42 years of measuring the sun, the Earth and the energy in between

On Jan. 31, 1958, Explorer 1 became the first satellite launched by the United States. Its primary science instrument, a cosmic ray detector, was designed to measure the radiation environment in Earth orbit. Though its final transmission was in May 1958, it continued to revolve around Earth more than 58,000 times. As those looping orbits […]

Viracocha, the Non-binary Creator God with Gold Blood

Viracocha, the sun god, and supreme creator was sacred to the Inca Empire, as was gold. However, gold had no material value but represented Viracocha’s blood and the sweat of the sun.

For the Inca and pre-Inca cultures, Viracocha was a supreme creator who was non-binary, neither male nor female. Believers rarely used Viracocha’s […]

Bystander put hand into gun chamber to stop R.I. hockey rink shooter

Michael Black jammed the gun with his hand and other bystanders put the shooter in a chokehold, subduing the suspect before he died from a self-inflicted gunshot, authorities said

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Is this glass square the long, long future of data storage?

Scientists at Microsoft Research in the United States have demonstrated a system called Silica for writing and reading information in ordinary pieces of glass which can store two million books’ worth of data in a thin, palm-sized square.

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Terahertz spectroscopy finds nitrogen can lengthen GaAs-like LO phonon decay

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led research team investigated the decay time of coherent longitudinal optical (LO) phonons both in a GaAs1−xNx epilayer and in a GaAs single crystal to clarify the effects of dilute nitridation.

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NASA boss blasts Boeing and space agency managers for Starliner’s botched astronaut flight

NASA’s new boss blasted Boeing and the space agency Thursday for Starliner’s botched flight that left two astronauts stuck for months at the International Space Station.

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Obstacle or accelerator? How imperfections affect material strength

Imagine a material cracking—now imagine what happens if there are small inclusions in the material. Do they create an obstacle course for the crack to navigate, slowing it down? Or do they act as weak points, helping the crack spread faster?

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AI tool observes solar active regions to advance warnings of space weather

New research by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF-NCAR) has developed a new tool providing a first step toward the ability to forecast space weather weeks in advance, instead of just hours. This advance warning could allow agencies and industries to mitigate impacts to GPS, power […]

New chip-scale microcomb uses lithium niobate to generate evenly spaced light

Applied physicists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have discovered a new way to generate ultra-precise, evenly spaced “combs” of laser light on a photonic chip, a breakthrough that could miniaturize optical platforms like spectroscopic sensors or communication systems.

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Next-generation OLEDs rely on fine-tuned microcavities

Researchers have developed a unified theory of microcavity OLEDs, guiding the design of more efficient and sustainable devices. The work reveals a surprising trade-off: squeezing light too tightly inside OLEDs can actually reduce performance, and maximum efficiency is achieved through a delicate balance of material and cavity parameters. The findings are published in the journal […]

Why some objects in space look like snowmen: Gravitational collapse may shed light on contact binaries

Astronomers have long debated why so many icy objects in the outer solar system look like snowmen. Michigan State University researchers now have evidence of the surprisingly simple process that could be responsible for their creation.

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Webb maps the mysterious upper atmosphere of Uranus

For the first time, an international team of astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus’s upper atmosphere, uncovering how temperature and charged particles vary with height across the planet. Using Webb’s NIRSpec instrument, the team observed Uranus for nearly a full rotation, detecting the faint glow from molecules high above the clouds.

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NASA conducts second rocket fueling test that will decide when Artemis astronauts head to the moon

NASA took another crack at fueling its giant moon rocket Thursday after leaks halted the initial dress rehearsal and delayed the first lunar trip by astronauts in more than half a century.

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How fast is the universe expanding? Supernova could provide the answer

That the universe is expanding has been known for almost a hundred years now, but how fast? The exact rate of that expansion remains hotly debated, even challenging the standard model of cosmology. A research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) and the Max Planck Institutes, MPA and […]

Triplet superconductivity—physicists may have found the missing link for quantum computers

Many physicists are searching for a triplet superconductor. Indeed, we could all do with one, although we may not know it yet—or understand why. Triplet superconductors could be the key to achieving the most energy-efficient technology in the future.

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