Why do some constellations only appear during part of the year?
Some stars and constellations are always present in the night sky. For example, Polaris has served as a steady guiding light for thousands of years in the Northern Hemisphere. However, if you look closely at the sky each night, you may notice that some stars move from east to west from dusk to dawn, or […]
History of Science: Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Meltdown, Bringing World to the Brink of Disaster — April 26, 1986
simple facts Milestone: Chernobyl partially melts down Date: April 26, 1986 Location: Chernobyl, Ukraine On April 26, 1986, operators at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were conducting tests to see what would happen to the reactor during a power outage. And that caused the worst nuclear accident in human history. This plant produced nuclear fission […]
Scientists say building a massive dam between Alaska and Russia could prevent AMOC from collapsing
Building a giant dam between Russia and Alaska could save Atlantic flow, which is important for regulating northern Europe’s climate. But that massive undertaking comes with other risks, researchers explain in a new study. By cutting the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean across the Bering Strait, the giant geoengineering project could buy more time […]
“Brain-eating” amoebas are almost always fatal. A new treatment could change that.
On a hot Saturday in San Antonio more than 10 years ago, an 8-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital with several days of fever, headache, vomiting, and sensitivity to light. The child’s mother, who lived near the Texas-Mexico border, took her son to multiple clinics in Mexico, but his condition worsened. The child became […]
New York City is at great risk of flooding, study finds 4.4 million people could be exposed to extreme damage
Eight cities on the U.S. East Coast are at high or very high risk of “extreme” flooding based on current scenarios, with New York and New Orleans facing some of the greatest risks, a new study has found. Fifty percent of New York City’s population (approximately 4.4 million people) is most likely to be affected […]
‘A whole new reality’: Bolder measures needed to prevent extreme water shortages in cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas that depend on the Colorado River
A recent study found that even if cities in the region such as Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas drastically cut back on water use, the 40 million people who live in areas served by the Colorado River would face catastrophic water shortages. Water shortages could begin as early as this summer, experts told Live Science, […]
El Nino could arrive by May, new forecast reveals – what this means for summer weather
El Nino is expected to return as early as May, according to a new report, which could bring above-normal temperatures to nearly every region of the planet. El Niño events occur every two to seven years as part of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) natural climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean. The ENSO cycle […]
Claude Mythos explained: Is Anthropic’s most powerful AI model really too dangerous to release to the public?
Anthropic’s announcement of the Claude Mythos Preview model alongside Project Glasswing has sparked widespread scrutiny as experts warn that the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) systems could accelerate the discovery and exploitation of software vulnerabilities. Anthropic has locked Mythos within Project Glasswing, restricting access to a small group of large technology companies focused on cybersecurity […]
Native American DNA reveals how natural selection influenced people who migrated to Earth’s ‘final frontier’
Humans migrated to South America in three distinct waves over thousands of years, a new large-scale analysis of Native American DNA reveals. The researchers also found that genes related to fertility, metabolism and immune responses help people adapt to their unique environments on the “last frontier” of human migration, the researchers said. In a study […]
‘A landmark moment for the field’: FDA approves first-ever gene therapy for inherited hearing loss
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first-ever gene therapy for inherited hearing loss. The treatment, called Otarmeni, is approved to treat a type of hearing loss caused by mutations in the OTOF gene, which encodes a protein called otoferlin. Cells in the inner ear require otoferlin to convert vibrations into signals […]