Your brain processes letters, words, sounds, semantics and grammar at breakneck speed. StudioM1/iStock via Getty Images Plus Nichol Castro, University at Buffalo The days of having a dictionary on your bookshelf are numbered. But that’s OK, because everyone already walks around with a dictionary – not the one on your phone, but the one in […]
From Wired: Physicist Jeffrey Hazboun visits WIRED to answer the internet’s swirling questions about physics. How does one split an atom? Is light a wave or a particle…or both? How soon will the universe end? Is time travel is possible given physicists’ current understanding? What’s the deal with string theory? [Wired]
Owl chronotypes function better at night, while lark chronotypes are more energized in the morning. The Photo Matrix/Moment, nomis_g/iStock via Getty Images Plus Cindi May, College of Charleston Timing is everything. For early risers and late-nighters alike, listening to your internal clock may be the key to success. From the classroom to the courtroom and […]
Originally discovered by accident, X-rays are now used about 100 million times a year in clinics around the world. How do these magic eyes work? Ge Wang details the history and mechanics of the X-ray machine and CT scanners. [TED-Ed]
Garsya/Shutterstock Matthew Addicoat, Nottingham Trent University The universe is flooded with billions of chemicals, each a tiny pinprick of potential. And we’ve only identified 1% of them. Scientists believe undiscovered chemical compounds could help remove greenhouse gases, or trigger a medical breakthrough much like penicillin did. But let’s just get this out there first: it’s […]
Earth and Moon as seen by the Galileo spacecraft from a distance of 6 million km away. NASA Gareth Dorrian, University of Birmingham It’s been 30 years since a group of scientists led by Carl Sagan found evidence for life on Earth using data from instruments on board the Nasa Galileo robotic spacecraft. Yes, you […]
Single-use plastics. Anton Petrus/Moment Katherine Harry, Colorado State University and Emma Rettner, Colorado State University Hundreds of millions of tons of single-use plastic ends up in landfills every year, and even the small percentage of plastic that gets recycled can’t last forever. But our group of materials scientists has developed a new method for creating […]
From Interesting Engineering: In a world where robotics and medical innovation converge, a game-changing hero emerges: a slime. This isn’t your typical gooey substance; it’s a fluid-based soft robot, a blend of polymers, borax, and alcohol, capable of shifting between liquid and solid states through viscoelasticity. Tiny neodymium particles grant it magnetic control, allowing it […]
Telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory near La Serena, Chile. Guillaume Doyen/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, CC BY Luke Keller, Ithaca College NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft flew by Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, dropping off its sample of dust and pebbles gathered from the surface of near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Analysis of this sample will help scientists understand how the […]
Update: the launch was a success. You can rewatch it above by rewinding the footage. I can’t specify the exact time yet since the live video is not over. From NASA: Watch the Psyche spacecraft launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting […]