New Scientist Space - Cosmology
Wood-eating beetles may make wildfires emit even more carbon
When downed trees are attacked by beetles, the wood becomes more flammable, demonstrating another way insects can alter the risk of wildfires
Categories: Astronomy
The physicist on a mission to spark a quantum industrial revolution
Quantum fridges, batteries and clocks are brilliant inventions but still limited in power. Now physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern is charting a path to take them to the next level
Categories: Astronomy
Male octopus injects female with venom during sex to avoid being eaten
Some male octopuses tend to get eaten by their sexual partners, but male blue-lined octopuses avoid this fate with help from one of nature’s most potent venoms
Categories: Astronomy
'Amazing' spinning needle proof unlocks a whole new world of maths
What shapes are made by a spinning needle? This seemingly innocent problem has puzzled mathematicians for decades, but now a new proof is being called the biggest result of the current century as it could help solve many other tricky problems
Categories: Astronomy
Microsoft under fire for claiming it has a new quantum computer
Researchers have criticised Microsoft's new Majorana 1 quantum computer, saying the company has made claims about the way it works that aren't fully backed up by scientific evidence
Categories: Astronomy
Thousands join 'Stand Up for Science' rallies across the US
Researchers and other advocates for science gathered at Stand Up for Science rallies around the US and the world to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to scientific research
Categories: Astronomy
Four ways cuts at NOAA will make weather forecasts less reliable
Widespread firings at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could affect everything from tornado alerts to weather forecasts on your phone
Categories: Astronomy
Ozempic is increasingly being linked to vision loss. What’s the truth?
Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy could raise the risk of a rare form of vision loss, but we are still trying to unpick why
Categories: Astronomy
Does education help build a cognitive reserve to ward off dementia?
Spending more time at school could keep you sharp into old age, but there are other factors that might explain the effect
Categories: Astronomy
Speeding star offers a rare glimpse of the Milky Way's galactic centre
A star has been spotted shooting away from the heart of our galaxy at around 500 kilometres per second, giving astronomers clues about a group of stellar objects that are hard to observe directly
Categories: Astronomy
Sex may have evolved as a way to pool resources during tough times
How sexual reproduction came about has long been a mystery, but an evolutionary model suggests it could have started with cells fusing to increase their food reserves
Categories: Astronomy
Blackbird deaths point to looming West Nile virus threat in the UK
Mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus could become a growing concern in the UK and other northern European nations as the climate warms, with a virus affecting blackbirds showing how these pathogens can take hold
Categories: Astronomy
The Athena lander reached the moon – but seems to have fallen over
Intuitive Machines's Athena spacecraft has landed on the surface of the moon, but it seems to have fallen over and we don't yet know if it will be able to drill for ice
Categories: Astronomy
Experts say US flights are safe now but flag warning signs to look for
Flying commercially in the US remains low risk despite a recent mid-air collision, near misses and job cuts at the Federal Aviation Administration. But aviation safety experts and former FAA employees identify warning signs that would stop them from flying in the future
Categories: Astronomy
The US may start vaccinating chickens and cows against bird flu
The US Department of Agriculture announced it will allocate $100 million to develop vaccines and other therapies to help contain the spread of bird flu on poultry and dairy farms
Categories: Astronomy
Birds' nests in Amsterdam are made up of plastic from 30 years ago
Coots' nests in Amsterdam are built using discarded plastic, providing a time capsule into the material's use over the past few decades
Categories: Astronomy
Lasers can help detect radioactive materials from afar
In a record-breaking test, researchers remotely detected radioactive material by shooting it with infrared laser pulses and analysing how the light scattered
Categories: Astronomy
Two huge black holes merged into one and went flying across the cosmos
A supermassive black hole that doesn't appear to be where we would expect seems to be travelling at more than a thousand kilometres per second – the result of a giant cosmic collision
Categories: Astronomy
Do we all see red as the same colour? We finally have an answer
It is impossible for us to know exactly how another person's experience of the world compares to our own, but a new experiment is helping to reveal that colour is indeed a shared phenomenon
Categories: Astronomy
Global sea ice levels just hit a new record low
Sea ice cover in both the Antarctic and Arctic remained far below average throughout February as global average temperatures linger near record highs
Categories: Astronomy