CRISPR used to edit rice DNA as defense against pathogen

Altering rice genes the pathogen needs renders rice strains resistant to blight.

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People Who Try To Be Environmentally-Friendly By Buying Less Stuff Are Happier, Study Claims

By Emily Reynolds. In contrast, people who “buy green” are not any happier.

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Scientists plan a new orbiter mission to Pluto

Researchers already are planning an ambitious spacecraft that will orbit the mysterious world.

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Boeing’s 737 in another pickle - Leeham News and Analysis

The FAA has issued an Air Worthiness Directive (AD) for high time Boeing 737 NGs, requiring immediate inspections for cracks in their wing attachments called pickle forks. The cracks were discovered on high time aircraft which were torn down for conversion to freighters.

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Tesla’s solar-roof sales will grow ‘like kelp on steroids,’ Musk vows

A brand-new Tesla may be coming soon to your neighborhood. But it could be on top of your neighbors’ home, not parked in their driveway. Tesla Inc. TSLA, -1.10% Chief Executive Elon Musk on Friday unveiled the electric-car company’s new solar-paneled roofs and said he expects to be fitting more than 1,000 a week within short order.

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One avocado a day helps lower 'bad' cholesterol for heart healthy benefits

Move over, apples — new research from Penn State suggests that eating one avocado a day may help keep “bad cholesterol” at bay. According to Penn State researchers, bad cholesterol can refer to both oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and small, dense LDL particles.

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Opinion: Automation is likely to eliminate nearly half our jobs in the next 25 years. Here's what to do

A recent study from Oxford University estimated that as many as 47% of the jobs in developed nations will vanish in the next 25 years as a result of automation. These losses will be in both white- and blue-collar jobs. As a nation, we are completely unprepared for the upheaval this will create.

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Risks of cannabis use for mental health treatment outweigh benefits

New study shows evidence of positive outcomes is scarce while symptoms can be The use of cannabis medicines to treat people with depression, anxiety, psychosis or other mental health issues cannot be justified because there is little evidence that they work or are safe, according to a major new study.

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Humanity's homeland found in ancient Botswana

Humanity's homeland found in ancient Botswana

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From rovers on Mars to an orbiting Tesla, this decade revolutionized how we see space

By 2029, we could have human footprints on Mars, an established base on the moon and maybe even know which worlds beyond ours host life. It's all science fiction right now, but when we look at how far we've come in the past 10 years it suddenly seems less far-fetched.

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Why are big storms bringing so much more rain? Warming, yes, but also winds

For three hurricane seasons in a row, storms with record-breaking rainfall have caused catastrophic flooding in the southern United States. A new analysis by Princeton researchers explains why this trend is likely to continue with global warming: Both the higher moisture content of warmer air and storms’ increasing wind speeds conspire to produce wetter storms.

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USC study implicates flavored e-cigs in teen vaping epidemic

Researchers found that 64% of teens using flavored e-cigs were still vaping six months later, compared to 43% who used more traditional flavors.

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Narcissism might be a dark trait but it can lower stress levels and reduce chances of depression

People who have grandiose narcissistic traits are more likely to be ‘mentally tough’, feel less stressed and are less vulnerable to depression, research led by Queen’s University Belfast has found.

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Hubble's Scary New Halloween Image

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled a spooky new image staring out from the depths of the cosmos. The new image reveals the twin galaxies AM 2026-424 — a pair of interacting galaxies that may foreshadow our Milky Way’s own frightening fate.

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The universe is expanding faster than scientists thought, a study confirms — a 'crisis in cosmology' that could require a 'new physics'

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and new mirror technology confirmed a mystery that could lead to a "new physics," one astrophysicist said.

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Lab cultured 'steaks' grown on an artificial gelatin scaffold

Most of the alt-meat we eat nowadays, including products like the Impossible Burger, are actually plant based. A number of startups are still working on ethical meat that's grown from animal cells, giving you a real burger without the cruelty and climate change issues. Those can be mushy because they lack the collagen present in real muscle tissue, so there's no way to create steaks. Now, Harvard University researchers have found a way to simulate real meat by growing cow and rabbit muscle cells on a scaffold made out of gelatin.

