US‘s wind and solar will generate more power than coal in 2024
Utility-scale solar generation is up by over 30% amid future uncertainties.
John Timmer
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64
Science // Science & Exploration
Complexity physics finds crucial tipping points in chess games
Physicist used interaction graphs to show how pieces attack and defend to analyze 20,000 top matches.
Jennifer Ouellette
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100
Researchers optimize simulations of molecules on quantum computers
A new approach to simulating the electrons of small molecules like catalysts.
John Timmer
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16
Rocket Report: Did China’s reusable rocket work?; DOT may review SpaceX fines
Rocket Lab announced it will soon launch a batch of eight German-owned wildfire-detection satellites.
Stephen Clark
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362
George R.R. Martin has co-authored a physics paper
"I couldn't help but wonder if a simple underlying model might tidy up the canon.”
Jennifer Ouellette
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161
Fast radio burst in long-dead galaxy puzzles astronomers
Result "challenges existing theories that tie FRB origins to phenomena in star-forming galaxies."
Jennifer Ouellette
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49
How to get a perfect salt ring deposit in your pasta pot
Particle diameter, height from which they fall through water, and particle volume are key factors.
Jennifer Ouellette
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77
Edge of Mars’ great dichotomy eroded back by hundreds of kilometers
What may have been an ancient shoreline has signs of a water-driven transformation.
John Timmer
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39
Most Read
Robotic hand helps pianists overcome “ceiling effect”
Passive training with robotic exoskeleton hand even led to motor improvements in the untrained hand.
Jennifer Ouellette
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68
Sleeping pills stop the brain’s system for cleaning out waste
A specialized system sends pulses of pressure through the fluids in our brain.
Jacek Krywko
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184
Peeing is contagious among chimps
Physical proximity, social dominance are primary factors involved in "contagious urination" behavior.
Jennifer Ouellette
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52
Life is thriving in the subsurface depths of Earth
Different species thrive beneath the oceans than under the land.
Elizabeth Rayne
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47
Has Trump changed the retirement plans for the country’s largest coal plants?
A growth in electricity demand is leading to talk of delayed closures.
Inside Climate News
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275
A solid electrolyte gives lithium-sulfur batteries ludicrous endurance
Sulfur can store a lot more lithium but is problematically reactive in batteries.
John Timmer
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118
Fire destroys Starship on its seventh test flight, raining debris from space
The Federal Aviation Administration will likely require an investigation into the accident.
Stephen Clark
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566
Here’s what NASA would like to see SpaceX accomplish with Starship this year
The seventh test flight of Starship is scheduled for launch Thursday afternoon.
Stephen Clark
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317
Heroes, villains, and childhood trauma in the MCEU and DCU
"This study somewhat refutes the idea that villains are a product of their experiences." At least in fiction.
Jennifer Ouellette
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54
Two lunar landers are on the way to the Moon after SpaceX’s double moonshot
The landers were developed by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace and a Japanese startup named ispace.
Stephen Clark
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39
Researchers use AI to design proteins that block snake venom toxins
It's a good example of how computer developments can be used for practical problems.
John Timmer
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35
Meta takes us a step closer to Star Trek’s universal translator
The computer science behind translating speech from 100 source languages.
Jacek Krywko
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88
Is humanity alone in the Universe? What scientists really think.
Are scientists speculating, or is there a scientific consensus here?
The Conversation
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309
There was a straight shot from Earth to the Moon and Mars last night
Even at its closest point to Earth, Mars looms 250 times farther than the Moon.
Stephen Clark
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48
Maker of weight-loss drugs to ask Trump to pause price negotiations: Report
The next 15 drugs up for negotiation will be released soon and may include a GLP-1.
Beth Mole
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120
Up close and personal with the stag beetle in A Real Bug’s Life S2
It's just one of the many fascinating insect species featured in the second season of this NatGeo docuseries.
Jennifer Ouellette
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12
SpaceX is superb at reusing boosters, but how about building upper stages?
SpaceX has launched one of its Falcon 9 boosters for a record-breaking 25th time.
Stephen Clark
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160
Not just heat death: Here are five ways the Universe could end
Need a pick-me-up? Consider these cheery possibilities.
Paul Sutter
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226
Skull long thought to be Cleopatra’s sister’s was actually a young boy
Skull found in ruins of Ephesos in 1929 thought to be Arsinoë IV is actually skull of 11-14-year-old boy.
Jennifer Ouellette
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27
Getting an all-optical AI to handle non-linear math
Instead of sensing photons and processing the results, why not process the photons?
Jacek Krywko
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107
Did Hilma af Klint draw inspiration from 19th century physics?
Diagrams from Thomas Young's 1807 Lectures bear striking resemblance to abstract figures in af Klint's work.
Jennifer Ouellette
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42
Rocket Report: China launches refueling demo; DoD’s big appetite for hypersonics
We're just a few days away from getting a double-dose of heavy-lift rocket action.
Stephen Clark
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327
Man turns irreversibly gray from an unidentified silver exposure
His skin, hands, nails, and eyes had turned silvery gray from the exposure.
Beth Mole
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153
Everyone agrees: 2024 the hottest year since the thermometer was invented
An exceptionally hot outlier, 2024 means the streak of hottest years goes to 11.
John Timmer
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94
Coal likely to go away even without EPA’s power plant regulations
Set to be killed by Trump, the rules mostly lock in existing trends.
John Timmer
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144
Here’s what we know, and what we don’t, about the awful Palisades wildfire
"I think we’ve got more questions than answers at this point."
Eric Berger
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419
A taller, heavier, smarter version of SpaceX’s Starship is almost ready to fly
Starship will test its payload deployment mechanism on its seventh test flight.
Stephen Clark
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211
Why solving crosswords is like a phase transition
German physicist and crossword fan realized the solving process resembled a type of "percolation problem."
Jennifer Ouellette
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35