Science

  Humanity has come a long way in understanding the universe. We’ve got a physical framework that mostly matches our observations, and new technologies have allowed us to analyze the Big Bang and take photos of black holes. But the hypothetical EmDrive rocket engine threatened to upend what we knew …

The two subspecies of the South Asian river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) — the Indus river dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) and the Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica) — should each be recognized as distinct full species, according to a new study published in the journal Marine Mammal Science. The Indus …

Arachnologists have discovered a new species of peacock spider (genus Maratus) in the vicinities of Mount McIntyre and Nangwarry in Australia. Maratus nemo. Image credit: Joseph Schubert. Maratus is a relatively large genus of jumping spiders found in Australia and China. Commonly referred to as peacock spiders, they have a …

  The in-development Starship rocket is key to SpaceX’s future plans, from lunar missions to Mars colonization. Elon Musk’s spaceflight company has been open with its Starship testing, even with the results haven’t been flattering. In the most recent test, the Starship SN11 reached an altitude of about eight kilometers, …

A novel theory proposed by planetary scientists from Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory challenges the current thinking that the saltwater global ocean of Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn, is homogenous. Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating …

In a new study, published this week in the journal iScience, a team of researchers showed that Brazil reef octopuses (Octopus insularis) have two different quiescence states that fulfill the behavioral criteria for sleep, namely ‘quiet sleep’ and ‘active sleep.’ Brazil reef octopuses (Octopus insularis) have ‘quiet’ and ‘active sleep,’ …

  We’ve all been laser-focused on Mars as a site for future human outposts, but let’s not forget about the Moon. It’s only marginally less habitable than Mars right now, and it’s a lot closer. Thanks to radiation and temperature variation, however, the safest place for a long-term human presence …

Biologists have analyzed T cells from the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) and uncovered a previously unknown lineage, called γµ T cells, in the marsupial’s spleen. Scanning electron micrograph of a human T cell. Image credit: NIAID. The immune systems of all vertebrates contain T cells that play a fundamental …

Ornithologists from the United States, Brazil and Finland have described two new species of the owl genus Megascops from the Amazon and Atlantic forests. The Alagoas screech owl (Megascops alagoensis) in Brazil. Image credit: Gustavo Malacco. Megascops is the most species-rich owl genus in the Americas, with 21 species currently …

An international team of scientists has studied both the water and organic contents from a dust particle recovered from the surface of the near-Earth S-type asteroid 25143 Itokawa by JAXA’s Hayabusa mission, which was the first mission that brought pristine asteroidal materials to Earth. The S-type asteroid Itokawa. Image credit: …