NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, snapped by the Perseverance roverNASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS A little helicopter finally met its end this year. NASA’s Ingenuity drone made its 72nd and final flight on Mars in January, damaging one of its rotors on landing, concluding...
Transmission electron micrograph of parts of the norovirus pathogenBSIP SA/Alamy A global international trial of an mRNA vaccine against norovirus is getting underway with the aim of reducing the health burden caused by the infamous “winter vomiting” bug. The trial...
Rachel Feltman: If I asked you to guess how many animal species are threatened with extinction right now, would you have a number in your head? Is it hundreds, thousands?Feltman: Well, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature,...
Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse!Did it explode? No? Okay, then.But it seems fair to ask: Why “Betelgeuse”? It’s an odd-seeming name for a star. That’s because it’s a corrupted translation of the Arabic phrase yad al-jawzā’, which roughly translates to “the hand...
This year is the centennial of the discovery of human brain waves. Few people know the story of that startling finding, because the true story was suppressed and lost to history. Almost two decades ago I visited the pioneering scientists’...
December 20, 20244 min readOur Bodies Are So Ready to Celebrate the Rebirth of the SunThe winter solstice is the culmination of a period every year when each cell in our body literally craves more lightBy Gary Stix edited by...
December 20, 20243 min readWhat Gives Christmas Trees Their Crisp, Cozy Scent?Learn which molecules are responsible for giving Christmas trees their distinct, crisp-yet-spicy scentBy Meghan Bartels edited by Lauren J. Young Iuliia Bondar/Getty ImagesNothing smells quite like a Christmas tree—but...
Is your favourite sci-fi short story in this list? Sometimes you’re in the mood for a slice of science fiction but you haven’t got the time to embark on a Red Mars or a Dune. All hail, then, the sci-fi...
Skeleton of Homo naledi, found in the Rising Star cave system in South AfricaJohn Hawks/Shutterstock Blazing the Trail Australian Museum, University of Sydney, BreakThru Films It is after 10pm and I am on a cycleway in Sydney returning from dinner...
The awards ceremony for the Nobel prizes took place in December this year, celebrating both work relating to artificial intelligence and efforts by the group Nihon Hidankyo to end nuclear war.It was a striking juxtaposition, one not lost on me,...
