A bomb from a black hole would probably be the most destructive weapon in the universe. Hypothetically, it could be created by wrapping one of these cosmic monsters in mirrors and waiting for it to go “boom.” Now Hendrik Ulbricht of the University of Southampton in England and his colleagues have demonstrated this principle, called…
Could aeronutrients explain the benefits of being in nature? Daniel Ernst/Stills Around 10 years ago, British tabloid newspaper The Sun ran a memorable article about a couple who claimed to be “breatharians”, able to survive on a little water and even less food. Instead, they said, they derived sustenance from air, sunlight and the energy of…
Disasters Displaced a Record 46 Million People Last Year In 2024 disasters displaced a record number of people both globally and in the U.S. About 11 million U.S. residents had to relocate to another part of the country because of hurricanes, floods and wildfires By Chelsea Harvey & E&E News Aerial view of destroyed houses…
FBI headquarters in Washington DC Shutterstock/Bob Korn The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plans to buy radar technology that can detect people on the other side of walls, whether they are moving around, standing still or even lying down. The idea of using radar – a system that uses radio waves reflecting off objects…
An apple may not fall far from the tree, but for a leaf, it depends on its shape. Elm or apple leaves — oval and symmetrical, with few protruding lobes — fall quickly, making them likely to end up close to the tree’s base. Adding lobes and asymmetry to leaves slows their descent, causing them…
“My heart is broken,” said Mike, when he lost his friend Anne. “I feel like I’m losing the love of my life.” Mike’s feelings were real, but his companion was not. Anne was a chatbot — an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm presented as a digital persona. Mike had created Anne using an app called Soulmate….
Some, but not all, ancient humans reacted to a cooling event by migrating HENNING DALHOFF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Roughly 4000 years after the last glacial period, hunter-gatherers faced another bout of sudden climate change that forced them to rapidly adapt to a much colder world. While not as frigid or long-lasting as the final stages of…
Fighting fungi isn’t easy. Season two of the streaming series The Last of Us has arrived on Max (light spoilers ahead), bringing viewers back to a world where people combat zombies puppeteered by a mind-controlling fungus. Guns and flames help the characters survive onscreen. In the real world, fighting fungal infections is less action-packed, but…
Just more than 100 years ago, on March 18, 1925, a tornado slashed across the U.S. Midwest with no warning at all and killed 695 people—a massive number for a single outbreak. Today those in a twister’s path get a take-cover notice eight to 18 minutes before a strike on average. And as recently as…
Difficulty speaking is a common Parkinson’s symptom SvetaZi/Shutterstock Parkinson’s disease lacks a conclusive test, so it is generally diagnosed by assessing symptoms. But now, scientists have shown that AI models can identify signs of the condition in a person’s voice with more than 90 per cent accuracy, and possibly before the onset of any movement-related…
