Science and Tech

Science and Tech

learned helplessness
Helplessness isn't learned — it's an instinctual response that can be overcome.
round
In 1990, we only knew of the planets in our own Solar System. Today, the exoplanet count is more than 5000. Here's what we've learned.
Every year, scientists like George Church get better at editing the genomes of human beings. But will genome editing help or hurt us?
Salk scientists studied complex decision-making capabilities in a worm with just 302 neurons and a mouth full of teeth. It's smarter than you would think.
irish shipwrecks
We have a morbid curiosity about nautical disaster stories. The Irish "Wreck Viewer" offers a window into centuries of marine misfortune.
coldest place in the universe
Empty, intergalactic space is just 2.725 K: not even three degrees above absolute zero. But the Boomerang Nebula is even colder.
northern white rhino
Scientists at the San Diego Zoo are on a mission to resurrect the extinct northern white rhino.
james webb spikes
When we started imaging the Universe with Hubble, every star had four "spikes" coming from it. Here's why Webb will have more.
Head direction cells act like internal compasses to help the birds navigate during long flights.
Forty Starlink satellites were destroyed earlier this year in a geomagnetic storm.
moon rock
Knowing that technology would advance in the future, NASA put some moon rock samples into storage without opening them. Now, they have.
digital amnesia
3mins
Is social media changing your memory? Here’s what the science actually says.
Syllipsimopodi bideni is small (about 12cm in length), has ten arms, suckers, fins, and a triangular pen of hard tissue inside its body for support.
ai drone meteorite
Aerial drone footage was sent to an AI trained to track down space rocks.
The far infrared reveals both the coldest and hottest gas in the Universe, and can teach us what no other wavelength range can.
ants cancer
The insects were just as accurate as trained dogs, although not as cuddly.
what are collective illusions
1mins
From trust and conformity to aspiration, this new series, hosted by Todd Rose, explores and decodes the world's greatest Collective Illusions.
Stand Together
Is there any good reason for assigning North and South the way we do, or could we have just as easily done the reverse?
The ranking is encouragingly diverse, with the top 10 featuring representation from five regions.
fairy wrasse
Local researchers identify a striking rainbow-colored fairy wrasse found off the coast of the Maldives as a fish species all its own.
Discussions of human evolution are usually backward looking, as if the greatest triumphs and challenges were in the distant past.
The A.I. system could improve the lives of commercially raised pigs.
planets march 2022
In the night sky for March of 2022, only stars and the Moon, not planets, will greet you. The real show, however, arrives just before dawn.
The good news is that scientists have found a new way to treat eczema. The bad news is that it's drinkable dust mite extract.
Close up of an ant on the ground.
Two aspects of memory – fast updating and long lasting – are typically considered incompatible, yet the insects combined them.
cellulose nanocrystals
Using cellulose from trees and a synthetic polymer, MIT researchers have created a material that "is stronger and tougher than some types of bone, and harder than typical aluminum alloys."
endurance
A famous explorer's doomed ship is finally found 107 years after it was lost to the Antarctic deep.