Science (Page 209)

The Ingenuity helicopter on Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS It is difficult to emphasise the significance of the milestone surpassed by Nasa’s Mars helicopter, Ingenuity. The little (1.8kg) helicopter touched down with the Perseverance rover in 2021. On 25 January, Nasa announced that the flying vehicle had to perform an emergency landing whichContinue Reading

Alexandru Nika/Shutterstock Many countries face general elections this year. Political campaigning will include misleading and even false information. Just days ago, it was reported that a robocall impersonating US president Joe Biden had told recipients not to vote in the presidential primary. But can disinformation significantly influence voting? There areContinue Reading

NASA A 2019 Time magazine cover portrayed four astronauts running towards the Moon. Pictured alongside the headline “The Next Space Race”, one of the astronauts carried an American flag, one carried a Chinese flag and the other two belonged to space companies owned by billionaires: Elon Musk’s SpaceX and JeffContinue Reading

In the heart of western Borneo’s vibrant jungles, the edible fruits of the underground palm are well-known to the local people who snack on them. But this botanical marvel has remained unnoticed by the scientific community for so long because it flowers and bears fruit underground. At first glance, PinangaContinue Reading

The 4Stock Team Bewilderingly rapid changes are happening in the technology and reach of computer systems. There are exciting advances in artificial intelligence, in the masses of tiny interconnected devices we call the “Internet of Things” and in wireless connectivity. Unfortunately, these improvements bring potential dangers as well as benefits.Continue Reading

Dragonfire laser system test firing. UK Ministry of Defence/wikipedia, CC BY-SA A single burst of light is precisely aimed at a tiny drone flying at breakneck speed far in the distance. Instants later, the deactivated drone crashes into the sea. Not a sound made, no human casualties, no messy explosions.Continue Reading

An artist's impression of the the NGC 1851E binary system, looking over the shoulder of the dark mystery companion star MPIfR; Daniëlle Futselaar (artsource.nl), CC BY Sometimes astronomers come across objects in the sky that we can’t easily explain. In our new research, published in Science, we report such aContinue Reading

ESB Professional / Shutterstock Human behaviour is an enigma that fascinates many scientists. And there has been much discussion over the role of probability in explaining how our minds work. Probability is a mathematical framework designed to tell us how likely an event is to occur – and works wellContinue Reading

Stas Malyarevsky / Shutterstock On December 27, 2023, the New York Times (NYT) filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in Manhattan against Microsoft and OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, alleging that OpenAI had unlawfully used its articles to create artificial intelligence (AI) products. Citing copyright infringement and theContinue Reading

kurhan/Shutterstock Winter illnesses are all around us at the moment – from the common cold, COVID-19 and flu to strep throat and stomach bugs. All have one thing in common: they can make you feel miserable. These illnesses often come with fatigue, lack of appetite and concentration difficulties. Sufferers oftenContinue Reading