AI Detects 72 Fast Radio Bursts Coming from a Distant, Unknown Source

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

An artist’s illustration shows fast radio waves zooming their way toward Earth. Credit: Jingchuan Yu, Beijing Planetarium Blazing across the sky for mere milliseconds, fast radio bursts (FRBs) are among the newest and most puzzling astronomical phenomenon. They come from extreme distances and appear without any known rhyme or reason, making them almost impossible to study in detail. But luckily, artificial intelligence is helping researchers learn about this mysterious occurrence. By usi ...read more

Feasting off unusually warm sea surface waters, Hurricane Florence has exploded in strength

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

National Hurricane Center: “Unfortunately, the models were right” Astronaut Rickey Arnold took this spectacular photograph of Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station at 8:10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 10 as it moved west across the Atlantic. Please click to enlarge it. (Source: NASA) When I woke up this morning, Hurricane Florence was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds a little above 100 miles per hour. As the storm has moved over very warm waters ...read more

Inching Toward De-Extinction: Can CRISPR Resurrect Passenger Pigeons?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Scientists are trying to “de-extinct” the passenger pigeon by modifying the genes of more common pigeons. These birds have been altered so their offspring will be easier to edit with CRISPR. (Credit: Ben Novak) Ben Novak’s pigeons aren’t much to look at. Cosmetically, they’re not too different from the scavengers you’d see on any city street. But dive down to the cellular level, and you’ll find something very unusual: they’ve been bred for easier ...read more

Technology Aims to Bring Us Longer Lives. How Ethical is That?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

(Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock) Life extension – using science to slow or halt human aging so that people live far longer than they do naturally – may one day be possible. Big business is taking this possibility seriously. In 2013 Google founded a company called Calico to develop life extension methods, and Silicon Valley billionaires Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel have invested in Unity Biotechnology, which has a market cap of US$700 million. Unity Biotechnology focu ...read more