A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this decade to 2040.The mission would be the first to try to return rock samples from Mars to Earth so scientists can analyze them for signs of past life.NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference on April 15, 2024, that the mission as currently conceived is too expens ...read more
Age is a risk factor for a host of diseases. Heart disease and stroke, most cancers, osteoarthritis, and, of course, dementia become far more likely as we age. Though we hear about it less often, aging can also be hard on your eyes. Several conditions that affect older people can lead to vision loss and even blindness. “However, vision loss is not an inevitable part of aging,” explains Roma Patel, associate professor of ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine and clinical spokesperson f ...read more
About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these “relic” neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they can’t harm you. In fact, only one of them is likely to lightly tap an atom in your body in your entire lifetime.Most neutrinos produced by objects such as black holes have much more energy than the relic neutrinos floating through space. While much rarer, these energetic neutrinos are more likely to crash into so ...read more
Myopia, or the need for corrected vision to focus or see objects at a distance, has become a lot more common in recent decades. Some even consider myopia, also known as nearsightedness, an epidemic.Optometry researchers estimate that about half of the global population will need corrective lenses to offset myopia by 2050 if current rates continue – up from 23% in 2000 and less than 10% in some countries.The associated health care costs are huge. In the United States alone, spending on correcti ...read more
In April 2024, the cicadas are starting to buzz. Reports of cicada broods emerging in the South of the U.S. are underway. The insect’s signature high-pitched and alarming sound has already led some people to call law enforcement in South Carolina to report a siren-like noise. However, that noise is not a siren, but periodical cicadas. These cicadas, broods XIX and XII, emerge in cycles of 13 to 17 years. It’s estimated that in 2024, trillions of cicadas will emerge from different states in t ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine