Science News

Tocharian Online

Tocharian denotes two closely related Indo-European languages, Tocharian A and B, discovered in documents from 6th-8th…

DNA reveals a society organised around women in pre-Roman Britain

Descent passed from mother to daughter rather than from father to son, a study of more than 500 Iron Age individuals…

Quantum entanglement is key to solving 250-year-old maths problem

Analysis of a mathematical puzzle that Leonhard Euler deemed unsolvable in the 1700s reveals that the crucial ingredient…

Graduate Student Proves a Quantum Uncertainty Principle for Fractals

A doctoral student at MIT named Alex Cohen proved an extended version of the fractal uncertainty principle, a…

We've flown a radiation-blocking vest to the Moon and back, and it worked

Let's shield the astronauts instead of the spacecraft.

Why Are Rivers So Mathematical?

Rivers follow universal mathematical laws despite arising from chaotic Earth processes, exhibiting branching patterns…

Rapid warming may tip AMOC at 2°C, slower warming may avert collapse

The best photos of the total solar eclipse

Photographers in Spain captured spectacular images of the rare alignment of the moon and the sun, casting a dark shadow…

Fate of the AMOC may depend on how quickly CO2 rises 

The critical current could remain stable beyond 5°C of warming, but only if the warming happens very slowly 

Mammal ancestors were giving birth to live young 236 million years ago

Almost all mammals give birth rather than laying eggs, and we have new clues about when they began to do so

Ebola outbreak on track to be deadliest ever, WHO chief says

The outbreak, declared on 15 May, has caused more than 2,000 deaths, with thousands more reported cases.

Principia Mathematica is modern and insightful

Principia Mathematica (1910) by Whitehead and Russell reads surprisingly like a modern programming language text,…

Vultures are disappearing in Nigeria - but the 'Vulture King' is fighting to reverse the trend

Some see them as sinister or hunt them for ritual use but these birds play a vital role in nature's cycle.

Toddler's tragic death from brain-destroying amoeba offers lessons for doctors

Boy's unusual symptoms could help identify the next case sooner.

Have physicists finally discovered glueballs? New evidence points to yes.

“It’s the strongest evidence yet that particles dominated by a glueball component can exist in nature.”

Solar eclipse distracts from sporting events - in pictures

Pictures from sporting events as the most significant solar eclipse since 1999 is visible across the UK and Europe on…

US boosts drone surveillance as flesh-eating screwworms spread in Texas

Hundreds of Homeland Security drones retasked to survey wildlife and livestock.

Learning 10000 pictures (1973) [pdf]

I cannot provide a summary of this article because the text provided is corrupted or improperly encoded PDF data (binary…

Your Key to Success Isn't More Luck or Hard Work

Research from economist Raj Chetty analyzing 21 billion Facebook friendships found that having economically diverse…

Running with a stroller seems to reduce the risk of injuries

Pushing a pram while running may reduce the force produced with each foot strike, decreasing the risk of injuries

Two hydrogen-burning engines powered this car to a new land speed record

JCB has invested heavily in hydrogen to power its diggers and other machinery.

What changes will occur on Earth as the moon moves further away? part 2

One reader explains how the moon’s drift will lead to longer (and warmer) days

At what point does my family tree stop doubling and start decreasing? part 2

Our readers do the maths on what one of their mothers calls the family forest

This week’s new questions

Humans can see water but not air. So can fish see air?

Does shapewear make us less prone to taking risks? Weirdly, maybe yes

Feedback is a little nonplussed by an experiment that involved wearing (or not wearing) compressing shapewear, and then…

Tom Gauld on failed science clip art

Tom Gauld's weekly cartoon

Glaciers on the Climate Dashboard

The World Glacier Monitoring Service has tracked reference glaciers across 19 mountain zones and found that their mass…

Mission to save NASA telescope back on track after loss of control

Katalyst’s LINK spacecraft might still be able to save NASA’s ailing Swift telescope from doom, despite a significant…

Show HN: Meteor shower, planet alignment, eclipse kit

I made this little walkthrough for finding the visible planets tonight and a meteor shower shooting start counter.