Last month, I decided to see Thunderbolts*, the newest installment in the expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I went to the theater without my 11-year-old, not sure whether or not this movie would be too intense for a tween—I’d read that Marvel decided to eschew the usual good-over-evil narrative that structures the typical superhero film…
The Standard Model of particle physics—the best, most thoroughly vetted description of reality scientists have ever devised—appears to have fended off yet another threat to its reign. At least, that’s one interpretation of a long-awaited experimental result announced on June 3 by physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, in Batavia, Ill. An…
Science-Backed Ways to Stay Healthy during Salmonella Outbreak in Eggs To prevent Salmonella food poisoning, refrigerate your eggs, cook them well, never eat them raw and clean, clean, clean By Mark Fischetti edited by Dean Visser At least 79 people have been sickened by a Salmonella outbreak linked to organic and cage-free eggs, distributed under…
An artist’s impression of Diamantinasaurus matildae, a sauropod dinosaur that lived about 94 million years ago Travis Tischler The fossilised gut contents of a sauropod dinosaur have been studied for the first time, revealing that the largest land animals that have ever lived were herbivores that barely chewed their food. A fossil nicknamed Judy, from…
Thermal Runaway Explains Why Waymo Cars Burned So Completely in the Recent Los Angeles Protests During recent protests in Los Angeles, fires triggered “thermal runaway” in several Waymo robotaxis’ lithium-ion battery packs. The phenomenon sent temperatures past 1,000 degrees Celsius, vaporized much of the cars and spewed lung-searing hydrogen fluoride By Deni Ellis Béchard edited…
The video I am watching feels like a scene from a horror movie. At the centre of the screen is a blood-red mass – in reality, a massively magnified pancreatic tumour, vividly dyed as if to highlight its malevolence. It crawls around, luring in a purple tendril, which is actually the long, spindly arm of…
You’re at a blind auction, and the rules are simple. If you see something that you want, place a secret bid, and the item will sell to the highest bidder at their stated price. You would love to take home that new laptop or concert ticket or dinner with a local celebrity, but how much…
A batch of Starlink satellites launched on a Falcon 9 rocket SpaceX SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are leaking radio waves to such an extent that it could threaten our ability to study and understand the early universe, say astronomers. Interference from the thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit, where they provide a global internet service, has…
When it comes to making a splash, technique tops brute force. In the competitive sport of Manu jumping, a flamboyant, cannonball-style splash sport from the Māori and Pasifika communities of New Zealand, the secret to record-setting splashes hinges on a butt-first, V-shaped entry and a well-timed, underwater follow through, researchers report May 16 in Interface…
For years, Oscar has greeted dawn with the rhythmic swing of his machete as he chops sugar cane in fields near his home in El Salvador. On a typical morning, the 33-year-old begins work long before sunrise in a futile attempt to escape the suffocating heat and humidity. But one morning in December, Oscar clutched…
