Astronomers have identified the oldest Milky Way-like galaxy in the universe, just 2 billion years after the Big Bang
Scientists continue to push the boundaries of astronomy and cosmology thanks to next-generation instruments that can see further and more clearly than ever before. Through these efforts, astronomers have observed some of the earliest galaxies in the universe. This, in turn, led to the refinement of theories and chronology of galaxy formation and evolution. In […]
Viruses evolved on the space station and sent back to Earth were highly effective at killing bacteria
Bacteria and the viruses that infect them, called phages, are engaged in an evolutionary arms race. But when combat takes place in microgravity, its evolution follows a different trajectory, a study conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) has found. As bacteria and phages wage war, bacteria evolve better defenses to survive, while phages evolve […]
How YC-backed Bucket Robotics survived its first CES
The weather in Las Vegas didn’t look very good. The plan was for each YC-backed Bucket Robotics employee to take a piece of the booth in their luggage to the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show. But CEO and founder Matt Puchalski didn’t want to risk one (or all) of his company’s flights being delayed. So he […]
Why is this year’s influenza epidemic so bad?
If you feel like everyone around you has the flu, it’s not your imagination. As of January 9, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 15 million people have contracted the flu this season. Of these, 180,000 people have been hospitalized and 7,400 people have died from the flu, including […]
Moxie Marlinspike offers a privacy-friendly alternative to ChatGPT
If you’re even remotely concerned about your privacy, the rise of AI personal assistants may seem alarming. It is difficult to use personal information held by a model’s parent company without sharing it. OpenAI is already testing ads, so it’s easy to imagine the same data collection that fuels Facebook and Google creeping into chatbot […]
How ancient Romans managed their wealth (and didn’t just hide their savings)
“All I desire is an income of 20,000 sesterces from a safe investment,” declares a character in a poem by the Roman poet Juvenal (1st-2nd century AD). Today, 20,000 sesterces are approximately [Australian] Interest from investment is $300,000. Anyone would be happy with this much passive annual income. Just like today, ancient people understood that […]
NASA launches Pandora telescope to take JWST’s search for habitable worlds to a new level
On January 11, 2026, I watched anxiously at California’s tightly controlled Vandenberg Space Force Base as an awe-inspiring SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted NASA’s new exoplanet telescope, Pandora, into orbit. Exoplanets are worlds orbiting other stars. From Earth, they are very difficult to observe because they appear as very dark spots right next to their […]
Strange discovery reveals ‘missing link’ in planet formation: ‘This fundamentally changes the way we think about planetary systems’
Astronomers have gotten a rare glimpse of four baby planets in the process of growing. And something surprising was revealed. It’s that these toddlers’ worlds are getting brighter with age. The quadruplets orbit in a tightly packed orbit around the young star V1298 Tau, which is only 20 million years old (compared to the Sun’s […]
James Webb Telescope discovers ‘failed star’ in breathtaking star cluster near Earth — Space Photo of the Week
simple facts What is it: Westerlund Cluster 2 Location: 20,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Carina. Share date: December 19, 2025 Surrounded by clouds of orange and brown gas and dust and filled with twinkling stars, this new image from the James Webb Space Telescope appears to mark the entrance to a cosmic […]
Is there a possibility of a global internet outage?
We’ve all experienced the inconveniences of a spotty internet connection, from access interruptions at work to your favorite shows buffering at the most tense moments. Years of major outages have served as a reminder that the internet can also face broader problems, bringing daily operations to a halt. But could the entire internet around the […]