at Snøhetta invented to describe super-efficient buildings that generate power for the community around them.

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Tons of Water in Asteroids Could Fuel Satellites, Space Exploration

When it comes to mining space for water, the best target may not be the moon: Entrepreneurs' richest options are likely to be asteroids that are larger and closer to Earth. A recent study suggested that roughly 1,000 water-rich, or hydrated, asteroids near our planet are easier to reach than the lunar surface is. While most of these space rocks are only a few feet in size, more than 25 of them should be large enough to each provide significant water.

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Nasa’s chief scientist ‘worried’ world is not ready for discovery of life on Mars

Nasa is close to finding life on Mars but the world is not ready for the “revolutionary” implications of the discovery, the space agency’s chief scientist has said. Dr Jim Green has warned that two rovers from Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA) could find evidence of life within months of arriving on Mars in March 2021.

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Half of people surviving 'untreatable cancer'

An "extraordinary transformation" is how doctors describe therapies for advanced melanoma.

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SpaceX Starship Will Be Fully Operational Tomorrow

The SpaceX orbital prototype of the Starship is fully assembled. They placed the nosecone on it and it has three Raptor engines. This is time for Elon Musk to make a presentation on Starship tomorrow.

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Scientists discover a worm that has three sexes and a pouch like a kangaroo's

There's a new species of worm, and this one has three different sexes, can survive 500 times the dose of arsenic it would take to kill a human and keeps its young in a pouch, not unlike a kangaroo.

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Faster than the Speed of Light: New Research Looks at Gamma-Ray Bursts

College of Charleston researcher Jon Hakkila says blasts created by gamma-ray bursts may actually exceed the speed of light in surrounding gas clouds.

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Why Google's Quantum Victory Is a Huge Deal—and a Letdown

When news leaked that Google scientists had achieved "quantum supremacy," researchers immediately clashed on its implications.

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India's Lost Moon Lander Is Somewhere in This Photo

It looks like just a barren moonscape of craters, but somewhere in this image is a hunk of metal and electronics that carried a country's hopes of lunar science.

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Pre-built solar homes could make renewable energy almost 50% cheaper

These homes could dramatically reduce the cost of solar energy for homeowners.

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Ariane 6’s core engine completes qualification tests

Ariane 6, Europe's next-generation launch vehicle, has passed another key development milestone. Its Vulcain 2.1 liquid-fuelled engine has now completed its qualification testing, which means combined tests can now begin.

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Do Mirror Neurons Help Us Feel Empathy?

In 2000, prominent neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran wrote that mirror neurons would do for psychology what DNA did for biology (Ramachandran: 2000). Although he has since admitted that this was an overstatement, mirror neurons have still contributed a lot to our understanding of how the brain works in social situations- especially those that require empathy. But how?

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Coral Reefs Are Dying, but Here’s Why There’s Still Hope

Coral reefs are the foundation of ocean life, and yet 50% of them have been lost. Here’s why coral reefs are dying and what one group is doing to stop it.

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Green tea could hold the key to reducing antibiotic resistance

Scientists at the University of Surrey have discovered that a natural antioxidant commonly found in green tea can help eliminate antibiotic resistant bacteria. The study, published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, found that epigallocatechin (EGCG) can restore the activity of aztreonam, an antibiotic commonly used to treat infections caused by the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

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Fossilised microbes from 3.5 billion years ago are oldest yet found

We have finally uncovered hard evidence that 3.5 billion year old rocks in Australia really do contain fossils of the oldest known microorganisms. The findings put to bed a debate that has raged for years and may even enlighten us as to how some of Earth’s earliest life forms functioned.

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Return to the moon? 3D printing with moondust could be the key to future lunar living

Why wait for parts and equipment to arrive from Earth when you can print your own from moondust?

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New Mortality Indicator Published on People with Learning Disabilities

Health and Care of People with Learning Disabilities: Standardised Mortality Ratio Indicator compares the number of deaths occurring in the learning disabilities population, aged 0–74, to those that would be expected for people of the same characteristics in the general population.

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Machine learning finds new metamaterial designs for energy harvesting

Electrical engineers at Duke University have harnessed the power of machine learning to design dielectric (non-metal) metamaterials that absorb and emit specific frequencies of terahertz radiation. The design technique changed what could have been more than 2000 years of calculation into 23 hours, clearing the way for the design of new, sustainable types of thermal energy harvesters and lighting.

