Lucy, discovered 50 years ago in Ethiopia, still towers over our understanding of human origins
In 1974, on a survey in Hadar in the remote badlands of Ethiopia, U.S. paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson and graduate student Tom Gray found a piece of an elbow joint jutting from the dirt in a gully. It proved to be the first of 47 bones of a sing.....»»
Extreme wildfires have doubled in just 20 years—here"s the science
It feels like we are getting used to the Earth being on fire. Recently, more than 70 wildfires burned simultaneously in Greece. In early 2024, Chile suffered its worst wildfire season in history, with more than 130 people killed. Last year, Canada's.....»»
30 years later, FreeDOS is still keeping the dream of the command prompt alive
Project's creator talks to Ars about where FreeDOS has been, where it's going. Enlarge / Preparing to install the floppy disk edition of FreeDOS 1.3 in a virtual machine. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) Two big things happen.....»»
Quick! Best Buy cut the price of the 5th Gen iPad by $220 today only
It’s finally time to buy that iPad Air you’ve been talking about for years. Save $220 when you purchase through Best Buy today......»»
A dangerous new jailbreak for AI chatbots was just discovered
Microsoft released details about a troubling new generative AI jailbreak technique that can bypass a chatbot's safety guardrails......»»
New computational microscopy technique provides more direct route to crisp images
For hundreds of years, the clarity and magnification of microscopes were ultimately limited by the physical properties of their optical lenses. Microscope makers pushed those boundaries by making increasingly complicated and expensive stacks of lens.....»»
Bipartisan consensus in favor of renewable power is ending
The change is most pronounced in those over 50 years old. Enlarge (credit: tigerstrawberry) One of the most striking things about the explosion of renewable power that's happening in the US is that much of it is going on.....»»
Astronomers discover two new Milky Way satellite galaxy candidates
For years, astronomers have worried about how to explain why the Milky Way has fewer satellite galaxies than the standard dark matter model predicts. This is called the "missing satellites problem.".....»»
Tackling the dual threat: A global strategy for PM2.5 and O3 pollution
Air pollution is a severe risk to human health and the environment, particularly from fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3). Despite global efforts, many cities continue to face significant exposure risks from these pollutants......»»
Investigating newly discovered hydrothermal vents at depths of 3,000 meters off Svalbard
Hydrothermal vents can be found around the world at the junctions of drifting tectonic plates. But there are many hydrothermal fields still to be discovered. During a 2022 expedition of the MARIA S. MERIAN, the first field of hydrothermal vents on th.....»»
Tiny bright objects discovered at dawn of universe baffle scientists
A recent discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) confirmed that luminous, very red objects previously detected in the early universe upend conventional thinking about the origins and evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black ho.....»»
Every Rock Tells a Story. This Is the Tale of a Meteor-wrong
We discovered a strange rock in the Sahara we thought was a meterorite. Figuring out what it was grounded me back to Earth.....»»
The Face on Mars and Other Cases of Cosmic Pareidolia
The human brain loves seeing patterns, even when they aren’t really there.....»»
This Florida woman used lifetime warranties to cheaply maintain her car for 43 years. Here’s how you can do the same
This Florida woman used lifetime warranties to cheaply maintain her car for 43 years. Here’s how you can do the same.....»»
NASA taps Elon Musk"s SpaceX to bring International Space Station out of orbit in a few more years
NASA taps Elon Musk"s SpaceX to bring International Space Station out of orbit in a few more years.....»»
Researchers craft smiling robot face from living human skin cells
Human cells isolated from juvenile foreskin are flexible enough to grin when moved. Enlarge / A movable robotic face covered with living human skin cells. (credit: Takeuchi et al.) In a new study, researchers from the Un.....»»
More YouTube Premium plans are coming, but will they be cheaper?
Like other streaming options out there, YouTube Premium has been getting more expensive in recent years. Separately, Google has been trying to put a stop … The post More YouTube Premium plans are coming, but will they be cheaper? appeared fir.....»»
Simulating blood flow dynamics for improved nanoparticle drug delivery
Despite gaining a bad rap in mainstream media in recent years, nanoparticles have been successfully used for decades in targeted drug delivery systems. Drug molecules can be encapsulated within biodegradable nanoparticles to be delivered to specific.....»»
OpenAI’s new “CriticGPT” model is trained to criticize GPT-4 outputs
Research model catches bugs in AI-generated code, improving human oversight of AI. Enlarge / An illustration created by OpenAI. (credit: OpenAI) On Thursday, OpenAI researchers unveiled CriticGPT, a new AI model designed.....»»
NASA"s Mars Odyssey orbiter captures huge volcano, nears 100,000 orbits
NASA's longest-lived Mars robot is about to mark a new milestone on June 30: 100,000 trips around the Red Planet since launching 23 years ago. During that time, the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter has been mapping minerals and ice across the Martian surfac.....»»
Scientists use computational modeling to guide a difficult chemical synthesis
Researchers from MIT and the University of Michigan have discovered a new way to drive chemical reactions that could generate a wide variety of compounds with desirable pharmaceutical properties......»»