Science

Self-lofting devices propelled by sunlight have been tested for the first time in near-vacuum conditions akin to those in Earth’s upper atmosphere, paving the way for a revolution in atmospheric science. The tiny, lightweight membranes — which are made of aluminum oxide and a layer of chromium — take advantage of a phenomenon known as photophoresis, which occurs when one …

SpaceX Declares “They Walked Out on Their Own” After Dragon Capsule Brings Home 6,700 Pounds of Next-Gen Robots From Daring Mission  Rude Baguette NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Astronauts to Discuss Science Mission  NASA (.gov) Crew 10 returns to Earth with Pacific Ocean splashdown  Spaceflight Now 4 people and 5 months in space, NASA’s Crew-10 mission safely returns to Earth  NPR Astronauts return to Earth in …

How Recharging the Brain’s “Batteries” Restored Lost Memory  SciTechDaily reverses pharmacological and neurodegenerative cognitive impairment in mice  Nature Scientists reversed memory loss by powering the brain’s tiny engines  ScienceDaily First proof brain’s powerhouses drive – and can reverse – dementia symptoms  New Atlas Neurodegenerative diseases: Research establishes causal link between mitochondrial dysfunction and cognitive symptoms  Medical Xpress Source link

An unassuming green alga that has lived quietly in laboratory flasks for decades just revealed it carries a giant virus so large, and so stealthy, that nobody had noticed it before. The find rewrites what scientists thought they knew about how big a virus can grow while still hiding inside a single-celled host. The work, led by Maria …

Molecules capable of forming the precursors to sugars and amino acids have been detected, for the first time, in the disk of dust and gas whirling around a newborn star. The detection is tentative, but it offers a window into how complex life gets its start from the chemistry in space, not just before planets are born, but even before …

REDMOND, Wash. — NASA’s Artemis campaign is a bold series of missions to take humans back to the moon… and those astronauts will get there thanks to help from rocket engines made right here in Washington! “If we didn’t make these engines, then there wouldn’t be any sort of orbital maneuvering system, there wouldn’t be a way for the crew …

Though the Earth doesn’t make a fuss about it, it is bombarded with around 44,000 kilograms (48.5 tons) of meteoritic material every day. Most of it burns up harmlessly in our atmosphere, but some material does make it to the ground.  Fortunately, the Earth is pretty big, and you are unlikely to see one hit the ground anywhere near you. …

A US military space plane, the X-37B orbital test vehicle, is due to embark on its eighth flight into space on August 21, 2025. Much of what the X-37B does in space is secret. But it serves partly as a platform for cutting-edge experiments. One of these experiments is a potential alternative to GPS that makes use of quantum science …

At dawn in the deep waters off North Maluku, Indonesia, a team of technical divers raised their camera lights and found themselves face to face with a creature once known only from stone. The brown spotted coelacanth, an ancient group of lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) in the class Actinistia, famous for vanishing before the last dinosaur fell, a survivor of a …

Dinosaur tracks reappear at San Antonio. Here’s where to find them.  MySA 115 million-year-old dinosaur tracks unearthed in Texas after devastating floods  Live Science Dinosaur footprints found after flooding latest in a history of fossils in Texas  Houston Chronicle Find leaves an impression: Dinosaur footprints discovered during Texas flood cleanup  Dallas News Dinosaur Tracks from Nearly 115 Million Years Ago Uncovered on Private Property …