Its effect on people remains an ongoing question. One reason plastics are used so often is that they’re chemically inert, meaning bags, food containers, and cups don’t react with what we put in them. Yet they can still break down into microplastics, which turn up in drinking water, human…
Rocket Lab announced the Neutron rocket in 2021, aiming for a first flight in 2024. Rocket Lab announced Wednesday that its Neutron launch vehicle won’t fly until 2027, citing an issue discovered during manufacturing of the rocket’s carbon composite structures. The announcement was public confirmation of what nearly everyone…
Seabirds, native plants, and healthy reefs can help atolls build as seas rise. Coral-fringed tropical atolls are among the landforms most threatened by global warming, but many have a potential superpower: Healthy ecosystems may help them keep pace with rising seas. Atoll islands with native vegetation and thriving seabird…
“This is great news for us. We’re staffing up. We’re accelerating.” Most planetary scientists will tell you the heyday of Venus exploration was more than a generation ago. That is about to change. Two NASA missions are on track to launch to Venus in the early 2030s. The first,…
AI design tools make proteins that break bonds that are stable for hundreds of years. A protein is a chain of amino acids held together by what are called peptide bonds. On their own, those bonds are extremely stable; they’re estimated to have a half-life of several hundred years.…
Solar geoengineering simulation shows what happens when geopolitics takes over. When it comes to deciding the fate of the planet, Colleen Golja always thought science and reason would have a seat at the table. That was until one morning last September in London, when the climate researcher took part…
Co-author: “The unique geometry of the valves is the key; they act as collapsible pistons” to deliver venom. Credit: Ramirez-Esquivel et al 202 Credit: Ramirez-Esquivel et al 202 Honey bees are known to leave their stingers embedded in tender flesh once they sting you and fly away. Scientists have…
Participants meditated inside an MRI tube, with and without psilocybin. For about a decade, the mainstream understanding has been that psychedelics cause chaos in the brain. Brain networks—the stable patterns of communication that handle vision, attention, or our sense of self, and more—loosen and start talking to each other…
Dissolved rock precipitated around the tools, which then decayed. The Stone Age owes its name to tools that survived to our time. The material early humans worked with most, though, was probably wood because it is so much easier to process. Unfortunately, we know very little about Paleolithic woodwork…
Before the lava fountains started, the ground was expanding by half a meter a day. In most cases, hotspot-driven volcanism is relatively sedate, with lava flowing down mountainsides slowly enough that people can walk out of its way. But in a number of locations—Mount Etna, Hawaii, Iceland—lava gets expelled…
