New Scientist Space - Space Headlines
Ketamine’s unlikely conversion from rave drug to mental health therapy
Bolstered by impressive clinical trials, some companies are offering ketamine therapy as an employee health benefit – but what risks are posed by the drug's newfound popularity?
Categories: Astronomy
Blind cave fish offers lessons in how to survive starvation
Unlike most other animals, the cave-dwelling Mexican tetra doesn’t get a fatty liver when it is malnourished – and its secrets could lead to medical benefits for other species
Categories: Astronomy
Flightless terror birds stalked Antarctica after the dinosaurs' demise
Two fossil claws found on Seymour Island reveal that phorusrhacids, or terror birds, lived in Antarctica 50 million years ago and were probably the apex predator
Categories: Astronomy
Exclusive: Aid groups have no concrete long-term health plans for Gaza
Palestinians face a protracted health disaster as physical injuries, mental health issues and malnutrition are widespread in Gaza – and major health groups have no firm plans to address it
Categories: Astronomy
Snail robot excretes sticky mucus that helps it crawl up slopes
A remotely controlled robot with an inflatable foot that oozes mucus can crawl across surfaces like a snail, and could inspire soft medical robots that move through mucus-lined cavities in the human body
Categories: Astronomy
Quantum memory device could stop unhackable networks from failing
A memory device that temporarily saves quantum information could become an important addition to quantum networks because it would allow users to salvage information if it fails to transfer properly
Categories: Astronomy
Damaged coral reefs can recover quickly after restoration work
Four years after being restored with steel frames, coral reefs in Indonesia damaged by blast fishing grow at the same rate as healthy reefs, but they have lower levels of species diversity
Categories: Astronomy
Chemical injection brings dying batteries back to life
Researchers restored degraded lithium-ion batteries to nearly full capacity by injecting them with a chemical that creates more charged particles inside them
Categories: Astronomy
AI chatbot models ‘think’ in English even when using other languages
When answering questions posed in Chinese, French, German or Russian, large language models seem to process the queries in English, which could create cultural issues
Categories: Astronomy
Engineers are diverting Mississippi river to restore Louisiana’s coast
South of New Orleans, a project to divert the Mississippi river could restore ecosystems destroyed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and build new land to protect against sea level rise
Categories: Astronomy
How one theory ties together everything we know about the universe
All known natural phenomena fit into just a few categories and unifying them all is quantum field theory, says physicist Matt Strassler
Categories: Astronomy
Clownfish avoid the sting of their anemone hosts with sugary slime
As a clownfish spends time with an anemone, its mucus coating begins to change. Chemical tweaks to sugars in the slime may calm stinging cells in anemone tentacles
Categories: Astronomy
6 things to look out for during the total solar eclipse
A total solar eclipse is a unique experience. From shadow bands to the sun’s majestic corona and pinkish prominences, here’s what you can expect to see
Categories: Astronomy
Worm-like amphibian produces a kind of milk for its hatchlings
After hatching from eggs, young ringed caecilians feed on their mother’s skin, but also on a milk-like substance secreted from her rear end
Categories: Astronomy
Experimental weight loss pill seems to be more potent than Ozempic
The results, of 13 per cent weight loss after three months, need to be confirmed by larger and longer studies, but are seen as promising
Categories: Astronomy
D-Wave says its quantum computers can solve otherwise impossible tasks
Quantum computing firm D-Wave says its machines are the first to achieve "computational supremacy" by solving a practically useful problem that would otherwise take millions of years on an ordinary supercomputer
Categories: Astronomy
Salmon farms are increasingly being hit by mass die-offs
Mass mortality events at salmon farms have been getting more frequent since 2011, sometimes killing millions of fish at once, with causes including heatwaves and poor living conditions
Categories: Astronomy
Jupiter’s stormy surface replicated in lab
By rotating a tank of water at 75 revolutions per minute, it’s possible to replicate some of the stunning, swirling patterns on Jupiter’s surface
Categories: Astronomy
Light and sound therapy for Alzheimer’s may also prevent 'chemo brain'
An experimental Alzheimer's treatment involving sounds and flickering lights also prevented a decline in mental sharpness among mice having chemotherapy
Categories: Astronomy
AI chatbots use racist stereotypes even after anti-racism training
Large language models still demonstrate racial prejudice against speakers of African American English, despite the safety guard rails implemented by tech companies such as OpenAI
Categories: Astronomy