A new computer vision system inspired by cats’ eyes could enable robots to see the world around them more accurately than ever before. Robots, drones, self-driving cars and other autonomous systems are becoming more common, but they still struggle to see well in all environments and conditions. For example, self-driving cars perform poorly in rain … Read more
You don’t need a telescope to see that the moon is riddled with craters. For billions of years, our celestial neighbor has been absolutely bombarded by asteroids and comets, and the assault has left behind a heavily pockmarked lunar surface. The largest and oldest-known impact site on the moon is the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, … Read more
Miniature livers will fly aboard the International Space Station in an upcoming study on whether microgravity can encourage the growth of healthy tissue with an ample blood supply. It’s an effort that could potentially lead to personalized, space-grown tissues and organs for use in transplant surgeries, scientists say. In two upcoming experiments, researchers plan to … Read more
Even though the invention of the wheel around 6,000 years ago revolutionized everything from transportation to pottery making, its exact origins are still a mystery to archaeologists. But a new study using techniques from structural mechanics suggests that Eastern European copper miners may have been the driving force behind three major innovations in wheel technology … Read more
Forty-four of the world’s leading climate scientists have called on Nordic policymakers to address the potentially imminent and “devastating” collapse of key Atlantic Ocean currents. In an open letter published online Monday (Oct. 21), University of Pennsylvania climatologist Michael Mann and other eminent scientists say the risks of weakening ocean circulation in the Atlantic have … Read more
Tiny photosynthetic microbes could be secretly thriving on Mars — hiding inside small bubbles of liquid water in the thin layers of dusty ice that litter the Red Planet’s surface, a new NASA-led study reveals. Researchers believe the icy patches could be among the most promising targets in the hunt for extraterrestrial life within our … Read more
In my research focused on early farmers of Europe, I have often wondered about a curious pattern through time: Farmers lived in large dense villages, then dispersed for centuries, then later formed cities again, only to abandon those as well. Why? Archaeologists often explain what we call urban collapse in terms of climate change, overpopulation, … Read more
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to spend a night on Mars? This excerpt from the new book “Daydreaming in the Solar System” by John E. Moores and Jesse Rogerson, takes a poetic look at what it might be like to explore the Red Planet if you were faced with the daunting … Read more
In summer 2024, several news outlets chronicled the “nightmarish” impacts Texas communities endured due to the din of noise emanating from nearby cryptocurrency mines. Residents of these communities reported that the unrelenting noise caused them to experience a range of ailments, including high blood pressure, chest pain and tinnitus. The noise levels of the cryptocurrency … Read more
Scientists estimate that the earliest biological entities began to appear on Earth more than 4 billion years ago. “There was a sort of primordial soup from which certain organic molecules were formed. These were precursors to RNA and DNA,” carbon-containing molecules which combined and organized themselves into a sequence of biological reactions, said computational biologist … Read more
