Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute used remotely operated vehicles to find three new species of snailfish off the California coast. ... Read full Story
A near-Earth asteroid lurked undetected for decades until a telescope in Hawaii spotted it earlier this year. It may be Earth's newest quasi-moon. ... Read full Story
Turbulence is everywhere, yet much about the nature of turbulence remains unknown. During the last decade, physicists have discovered how fluids in a pipe or similar geometry transition from a smooth, laminar state to a turbulent state as their speed increases. ... Read full Story
The small but ubiquitous proton serves as a foundation for the bulk of the visible matter in the universe. It abides at the very heart of matter, giving rise to everything we see around us as it anchors the nuclei of atoms. Yet, its structure is amazingly complex, and the quest to understand these details has occupied theorists and experimenters alike since its discovery over a century ago. ... Read full Story
Researchers at Hiroshima University have developed a realistic, highly sensitive method to detect the Unruh effect—a long-predicted phenomenon at the crossroads of relativity and quantum theory. Their novel approach opens new possibilities for exploring fundamental physics and for developing advanced technologies. ... Read full Story
One of this year's coveted Lasker Awards went to three scientists who helped invent a life-saving treatment for cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease. ... Read full Story
Scientists are beginning to take clear sides on whether or not to use human-made interventions to preserve polar ice, such as pumping up seawater or launching aerosols into the atmosphere to cool the planet’s surface ... Read full Story
New photos captured during the recent "blood moon" total lunar eclipse show that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS may be turning green as it gets closer to the sun. ... Read full Story
Researchers tested 12 “magic mushroom” edibles. None contained psilocybin, but most contained undisclosed ingredients, including synthetic drugs whose safety hasn’t been tested in humans ... Read full Story
Accutane, a decades-old acne treatment, could help men with infertility produce motile sperm and avoid invasive sperm retrieval surgery, a study finds. ... Read full Story
A newly discovered set of mathematical equations describes how to turn any sequence of random events into a clock, scientists at King's College London reveal. The paper is published in the journal Physical Review X. ... Read full Story
NASA's Earth Observatory has announced that Alaska has a "brand new island" after a retreating glacier lost contact with the Prow Knob mountain landmass in Alsek Lake. ... Read full Story
A new study finds that one quarter of heat waves between 2000 and 2023 would have been “virtually impossible” without global warming—and can be attributed to the emissions of individual energy producers ... Read full Story
Vibrations are everywhere—from the hum of machinery to the rumble of transport systems. Usually, these random motions are wasted and dissipated without producing any usable work. ... Read full Story
"Doom-mongering convinces many would-be climate advocates that climate action is a hopeless cause. But the blistering attacks against mainstream climate science and scientists advance an agenda of division, dividing the rank-and-file climate activists and leading voices from the scientific community." ... Read full Story
Scientists invent a new device that aims to solve thermal interference from electronic components — one of the biggest barriers to commercial quantum computing. ... Read full Story
“This isn’t new territory for the band—beginning with 2018’s Modern Meta Physic, Peel Dream Magazine have taken cues from bands like Stereolab and Pram, exploring the ways that rigid, droning repetition can make time feel rubbery. As they snap back into the present, Black sings, ‘Millions of light years, all of them ours.’ The past and future fold into themselves, braided together in perpetuity.” — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 4 Sept. 2024
Did you know?
Perpetuity is a “forever” word—not in the sense that it relates to a lifelong relationship (as in “forever home”), but because it concerns the concept of, well, forever. Not only can perpetuity refer to infinite time, aka eternity, but it also has specific legal and financial uses, as for certain arrangements in wills and for annuities that are payable forever, or at least for the foreseeable future. The word ultimately comes from the Latin adjective perpetuus, meaning “continual” or “uninterrupted.” Perpetuus is the ancestor of several additional “forever” words, including the verb perpetuate (“to cause to last indefinitely”) and the adjective perpetual (“continuing forever,” “occurring continually”). A lesser known descendent, perpetuana, is now mostly encountered in historical works, as it refers to a type of durable wool or worsted fabric made in England only from the late 16th through the 18th centuries. Alas, nothing is truly forever.