(Credit: Shutterstock)
When the humanoid robot Sophia was granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia—the first robot to receive citizenship anywhere in the world—many people were outraged. Some were upset because she now had more rights than human women living in the same country. Others just thought it was a ridiculous PR stunt.
Sophia’s big news brought forth a lingering question, especially as scientists continue to develop advanced and human-like AI machines: Should robots be giv ...read more
After putting only adult worms into mock Martian soil, two babies were discovered. It’s safe to say the worms got down and dirty. (Credit: Wieger Wamelink)
Worms can not only survive in faux Martian soil — they can start a new generation. That’s the conclusion from biologist Wieger Wamelink who recently discovered two baby worms in his simulated Mars soil experiment.
Since 2013, scientists from Wageningen University & Research have been growing crops in Mars and moon ...read more
A technician works on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. (Credit: Anna Pantelia/CERN)
What happens when you stick your head inside a particle accelerator and get hit with a beam of trillions of protons? Well, if you’re Anatoli Bugorski, you go on to finish your PhD.
Bugorski is the only person known to have been exposed to a particle accelerator beam, the result of an accident that occurred while he was working at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Russia. On July 13, 197 ...read more
A coyote cools off in the shade of a leafy suburb. Wildlife interactions with pets and humans can transfer disease, including the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis. (Winston Wong/flickr)
Dogs are sending us an early warning signal about the spread of a potentially deadly tapeworm in North America.
The tapeworm, Echinococcus multilocularis, is normally found in rodents and other wild animals, including coyotes and foxes, but can spill over into cats and dogs — and even humans.
In July, ...read more
A drone that can think and learn might sound like a far-fetched dream, but several new technologies are helping Teal Drones CEO George Matus make it a reality. (Credit: Teal Drones)
George Matus was still in high school when he began raising millions for his startup, Teal. The former quad drone racer’s pitch to investors was a wish list of what he thought a drone should be. More than just an aerial camera, his quad would be freaky fast and easy to use — even fly in the rain.
And ...read more
Where sea ice should already be present, there are just vast swaths of open water. The cause: storminess and massive inflows of warmth.
Alaska’s Norton Sound on the Bering Sea is seen in this animation of images from NASA’s Terra satellite. One image, acquired on Nov. 25, 2009, shows fractured sea ice filling the sound. The other, acquired on the same date this year, shows mostly open water. (The dark area to the right was not imaged by the satellite because of the polar n ...read more
It’s not too often that a toy depicts a real-life unsung hero in science, but the LEGO Women of NASA kit does that four times over. A couple of the names should be familiar — Sally Ride is the go to name for women in space and Margaret Hamilton’s picture has been making the rounds for a while now. Mae Jamison and Nancy Grace Roman, on the other hand, are probably less recognizable. But all four are incredible women whose mini-likeness you can now add to your own home decor ...read more
Scientists witness the first nuclear fission chain reaction. (Credit: John Cadel/Chicago History Museum)
Seventy-five years ago, the world officially entered the Atomic Age. Henceforth, it would never be the same.
In October 1942, as part of the Manhattan Project, Enrico Fermi assembled a crack team of physicists for an urgent, top-secret government mission: Conduct the first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction to prove it was indeed possible to build an atomic weapon—and do ...read more
Going bravely where no spacecraft has gone before. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Man, they just don’t build ’em like they used to. The Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, has fired up a pair of thrusters that haven’t been used for 37 years. Meanwhile, I’m on my third car in two years.
The set of four small thrusters came online Wednesday after NASA engineers noticed the spacecraft’s attitude control thrusters had been degrading for several years. T ...read more
