New Scientist Space - Space Headlines
Immersive new exhibition explores the pitfalls of defying old age
Michael Schindhelm's exhibition explores the possibilities and perils of living healthily for centuries – or at least much longer than today
Categories: Astronomy
Liquid crystals could improve quantum communication devices
Quantum light is key to futuristic quantum technologies, but researchers have been creating it in the same way for 60 years – now liquid crystals offer an easier way to produce it
Categories: Astronomy
The surprising mental health and brain benefits of weight-loss drugs
Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have unexpected effects on the brain, opening up potential new ways to treat depression, anxiety, addiction and Alzheimer’s
Categories: Astronomy
Quantum sensor gets a read on tiny worm implanted with nanodiamonds
Tiny diamonds and quantum sensors can be used to measure conditions inside cells or living organisms, potentially offering a way to detect diseases or study biology in minute detail
Categories: Astronomy
What would a wormhole look like if we ever found one?
How could we tell the difference between an ordinary black hole and one connected to a tunnel through space-time?
Categories: Astronomy
We could detect a malfunctioning warp drive on an alien starship
Faster-than-light warp drives are theoretically possible to build, and if aliens are using them, we should be able to detect the gravitational waves produced when one goes wrong
Categories: Astronomy
Australian pterosaur had a huge tongue to help gulp down prey
Scientists have identified a new species of pterosaur from a 100-million-year-old fossil in Australia, which appears to have had a massive tongue to push prey down its throat
Categories: Astronomy
Muscle zapping during exercise helps people recover after a stroke
A small trial has found that electrical stimulation of arm muscles while people do physiotherapy exercises leads to more improvement
Categories: Astronomy
What "naked" singularities are revealing about quantum space-time
Are points of infinite curvature, where general relativity breaks down, always hidden inside black holes? An audacious attempt to find out is shedding light on the mystery of quantum gravity
Categories: Astronomy
Astronaut medical records reveal the health toll of space travel
The largest collection yet of detailed medical data and tissue samples from astronauts should help researchers better understand the impacts of space flight on health
Categories: Astronomy
How many moons and moonmoons could we cram into Earth's orbit?
Earth is lagging behind other worlds with its single moon, so on this episode of Dead Planets Society we are giving it more – and giving those moons moonmoons to orbit them
Categories: Astronomy
Marine fungus can break down floating plastic pollution
The plastic-digesting capabilities of the fungus Parengyodontium album could be harnessed to degrade polyethylene, the most abundant type of plastic in the ocean
Categories: Astronomy
Ozempic and Wegovy linked to lower risk of alcoholism
People taking semaglutide, also called Ozempic and Wegovy, either for weight loss or type 2 diabetes, were less likely to become addicted to alcohol
Categories: Astronomy
The first stars in the universe could have formed surprisingly early
Huge stars might have formed in the first million years of the universe if there was enough matter clumped together, according to a computer model
Categories: Astronomy
How dodo de-extinction is helping rescue the extraordinary pink pigeon
The same genetic tools being used to resurrect the woolly mammoth and dodo could help many other vulnerable species that have yet to die out
Categories: Astronomy
Elephants seem to invent names for each other
An analysis of their vocalisations suggests that African savannah elephants invent names for each other, making them the only animals other than humans thought to do so
Categories: Astronomy
The largest volcanoes on Mars have frosted tips during winter
We know that there is ice at the Martian poles and underground, but until now it wasn't clear it could exist on the surface of the Red Planet
Categories: Astronomy
A surprisingly quick enzyme could shift our understanding of evolution
Biological processes such as DNA replication or cellular structure formation may become more accurate when done as quickly as possible, offering new hints into life's origins
Categories: Astronomy
Bacteria evolve to get better at evolving in lab experiment
When bacteria were put in alternating environments, some became better at evolving to cope with the changes – evidence that “evolvability” can be gained through natural selection
Categories: Astronomy
Cosmic cloud exposed Earth to interstellar space 3 million years ago
The protective bubble around the sun retreated dramatically after colliding with a freezing interstellar cloud, leaving much of the solar system exposed to radiation that may have shaped our evolution, a study suggests
Categories: Astronomy