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Black Hole Seeds Missing in Cosmic Garden

Scientists are working with powerful space telescopes from NASA, as well as other observatories, to track down far-flung objects that fit the description of "intermediate-mass black holes."

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Light-activated metal catalyst destroys cancer cells’ vital energy source

A space-age metal that formed part of the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs could provide a new method of treating cancer tumours selectively using light.

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Venus was potentially habitable until a mysterious event happened

Venus likely maintained stable temperatures and hosted liquid water for billions of years before an event triggered drastic changes in the planet, according to a new study.

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Fish experience pain with ‘striking similarity’ to mammals - University of Liverpool News

A new University of Liverpool study has concluded that the anglers’ myth ‘that fish don’t feel pain’ can be dispelled: fish do indeed feel pain, with a similarity to that experienced by mammals including humans.

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Nomadic divers evolve larger spleens to stay underwater for 13 minutes, scientists find

A tribe of nomadic divers has evolved larger spleens to allow them to catch fish more than 200 feet underwater, scientists have discovered.

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Planned for six months, India’s Mars mission Mangalyaan completes five years

The Mars Orbiter Mission is the only artificial satellite that could image the full disc of Mars in one view frame and also image the far side of Deimos.

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SpaceX is using Tesla battery packs in new 'Starship' Mars vehicle prototype

In the latest example of cooperation between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla, the former appears to be using battery packs from the latter in their “Starship” prototype, a vehicle they hope will help humanity get to Mars. SpaceX is currently focused on building Starship MK1, a prototype of the spacecraft they plan to use for their ambitious Mars colonization plans.

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Impostor Syndrome is more common than you think; Study finds best way to cope with it

A new study from researchers at BYU reveals that perceptions of impostorism are quite common and uncovers one of the best — and worst — ways to cope with such feelings.

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40,000-year-old bracelet suggests ancient humans used drills

The 40,000-year-old bracelet was discovered alongside human remains in a cave in Siberia. Scientists claim it could have been made so precisely with tools similar to our modern drills.

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Boeing to pay bereaved 737 families $144,500 each

The financial assistance fund Boeing set up after the crashes has started accepting claims.

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Facebook's Latest Purchase Gets Inside Users' Heads—Literally

The social media company acquires CTRL-Labs, a “brain-machine-interface” startup that lets users control devices by tapping signals off a wristband.

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Suicide Data Reveal New Intervention Spots, Such as Motels and Animal Shelters

Patterns show places where people who intend to kill themselves go—and give health workers better chances to stop them

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Drones could help during your next car breakdown

Now when your car breaks down, you call a repair person and wait. The tow truck shows up, the driver assesses the situation and then you come up with a plan for the next steps. That typical process could change, however, now that a towing company, 360 Towing Solutions Houston, is planning on using drones to inspect car breakdowns in the area.

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Do narcissistic traits wane as people age?

Summary: For most people, narcissism wanes as they age. A new study reports the magnitude of the decline of narcissistic traits is tied to specific career and personal relationship choices.

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Fish waste used to make alternative to plastic

A biodegradable bioplastic made from red algae and waste products from the fishing industry has won the UK section of the 2019 James Dyson Award. Created by Lucy Hughes, MarinaTex is an alternative to the single-use plastics such as those used in sandwich packets.

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Venus was potentially habitable until a mysterious event happened

Venus likely maintained stable temperatures and hosted liquid water for billions of years before an event triggered drastic changes in the planet, according to a new study.

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Fasting reduces inflammation and improves chronic inflammatory diseases, study finds

Fasting regimens have gained public and scientific interest in recent years, but fasting shouldn't be dismissed as a fad. In a study published in Cell, Mount Sinai researchers found that fasting reduces inflammation and improves chronic inflammatory diseases without affecting the immune system's response to acute infections.

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New images show Mars as you've never seen it before

One of the latest images of Mars looks more like cookies and cream than it does the so-called Red Planet. A photo taken this week by the European Space Agency and Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter's camera actually shows north polar dunes on Mars.

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Space internet service closer to becoming reality

OneWeb and SpaceX advance with their low-latency, satellite service offerings. Test results show promise, and service is expected by 2020.

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China Is Cleaning Up Its Act on Climate Change

HONG KONG — The busy rush hour in Shenzhen, a new city of some 20 million people in Guangdong Province, is almost silent. Commuters whisper past on electric bikes and scooters or board one of Shenzhen’s fleet of electric buses and taxis, all part of the city’s pool of 90,000 new energy-efficient vehicles. It’s part of what Chinese city officials call “ecological civilization.”

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