Scientific Fraud Is Slippery to Catch—but Easier to Combat
[ad_1] Like much of the internet, PubPeer is the sort of place where you might want to be anonymous. There, under randomly assigned taxonomic names like Actinopolyspora biskrensis (a bacterium) and Hoya camphorifolia (a…
Quantum Computing Has a Noise Problem
[ad_1] Quantum computers have a huge problem. Or, to be more accurate, lots of incredibly tiny ones. These futuristic devices promise to revolutionize everything from the financial industry to drug…
Lasers Are Mapping Scotland’s Mysterious Iron Age Passages
[ad_1] In February 2022, Graeme Cavers and his team of archaeologists set off in search of a mysterious underground passage called a souterrain. There are around 500 of these Iron…
How Airports Catch Illicit Radioactive Cargo
[ad_1] Arktis’ detectors can also be installed in doorways or used in luggage-handling locations. They work entirely passively but are different from Geiger counters, the best-known radiation detectors. Special material inside…
What China’s Covid Crisis Means for the Rest of the World
[ad_1] The fear is that the sudden spread of Covid through a new population with relatively little prior exposure to the virus will lead to the emergence of a new…
How to Measure Ripples in Spacetime
[ad_1] When a gravitational wave passes through Earth, it causes space itself to stretch in one direction and compress in the other, so the two “arms” of the detector actually…
Meet the Earth’s Lawyers | WIRED
[ad_1] ClientEarth’s interpretation of fiduciary duty has never been applied before, says Marjanac, but she is confident that will change. “Fiduciary duty is about prudent risk management. Human rights are…
Climate Enforcers Need Hard Evidence. Friederike Otto Has It
[ad_1] But attribution science can do a lot more than tell us how climate change influences the weather. Otto wants to use her attribution reports to hold polluters to account…
A Mass Extinction Is Taking Place in the Human Gut
[ad_1] In November 2022, Swiss scientists opened an eagerly awaited package from rural Ethiopia. It was full of shit. For two months, public health researcher Abdifatah Muhummed had been collecting…
Eating Too Much Salt Could Cause Stress Levels to Rise
[ad_1] In the study, the researchers also took tissue samples from some mice after euthanizing them and found increased activity of genes that produce the proteins in the brain responsible for…
Russia Has Turned Eastern Ukraine Into a Giant Minefield
[ad_1] Living among mines then has a well-documented deleterious effect on a country’s psychological health. Research shows that just the knowledge that you are in an area contaminated with explosives can lead…
Electronic Second Skins Are the Wearables of the Future
[ad_1] The skin is the largest organ in our body, and also the most complex. Peer at it under a microscope and you’ll see thousands of nerve endings that keep…
Pop-Up Farming Pods to Help Colonizers Grow Crops on Mars
[ad_1] As a nerdy, nature-loving kid growing up in France, Barbara Belvisi daydreamed about life on other planets: giant domes filled with lush plants and exotic flowers like the ones…
Vertical Farming Needs to Grow More Than Salad
[ad_1] If you’ve watched The Martian you know how difficult it is to grow food on Mars. Almost nothing about the Red Planet makes it a hospitable place for agriculture.…
This Platform Makes Sure Companies Stick to Their Climate Pledges
[ad_1] After mapping comes planning. Sustainability professionals, warehouse managers, CFOs, or whoever uses the platform are given a to-do list for decarbonization. “It explains specifically what kind of materials you…
The Push to Scale Plant-Based Plastics
[ad_1] If you are wondering what the future of manufacturing looks like, all you need to do is visit the fourth floor of a brick building in the London borough…
Thawing Permafrost Exposes Old Pathogens—and New Hosts
[ad_1] The Arctic—that remote, largely undisturbed, 5.5 million square miles of frozen terrain—is heating up fast. In fact, it’s warming nearly four times quicker than the rest of the world,…
The Pandemic Uncovered Ways to Speed Up Science
[ad_1] The pandemic highlighted broad problems in research: that many studies were hyped, error-ridden, or even fraudulent, and that misinformation could spread rapidly. But it also demonstrated what was possible.…
Worried About Nuclear War? Consider the Micromorts
[ad_1] Putting a percentage on the likelihood of a nuclear disaster can feel icky—like you’re boiling down the immensity of human suffering into a spreadsheet. “I think what people dislike…
Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez Wants to Strengthen the Grid
[ad_1] The United States’ power grid is in trouble. Much of the country’s energy comes from nonrenewable resources that contribute to climate change. And as the resulting climate crisis brings…
The Future of Climate Activism Is Intergenerational—and on TikTok
[ad_1] When it comes to changing minds, nothing beats an experience. That’s how Sylvia Earle sees it. The scientist has spent years trying to get people to understand the impacts…
The Secret Microscope That Sparked a Scientific Revolution
[ad_1] “It almost seems as if Van Leeuwenhoek knew that a new microworld was to unfold,” Cocquyt told me. One of his scientific rivals, Johannes Hudde, later said, “isn’t it…
The UK Is Rejoining the Space Race
[ad_1] Virgin Orbit’s flight is expected to be just the start of the country’s launch prowess. Two more spaceports are currently under development, one at the northernmost tip of mainland…
It’s Time for Cities to Ditch Delivery Trucks—for Cargo Bikes
[ad_1] And when you factor in a van’s price, the cost of fuel, insurance, and depreciation, plus parking fines and congestion charges, the cost-effectiveness calculation swings even further in cargo…
With ‘What If? 2’, Randall Munroe Is Back to Answer Your Impossible Questions
[ad_1] I was first just reading about how MRIs have got really big magnets in them, and thinking: I know that the magnetic field extends out away from them. It…