Brain-computer interfaces are a groundbreaking technology that can help paralyzed people regain functions they’ve lost, like moving a hand. These devices record signals from the brain and decipher the user’s intended action, bypassing damaged or degraded nerves that would normally transmit those brain signals to control muscles.Since 2006, demonstrations of brain-computer interfaces in humans have primarily focused on restoring arm and hand movements by enabling people to control computer cu ...read more

One of the most famous events in the history of astronomy is the Wow! Signal that was picked up by Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope in August 1977. The signal entered folklore because it couldn’t be explained by any known natural phenomena and didn’t appear to have originated from Earth. That left open an extraordinary possibility: that it had been produced by an extraterrestrial civilization. Indeed, Jerry Ehman, the astronomer who noticed the signal in the data, was so sho ...read more

During the height of the summer tourism season, frustrated residents in Barcelona organized protests. Some carried signs that read “tourists go home” and paraded them past restaurants packed with travelers. Others aimed water guns at diners and sprayed them while they tried to eat.Travel experts have given a variety of reasons for why cities like Barcelona feel inundated with tourists. Cruise ships have gotten bigger, travel surged after the pandemic lockdowns, and low-cost airlines make it ...read more

SpaceX’s upcoming Polaris Dawn mission aims to be historic in more ways than one. Polaris Dawn plans to not only orbit Earth higher than any astronauts have in more than 50 years but to also feature the first private spacewalk.The mission was originally scheduled to launch August 27, but has encountered delays – first for a helium leakand then for bad weather. SpaceX officials have said they’re monitoring the weather to reschedule the launch.It will feature a crew of four: the mission’s ...read more

Aging is a biological process that no one can avoid. Ideally, growing old should be a time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Aging also has a darker side, however, often linked to disease.Every second, your cells perform billions of biochemical reactions that fuel essential functions for life, forming a highly interconnected metabolic network. This network enables cells to grow, proliferate, and repair themselves, and itsdisruption can drive theaging process.But does aging cause metab ...read more

Aquatic animals delivered a one-two predatory punch millions of years ago. A combination of different teeth marks on “sea cow” bones show that a crocodile snatched the creature’s skull and drowned it with a “death roll”— essentially rotating underwater while grasping the sea cow in its jaws. When the croc was done dining, sharks showed up to finish the leftovers. The study, in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, provides a rare example of a creature being attacked by two differen ...read more

Rapamycin has been called a potential miracle drug, capable of slowing the effects of aging — everything from greying hair to age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s. And even though the bacteria that produces rapamycin was discovered about six decades ago, the drug still isn’t used or prescribed often. In the early phases of testing, experts discovered many side effects.“We’re the dog that caught the car — nobody seems to know what to do,” says Arlan Richardson, a biochemist at the ...read more

Imagine you are in a soccer match, and it’s tied. Each team will begin taking penalty kicks. The crowd is roaring, and whether or not your team wins the game depends on your ability to hit the shot. As you imagine this scene, are you able to picture the scenario with colors and details?Scientists are hard at worktrying to understand why some people can visualize these kinds of scenarios more easily than others can. Even the same person can be better or worse at picturing things in their mind a ...read more

As humans alter the planet’s climate and ecosystems, scientists are looking to Earth’s history to help predict what may unfold from climate change. To this end, massive ice structures like glaciers serve as nature’s freezers, archiving detailed records of past climates and ecosystems – including viruses.We are a team of microbiologists and paleoclimatologists who study ancient microorganisms, including viruses preserved within glacier ice. Along with our colleagues Lonnie Thompson, and V ...read more

About one-third of the global population, around 3 billion people, don’t have access to the internet or have poor connections because of infrastructure limitations, economic disparities, and geographic isolation.Today’s satellites and ground-based networks leave communications gaps where, because of geography, setting up traditional ground-based communications equipment would be too expensive.High-altitude platform stations – telecommunications equipment positioned high in the air, on uncr ...read more