New Scientist Space - Cosmology
Coronavirus vaccines may reduce or eliminate symptoms of long covid
People with lasting symptoms after a covid-19 infection, known as long covid, are more likely to recover than get worse after receiving a vaccine, according to an online survey
Categories: Astronomy
AI has a specific Spider-Man 'brain cell' just like humans do
Human brains have neurons related to specific people, called grandmother cells, and now these have also been identified in artificial neural networks
Categories: Astronomy
Effects of Finnish evacuation during second world war visible in DNA
The second world war left a major mark on the genetic composition of Finland, researchers have found, though the work may not have included minority ethnic groups
Categories: Astronomy
Covid-19 news: Vaccines for new variants could be fast-tracked in UK
The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic
Categories: Astronomy
People of European descent evolved resistance to TB over 10,000 years
Analysis of ancient DNA shows that a genetic variant that increases susceptibility to tuberculosis has drastically decreased in Europe since the Bronze Age
Categories: Astronomy
Some frogs have noise-cancelling lungs to dampen other species’ calls
To better hear a male’s mating call, some female frogs have noise-cancelling lungs, which resonate at frequencies that filter out the sounds of other species
Categories: Astronomy
X-raying eggs while they cook reveals how egg white becomes solid
When an egg is heated, its proteins unfold and form bonds with each other – an X-ray analysis has shown this happening on the micrometre scale over the first 160 seconds of cooking
Categories: Astronomy
Facebook AI learned object recognition from 1 billion Instagram pics
Artificial intelligence built by Facebook has learned to classify images from 1 billion Instagram photos. The AI used a different learning technique to many other similar algorithms, relying less on input from humans.
Categories: Astronomy
Over one-sixth of all food produced ends up being thrown in the bin
Consumer food waste hit 931 million tonnes in 2019, 17 per cent of global production. Although this figure includes non-edible waste such as bones, it suggests huge amounts of food are going uneaten
Categories: Astronomy
Changing sounds reveal impact of Amazon fires on animal life
Recordings reveal that the Brazilian Amazon sounds different after it has been burned several times, suggesting acoustic monitoring as a tool to measure ecosystem degradation
Categories: Astronomy
Green energy app lets your car charge when electricity is cheapest
Renewable energy supplier Bulb has created a specific off-peak tariff for electric cars and an app to simplify how people charge their vehicles
Categories: Astronomy
Eagle-inspired robot flies by flapping its feather-covered wings
A robot that looks like a bird, flaps its wings like a bird and flies like a bird could be used as a stealthy, camouflaged drone
Categories: Astronomy
We may have to rewrite our understanding of gravity
There is a mismatch between two ways of measuring galactic mass. Dark matter is one way to solve it, but so is rewriting the laws of gravity, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Categories: Astronomy
How our abuse of nature makes pandemics like covid-19 more likely
From habitat degradation to squalid animal treatment, our part in allowing “zoonotic” diseases like covid-19 to leap into humans is becoming ever clearer
Categories: Astronomy
At least the Mary Anning coin doesn’t have a tripod with four legs
Celebratory coins provoking fury, very unconventional health advice and a way to chart your stools: the week in weird
Categories: Astronomy
Coronavirus variant names are too confusing - there is a better way
The names given to new coronavirus variants and bacteria can be difficult to use or understand. Using a pre-generated list of names would be better, says Mark Pallen
Categories: Astronomy
Benefits of microdosing psychedelic drugs may be due to placebo effect
Some people find that taking small doses of psychedelic drugs can sharpen awareness or improve their mood, but these benefits may happen simply because people believe they will
Categories: Astronomy
Repeated coronavirus lockdowns are taking a severe toll on children
The covid-19 pandemic and associated restrictions have impacted children's mental health – which has already been declining for years in the UK and US
Categories: Astronomy
A submersible soft robot survived the pressure in the Mariana trench
The pressure in the world’s deepest ocean abyss can crush even the strongest enclosures, so researchers are taking another tack – using a silicone robot with wings like a manta ray
Categories: Astronomy
Space junk foils astronomers observing oldest galaxy in the universe
A flash of light in the night sky, thought to have been a burst from a galaxy in the early universe, may actually have been nothing more than a glint from a piece of junk in Earth orbit
Categories: Astronomy