New Scientist Space - Cosmology
Paper planes made by a robot fly better than ones made by humans
A robot that can design, build and test objects made from folded paper can make paper planes that fly further than ones made by a human having the same number of attempts
Categories: Astronomy
Ancient people carved mysterious symbols near dinosaur footprints
A unique site in Brazil features rock carvings closely associated with dinosaur tracks, suggesting prehistoric people saw the footprints as meaningful
Categories: Astronomy
Huge crater in India hints at major meteorite impact 4000 years ago
The Luna structure, a 1.8-kilometre-wide depression in north-west India, may have been caused by the largest meteorite to strike Earth in the past 50,000 years
Categories: Astronomy
Your nationality may influence how much you talk with your hands
When recounting an episode of the children's TV show Pingu, people from Italy made an average of 22 gestures per 100 words, compared with 11 for Swedish people
Categories: Astronomy
Wildfire smoke may be deadliest effect of climate change in US
Smoke from wildfires made worse by climate change is set to cause thousands of additional deaths each year in the US
Categories: Astronomy
The unexpected reasons why human childhood is extraordinarily long
Why childhood is so protracted has long been mysterious, now a spate of archaeological discoveries suggest an intriguing explanation
Categories: Astronomy
Martin MacInnes: 'Science fiction can be many different things'
The author of In Ascension, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club, on why he wrote his novel, cultivating a sense of wonder and the role of fiction in the world today
Categories: Astronomy
Dust clouds from the Sahara are reaching Europe more frequently
Changes in wind patterns and desertification may be increasing the amount of dust from the Sahara desert blown over western Europe and the frequency of these events
Categories: Astronomy
Birds make an 'after you' gesture to prompt their mate to enter nest
Japanese tits sometimes flutter their wings in an apparent gesture of encouraging their mate to enter their shared nest first
Categories: Astronomy
Humans spread more viruses to other animals than they give to us
An analysis of viral genomes shows it is more common for viruses to jump from humans to other animals than the other way around
Categories: Astronomy
Tiny deer from the dry valleys of Peru recognised as new species
A 38-centimetre-tall deer, found in an arid region in the central Andes, is the first new deer species found in South America for over 60 years
Categories: Astronomy
NASA's mission to Europa isn't meant to find alien life - but it could
Later this year, NASA is launching its Europa Clipper spacecraft to the icy moon of Jupiter. Its mission is only to investigate whether the moon is habitable, but now researchers have found that one of its instruments could look for direct signs of life
Categories: Astronomy
Medieval horses buried in London had far-flung origins
Isotopic analysis of horse teeth from a medieval burial site suggest that the animals were imported to England from Scandinavia or the Alps, perhaps for use in battle or jousting
Categories: Astronomy
Dogs really do understand that words stand for objects
Pet dogs have different patterns of brain activity when they are shown an object that doesn’t match the word they hear, suggesting they have a mental representation of what words mean
Categories: Astronomy
Largest recorded solar storm was even bigger than we thought
Rediscovered magnetic recordings reveal just how extreme the largest recorded solar storm in history, the Carrington event in 1859, really was, highlighting the danger such storms could present to us nowadays
Categories: Astronomy
Ant queens have good reasons for eating their own babies
Feasting on family members may be an unorthodox way for ant queens to keep their fledgling colonies from being overrun by lethal fungi
Categories: Astronomy
Male and female spiders pair up to look like a flower
Together, a dark-hued male crab spider and a larger, paler female resemble a flower, in what researchers suspect is the first case of cooperative mimicry
Categories: Astronomy
Why giving AI a robot body could make its ‘brain’ more human-like
At its AI conference, Nvidia announced new software and hardware for AI-powered humanoid robots: a model called Project GR00T and a computer called Jetson Thor
Categories: Astronomy
SpaceX’s Starship created a volcano-like explosion in first launch
The Starship rocket destroyed its launch pad during its first launch attempt in 2023, and the explosion resembled a powerful volcanic eruption, spraying sand and chunks of debris over a huge area
Categories: Astronomy
Organic farms seem to trigger more pesticide use on conventional farms
Insects tend to be more abundant on organic farms than conventional ones, which may cause the pests to spill over into neighbouring fields, prompting these farmers to increase their pesticide use
Categories: Astronomy