The Milky Way, above Uluru in Australia Stefan Liebermann/mauritius images GmbH/Alamy Because I’m based in the northern hemisphere, my suggestions of what to look for in the skies can sometimes be skewed towards what we can see from that half of the planet. So, in this month’s column I’ll focus on a feature of our…
The Trifid (upper-right) and Lagoon (centre) Nebulae as viewed with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory A pink-and-blue feast of stellar nurseries and a dense cluster of our neighbouring galaxies appear in the first glimpses of space from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is set to transform our understanding of…
Ione Wells South America correspondent Georgina Rannard Science correspondent NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory The first image revealed by the Vera Rubin telescope shows the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae in stunning detail A powerful new telescope in Chile has released its first images, showing off its unprecedented ability to peer into the dark depths of…
Annabelle Liang & Nick Marsh Business reporter & Transport correspondent Getty Images Almost half of all cars sold in China last year were electric “I drive an electric vehicle because I am poor,” says Lu Yunfeng, a private hire driver, who is at a charging station on the outskirts of Guangzhou in the south of…
In a follow up investigation into the multibillion dollar drug ticagrelor, The BMJ has uncovered fresh concerns, this time in key platelet studies used in its FDA approval. For more than a decade, ticagrelor (Brilinta in the US and Brilique in Europe) has been recommended for patients with acute coronary syndrome — a range of…
For decades, quantum computers that perform calculations millions of times faster than conventional computers have remained a tantalizing yet distant goal. However, a new breakthrough in quantum physics may have just sped up the timeline. In an article published in PRX Quantum, researchers from the Graduate School of Engineering Science and the Center for Quantum Information…
Artificial intelligence is spreading into many aspects of life, from communications and advertising to grading tests. But with the growth of AI comes a shake-up in the workplace. New research from the University of Georgia is shedding light on how different countries are preparing for how AI will impact their workforces. According to previous research,…
A team of researchers at Rice University have discovered a surprisingly simple method for vastly improving the stability of electrochemical devices that convert carbon dioxide into useful fuels and chemicals, and it involves nothing more than sending the CO2 through an acid bubbler. Their study, published in Science, addresses a major bottleneck in the performance…
Two species of worms have retained remarkably similar patterns in the way they switch their genes on and off despite having split from a common ancestor 20 million years ago, a new study finds. The findings appear in the June 19 issue of the journal Science. “It was just remarkable, with this evolutionary distance, that…
Colorado State University researchers have published a paper in Science that describes a new and more efficient light-based process for transforming fossil fuels into useful modern chemicals. In it, they report that their organic photoredox catalysis system is effective even at room temperatures. That advantage could lower energy demands around chemical manufacturing in a variety…
