In this search for the origin of one of the world’s most common genetic diseases, emerging research in evolutionary medicine raises new questions about our history, development, and future as a species.
Astronomers using U.S. and European telescopes say they’ve obtained a first tantalizing look at a crucial early stage in star formation. The new observations using radio and infrared telescopes will help scientists understand the early stages of a sequence of events through which a giant cloud of gas and dust collapses into dense cores that,…
Researchers from NASA and the Department of Energy have demonstrated a nuclear reactor that could power spaceflight. It’s nowhere near as powerful as NASA’s conceptual antimatter engine–the Demonstration Using Flattop Fissions (DUFF) experiment produces just 24 watts of electricity. The researchers used a heat pipe to cool a small nuclear reactor and power a Stirling…
A team of researchers from the Laboratoire Univers et Théorie has performed the first-ever computer model simulation of the structuring of the entire observable universe, from the Big Bang to the present day. The simulation has made it possible to follow the evolution of 550 billion particles. This simulation, along with the two additional runs…
Nanomaterials, substances broken down by technology into molecule-size particles, are starting to enter the food chain through well-known food products and their packaging, but there is little acknowledgment by the companies using them, according to a new report from a nonprofit group that works to enhance corporate accountability. Some companies may not even know whether…
In 1981 physicist Nick Herbert leveraged strange features of quantum mechanics to design a superluminal communication system. The quest to uncover its subtle flaw led to a profound new understanding of the quantum world. This discovery became known as the “no-cloning theorem”: a powerful statement about the ultimate foundations of quantum theory. An arbitrary or…
Experts speakers argue their cases. Author Metanexus Editors