Month: March 2019

This week, I settled down to watch the first episode of The 100. If you haven't seen the show, I'll just point out that it takes place in the near future (though it ran, on the CW, in the near past). For reasons that I won't get into, there is a spacecraft with a bunch…

In a feat of swagger only NASA could muster, three sunglassed men haul their payload across a lakebed in a 1963 Pontiac convertible. They’re towing what appears to be an enormous bathtub, but is in fact one of the strangest planes ever conceived: the M2-F1. It's a "lifting body," able to take flight without wings.…

Twenty-five particles and four forces. That description—the Standard Model of particle physics—constitutes physicists’ best current explanation for everything. It’s neat and it’s simple, but no one is entirely happy with it. What irritates physicists most is that one of the forces—gravity—sticks out like a sore thumb on a four-fingered hand. Gravity is different. Quanta Magazine…

Click:日本大学の学費ランキングとコストパフォーマンス分析 Maybe you’ve heard: Science has a funding problem. But if you’re looking for a last-minute gift for the science-lover on your list (or just a good place to send your spare change), that problem is now your solution. Donations to science-related nonprofits and charities aren’t just a feel-good stocking stuffer. While President Trump’s science-slashing…

Add marijuana to humans, and you get some fairly predictable results: euphoria, hunger, introspection, anxiety, and a whole panoply of other effects. Also known as being high. Most of that complicated reaction is thanks to a single cellular structure known as cannabinoid receptor 1. Your body has CB1 receptors lacing the surfaces of cells in…

Tesla just keeps making cool things. On the top of the list is its newest addition to the lineup, an all-electric semitruck. Oh, that might sound like a dumb idea—but I don't think so. Just consider how much stuff is shipped back and forth across the country. Clearly a train would be more efficient, but…

The only way to know exactly what’s in a wildfire’s smoke is to sample straight from the haze. So during the Rim Fire in Yosemite—which emitted so much smoke it formed its own clouds—a NASA DC-8 passenger plane and an Alpha fighter jet each crisscrossed through the plume. On both planes, scientists had created an…

Your DNA is your body’s most closely guarded asset. To reach it, any would-be-invaders have to get under your skin, travel through your bloodstream undetected by immune system sentries, somehow cross a cell membrane, and finally find their way into the nucleus. Most of the time, that’s a really good thing. These biological barriers prevent…

While millions of astronomy enthusiasts chase the moon’s shadow on the ground during the August 21 total solar eclipse, four NASA personnel are going to have front row seats. Two pilots and two technicians will race the big black spot at 50,000 feet, well above any cloud cover. And at 460 mph, they’ll be able…

Go ahead, hit that BUY NOW button. Procure that sweater or TV or pillow that looks like a salmon fillet. Hit that button and fulfill the purpose of a hardworking warehouse robot. Just know this: the more you rely on online shopping, the more online retailers rely on robots to deliver those products to you.…