Category Science

Measuring body fat more carefully could help treat obesity Halfpoint/Getty Images Rethinking the way we define obesity could help millions of people worldwide, argue a team of researchers who want to introduce a new category of “preclinical” obesity. The current…

In his book The Mathematical Universe, mathematician William Dunham wrote of John Venn’s namesake legacy, the Venn diagram, “No one in the long history of mathematics ever became better known for less.” While Venn diagrams may not have solved any…

The right sequence of lasers can group qubits into a perfect grid luchschenF/Shutterstock Artificial intelligence could play a role in assembling the next largest quantum computer. The world’s largest known quantum computer has 1180 quantum bits, or qubits, made from…

January 14, 2025 3 min read 50,000 Scientists Urge Congress to Protect Research from Trump Two open letters from scientists and science advocacy groups reflect a growing anxiety about the future of federal science under President-elect Trump By Chelsea Harvey…

An artist’s impression of Blue Ghost landing on the moon Firefly Aerospace Two private spacecraft aiming to land on the moon are set to blast off onboard a SpaceX rocket, in a sign of increasing commercial activity on the lunar…

“You’ve achieved 40 seconds of uninterrupted focus.” Apparently, this is cause for celebration. For the past 10 minutes, I have been staring at my phone, trying to move a digital ball up a hill using nothing but the power of…

January 14, 2025 4 min read Why Are Recurring Dreams Usually Bad Ones? Recurring dreams may feature taking a test the dreamer didn’t study for, having to make a speech or being attacked. Here’s why our sleeping brain comes back…

Many people see space exploration as a waste of resources. Of course, there is the counterargument that scientific discoveries have intrinsic cultural value, that space-related initiatives often boost international cooperation, or that the space sector has crucial technological and economic…

January 14, 2025 4 min read Wildfires May Be Contaminating Los Angeles Water with Harmful Chemicals Fires can make drinking water, pipes and tanks unsafe. An environmental engineer explains why that’s so and what to do By Andrew J. Whelton…

Far above your head, constellations of satellites are working constantly to provide the positioning, navigation, and timing systems that quietly run modern life. Known as the global navigation satellite system, or GNSS, signals from these satellites provide the foundation for…