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Quantum computing’s ‘Hello World’ moment

Does quantum computing really exist? It’s fitting that for decades this field has been haunted by the fundamental uncertainty of whether it would, eventually, prove to be a wild goose chase. But Google has collapsed this nagging superposition with research not just demonstrating what’s called “quantum supremacy,” but more importantly showing that this also is only the very beginning of what quantum computers will eventually be capable of.

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If wormholes exist, this is how we might find one

If wormholes, bridges between regions in spacetime, are more than just a sci-fi fantasy, researchers may have a way to detect them.

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NASA's collaborating with Caterpillar on Moon mining machines

"There are many synergies between what NASA needs to meet exploration goals and Caterpillar technologies used every day on Earth."

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Google searches on 'anxiety' accurately indicate when and where people are feeling anxious, study finds

Google searches for anxiety appear to accurately reflect population-level anxiety, according to new research published in the journal Emotion. “I am interested in the potential of big data analysis in illuminating the cultural influence on human minds. I think this type of analysis is especially useful to study questions that are difficult to study otherwise,” said study author Takeshi Hamamura, a senior lecturer at Curtin University in Australia.

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SpaceX Aims to Send a Starship to the Moon Within Three Years | Digital Trends

When SpaceX unveiled its gorgeous next-generation Starship rocket last month, CEO Elon Musk announced an ambitious timeline of tests for the new vehicle. Now, more details about SpaceX's plans have been announced by President and COO Gwynne Shotwell at the 2019 International Astronautical Congress.

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A lightbulb moment for nuclear fusion?

Scientists pursuing the holy grail of energy generation are taking giant steps

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New gene editing technology could correct 89% of genetic defects

Scientists have developed a new gene-editing technology that could potentially correct up to 89% of genetic defects, including those that cause diseases like sickle cell anemia.

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Here's what you need to know about SpaceX's Starlink internet service

SpaceX is on a mission to beam cheap, high-speed internet to consumers all over the globe. And this week the company revealed a few earthly locations that are already linked to the network, including CEO Elon Musk's house and the cockpits of a few Air Force jets.

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The psychology behind why some people are always late

Experts say being late all the time becomes a habit when you know there are no consequences. 

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Scientists discover fractal patterns in a quantum material

A fractal is any geometric pattern that occurs again and again, at different sizes and scales, within the same object. This "self-similarity" can be seen throughout nature, for example in a snowflake's edge, a river network, the splitting veins in a fern, and the crackling forks of lightning.

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Report on 737 Max 8 crash blames Boeing design, Lion Air staff

Indonesia's final investigation says a faulty sensor, improper maintenance procedures, and problems with a flight control system all contributed to the October 2018 crash that killed 157 people.

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Putting the “bang” in the Big Bang

As the Big Bang theory goes, somewhere around 13.8 billion years ago the universe exploded into being, as an infinitely small, compact fireball of matter that cooled as it expanded, triggering reactions that cooked up the first stars and galaxies, and all the forms of matter that we see (and are) today.

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Tesla’s new Solar Roof costs less than a new roof plus solar panels, aims for install rate of 1K per week

Tesla has launched the third iteration of its solar roof tile for residential home use, which it officially detailed in a blog post on Friday and in a call with media. Tesla CEO Elon Musk kicked off the call with some explanatory remarks on the V3 Solar Roof, and then took a number of questions.

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Can drinking red wine ever be good for us?

Even though alcohol kills millions of people every year, humans have been imbibing for millennia. In the last few decades, wine, in particular, has gained a reputation for being good for our health. Red wine even has been linked with longevity and lower risk of heart disease.

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The Most Futuristic Developments We Can Expect in the Next 10 Years

With the decade winding down it’s time for us to set our sights on the next one. The 2020s promises to be anything but dull. From the automation revolution and increasingly dangerous AI to geohacking the planet and radical advances in biotechnology, here are the most futuristic developments to expect in the next 10 years.

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NASA Is Going to Visit a Gold and Precious Metal Asteroid Worth $700 Quintillion

We may be on the brink of a new gold rush, but not here on Earth. An asteroid made entirely of metal is the subject of a future NASA mission that may allow us to understand more about the Earth’s core and how planets formed. 16 Psyche is a massive asteroid that is particularly interesting due to its metallic composition, which has caused some people to speculate about its potential value.

