Science & Technology News

Cats Play Fetch, Too--But Only on Their Own Terms

Scientifc America - Thu, 2023-12-14 11:00

Retrieving isn’t just for dogs, but the emerging science of cat play can’t fully explain the feline phenomenon

This Filipina Physicist Helped Develop a Top Secret Weapon

Scientifc America - Thu, 2023-12-14 10:00

Emma Unson Rotor worked on the proximity fuze, a groundbreaking piece of World War II weapons technology that the U.S. War Department called “second only to the atomic bomb.”

Buying Used Tech This Holiday Season Can Avert Human Rights Abuses

Scientifc America - Thu, 2023-12-14 09:00

Here’s how to buy ethical tech and keep conflict minerals in the ground

A Rare Visual Disorder Twists Faces Out of Shape

Scientifc America - Thu, 2023-12-14 08:30

New studies unlock the mysteries of prosopometamorphopsia, a disorder that distorts faces. One woman’s condition improves when she wears orange-tinted glasses

Dog 'Language Geniuses' Are Rare but Apparently Real

Scientifc America - Thu, 2023-12-14 07:00

A subset of exceptional pooches can identify by name more than 100 different objects, mostly toys

How To Keep AI From Stealing the Sound of Your Voice

Scientifc America - Thu, 2023-12-14 06:45

A new technology called AntiFake prevents the theft of the sound of your voice by making it more difficult for AI tools to analyze vocal recordings

Tiniest free-floating brown dwarf

Science Daily Astronomy - Wed, 2023-12-13 21:25
Brown dwarfs are objects that straddle the dividing line between stars and planets. They form like stars, growing dense enough to collapse under their own gravity, but they never become dense and hot enough to begin fusing hydrogen and turn into a star. At the low end of the scale, some brown dwarfs are comparable with giant planets, weighing just a few times the mass of Jupiter.

Some icy exoplanets may have habitable oceans and geysers

Science Daily Astronomy - Wed, 2023-12-13 11:19
A new study expands the search for life beyond our solar system by indicating that 17 exoplanets (worlds outside our solar system) could have oceans of liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, beneath icy shells. Water from these oceans could occasionally erupt through the ice crust as geysers. The science team calculated the amount of geyser activity on these exoplanets, the first time these estimates have been made. They identified two exoplanets sufficiently close where signs of these eruptions could be observed with telescopes.

Road Map for U.S. Particle Physics Wins Broad Approval

Scientifc America - Wed, 2023-12-13 10:00

A major report plotting the future of U.S. particle physics calls for cuts to the beleaguered DUNE project, advocates a “muon shot” for a next-generation collider and recommends a new survey of the universe’s oldest observable light

This Flying Frog Spends Its Youth Masquerading as Poop

Scientifc America - Wed, 2023-12-13 06:45

These froglets disguise themselves as feces to gross out potential predators until they’re old enough to glide through jungle canopies

NASA's Webb stuns with new high-definition look at exploded star

Science Daily Astronomy - Tue, 2023-12-12 16:34
Like a shiny, round ornament ready to be placed in the perfect spot on a holiday tree, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) gleams in a new image.

14-inch spacecraft delivers new details about 'hot Jupiters'

Science Daily Astronomy - Tue, 2023-12-12 16:33
The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) spacecraft is about the size of a cereal box. It has also recorded incredibly detailed measurements of the atmospheres of planets hundreds of light-years from Earth.

Male Songbirds Need Daily Vocal Practice to Woo Females

Scientifc America - Tue, 2023-12-12 12:15

Birds might sing in the morning because they need a vocal workout

Green Glow of 'Mesospheric Ghosts' Decoded

Scientifc America - Tue, 2023-12-12 11:00

Mysterious green displays in the sky dubbed “mesospheric ghosts” can sometimes accompany the dramatic red atmospheric lights called sprites

Cats Kill a Staggering Number of Species across the World

Scientifc America - Tue, 2023-12-12 11:00

Domestic cats are cherished human companions, but a new study shows the enormous breadth of species the felines prey on when they are left to roam freely

Subterranean 'Microbial Dark Matter' Reveals a Strange Dichotomy

Scientifc America - Tue, 2023-12-12 08:00

The genes of microbes living as deep as 1.5 kilometers below the surface reveal a split between minimalist and maximalist lifestyles

Why Do We Dream? Maybe to Ensure We Can Literally 'See' the World upon Awakening

Scientifc America - Tue, 2023-12-12 06:45

A theory holds that dreams are a way for the visual cortex of the brain to “defend its turf” against being “taken over” to process inputs from other senses

Betelgeuse Will Briefly Disappear in Once-in-a-Lifetime Coincidence

Scientifc America - Mon, 2023-12-11 07:00

For six seconds tonight, the constellation Orion will appear to lose the vibrant red star at its shoulder—and scientists are thrilled

Ultrasound Enables Remote 3-D Printing--Even in the Human Body

Scientifc America - Mon, 2023-12-11 06:45

For the first time, researchers have used sound waves to 3-D print an object from a distance—even with a wall in the way

Tyrannosaur's Stomach Contents Have Been Found for the First Time

Scientifc America - Fri, 2023-12-08 17:15

The fossilized stomach contents of a tyrannosaur have been found for the first time, revealing what the fearsome predator ate

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