News
- Earth
Ancient zircons offer insights into earthquakes of the past
Analyzing zircons’ chemical makeup can help expose intense quakes from the past and improve our understanding of the physics of today’s tremors.
- Anthropology
A new origin story for domesticated chickens starts in rice fields 3,500 years ago
Chickens, popular on today’s menus, got their start in Southeast Asia surprisingly recently, probably as exotic or revered animals, researchers say.
- Astronomy
A newfound, oddly slow pulsar shouldn’t emit radio waves — yet it does
The highly magnetic neutron star rotates three times slower than the previous record holder, challenging the theorical understanding of these objects.
- Ecosystems
Just 3 ingredients can quickly destroy widely used PFAS ‘forever chemicals’
Ultraviolet light, sulfite and iodide break down enduring PFAS molecules faster and more thoroughly than other UV-based methods.
- Particle Physics
How neutrinos could ensure a submarine’s nuclear fuel isn’t weaponized
Nuclear submarines could be monitored with the help of neutrinos to ensure that the fuel isn’t diverted to nuclear weapons programs
- Computing
The world’s fastest supercomputer just broke the exascale barrier
The Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee clocked in at more than 1.1 quintillion calculations per second.
- Health & Medicine
Trained dogs sniff out COVID-19 as well as lab tests do
Dogs can be trained to sniff out COVID-19 cases. They’re overall as reliable as PCR tests and even better at IDing asymptomatic cases, a study suggests.
- Astronomy
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft spotted a ‘hedgehog’ on the sun
In its closest flyby yet of the sun, the Solar Orbiter came within 48 million kilometers of our star, revealing new details.
- Paleontology
Great white sharks may have helped drive megalodons to extinction
Analyzing zinc levels in shark teeth hints that megalodons and great whites competed with each other for food.
- Animals
An ‘acoustic camera’ shows joining the right boy band boosts a frog’s sex appeal
Serenading with like voices may help male wood frogs woo females into their pools, analysis of individual voices in a frog choir shows.
- Climate
Scientists hope to mimic the most extreme hurricane conditions
A $12.8 million NSF grant is funding the design of a facility that can generate winds of at least 290 kilometers per hour and towering storm surges.
- Chemistry
Scientists made a Möbius strip out of a tiny carbon nanobelt
A twisted belt of carbon atoms joins carbon nanotubes and buckyballs in the list of carbon structures scientists can create.