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The Strongest Magnets in The Universe Could Be Formed by The Violent End of Stars

Some of the strongest magnetic fields ever detected in the Universe come from magnetars. Now, we might finally know how these strange objects form.

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Earth's rocks can absorb a shocking amount of carbon: here’s how

The depths of the planet offer a rock-hard potential solution to climate change.

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The universe 'is expanding FASTER than expected'

Physicists Geoff Chen and Chris Fassnacht of the University of California, Davis and their colleagues took measurements of three gravitationally-lensed bright galaxies called quasars.

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World's smallest camera is size of a grain of sand

OmniVision OV6948 makes it into Guinness Book of Records and will save lives in the hands of surgeons

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Most UK adults 'don’t know the name of our solar system'

Could it be that not enough of us have our heads in the clouds? That appears to be the takeaway message from a new poll commissioned by Google. A majority of UK adults don’t know our galaxy is called the Milky Way, while 17 per cent believe the entire galaxy is called “Earth”, according to the survey of 3,000 people.

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Glacial rivers absorb carbon faster than rainforests, scientists find

‘Total surprise’ discovery overturns conventional understanding of rivers

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NASA’s Mars 2020 rover rests on its own six wheels for the first time

Nasa's Mars 2020 rover will have to operate on its own in a harsh environment, hundreds of millions of miles from the nearest mechanic. But for now, it’s still in development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab — and every milestone is an important one. Including supporting its own weight, fully assembled and resting on its own six wheels, which is what the rover managed this week.

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The first known heavy element created in a neutron star merger has been found

The discovery of strontium created inside a neutron star smashup gives the clearest picture yet of what goes on inside this chaotic environment.

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7,000-year-old fortress wall uncovered in southern Turkey

Afortress wall dating 7,000 years back to the Chalcolithic Age has been unearthed at the Yumuktepe Mound in southern Turkey's Mersin province. The Yumuktepe Mound is highly significant as a continuous settlement for 9,000 years since the Neolithic Age.

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NASA Mars Curiosity rover selfie celebrates rare scientific feat

Curiosity is Mars' top supermodel. A new selfie proves the fetching NASA rover knows how to pose for the camera on the end of its robotic arm. Work it, Curiosity, work it. You can check out the full high-res image on NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab website. Look to the left of the rover and you'll spot twin drill holes created by Curiosity in this fascinating "clay-bearing unit" area of Mars.

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Virgin Galactic becomes the first public space tourism company

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will find out on Monday what the public markets think of its ambitious plan to make commercial space tourism a reality.

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Alien hunters, NASA team up to scan planets for signs of intelligent life

Hundreds of the nearest, newfound exoplanets will soon be scanned for evidence of intelligent life, thanks to a collaboration between leading SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) scientists and NASA's newest planet-hunting satellite. The Breakthrough Listen SETI initiative, based out of the University of California, Berkeley, announced Wednesday that it'll be teaming up with scientists working on the Transiting Expolanet Survey Satellite, the successor to the Kepler Space Telescope that launched in 2018.

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What if we measured the thing that matters most: "carbon productivity"

Labor productivity doesn't matter as much as emissions productivity. Workers aren't a particularly finite resource.

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NASA Wants to Send a Probe to the Hellish Surface of Venus

The longest a spacecraft has survived on Earth's "evil twin" is just 127 minutes. Now NASA is building one to last 60 days.

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Russian First Reusable Rocket Launch Set for 2020

Russia is developing a reusable rocket that is expected to be a competitor to the American made Falcon 9 rocket, a two-stage-to-orbit medium lift launch vehicle. The Falcon 9 is designed and manufactured by SpaceX, a private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars.

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NASA has approved plans to create an asteroid mission named Lucy

NASA experts officially approved the project of the interplanetary station Lucy, which in 2021 should go into space to study the so-called Trojan asteroids of Jupiter. The construction of the device will start in the coming days, said (SwRI) press-service of the US Southwest Research Institute. Trojan asteroids are the last traces of the formation of the solar system, peculiar" living fossils "from that era.

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People Eat 80% Less Meat When More Vegetarian Options Are on the Menu

Reseach from Cambridge University found that doubling the number of vegetarian and vegan menu options encourages people to eat less meat.

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Drivers are killing pedestrians at the highest rate in almost 30 years

Automakers are getting better at protecting the people who buy their cars, but everyone else is getting slaughtered.

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