Drones could achieve ‘infinite flight’ after engineers develop a laser-based wireless power system that charges from the ground
Wireless Power Beaming: Unleashing the Power of Autonomy at Scale – YouTube watch on New technology fires laser beams at drones to charge them mid-air, unlocking the potential for “infinite flight.” Powerlight Technologies representatives said the system works by combining a ground-based transmitter with a receiver on a drone, also known as an unmanned aircraft […]
Discover the critical moment when El Nino started eroding Russia’s Arctic sea ice
Scientists have identified a tipping point that amplifies El Niño’s impact on Arctic sea ice loss. Researchers have known for years about the feedback loop linking El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and high-latitude sea ice. However, in a new study, researchers found that starting around 2000, the transition between ENSO phases became faster and had […]
The Romans used human feces as medicine 1,900 years ago and used thyme to mask the smell.
A dark brown flake found inside a 1,900-year-old Roman glass bottle is the first direct evidence that human faeces was used for medical purposes, new chemical analysis has revealed. Faeces were mixed with thyme to mask the odor, and the concoction may have been used to treat inflammation and infection. “While working in the archives […]
AI tool reveals hundreds of ‘anomalies’ in Hubble telescope archive – some defy classification
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools have discovered more than 1,000 strange cosmic objects in the Hubble Space Telescope image archive, some of which cannot be explained by science. After just two days of searching with the tool, researchers discovered 1,300 strange objects, including chaotic merging galaxies, gas-trawl stars, and even objects that have yet to be […]
DNA study reveals that a teenage girl who lived in Italy 12,000 years ago had rare dwarfism
A Stone Age man buried in an Italian cave 12,000 years ago suffered from a rare genetic disorder that caused his limbs to become short, a new study has found. DNA analysis of her skeleton revealed that she was a teenage girl with a rare form of dwarfism. Researchers say this discovery is the earliest […]
New research on chemical reactions in space ‘could impact the origin of life in ways we never thought of’
Complex precursors of biomolecules can form spontaneously in interstellar space, according to a laboratory experiment that opens a new path to the origins of life in the universe. In the presence of ionizing radiation, amino acids, the simplest units of proteins, combine to form peptide bonds, according to new research. This is the first step […]
Can AI better detect cognitive decline than doctors? New study reveals surprising accuracy
Early signs of cognitive decline often appear not in a formal diagnosis but in small clues buried in a health care provider’s notes. A new study published January 7 in the journal NPJ Digital Medicine suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) could help identify early signs of problems such as memory or thinking problems or changes […]
430,000-year-old Greek wooden hand tools are the oldest on record and older than modern humans
Greek archaeologists have discovered a 430,000-year-old hand-held wooden tool, making it the world’s oldest surviving tool of its kind, a new study has found. The two tools, found in the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece, were created by an unidentified hominin race older than modern humans. “These objects are the oldest hand-held wooden tools ever […]
Next-generation AI ‘swarms’ will infiltrate social media by imitating human behavior and harassing real users, researchers warn
Researchers have warned that swarms of artificial intelligence (AI) agents could soon infiltrate social media platforms en masse, spreading false stories, harassing users, and undermining democracy. These “AI swarms” form part of a new frontier in information warfare, capable of mimicking human behavior and evading detection while creating the illusion of genuine online movement, according […]
Giant ‘metallic cloud’ discovered in nearby star system could be hiding an alien second sun
A huge cloud of vaporized metal could be hiding a secret planet or a second alien sun in a nearby star system, new research has revealed. This mysterious cloud is up to 15,000 times wider than our planet, and during the nearly nine months this ghostly object oozed between it and Earth, its host star […]