Jun 27 ‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar visitor, is just a comet By Nola Taylor Redd, Scientific American Oumuamua is almost certainly a comet, albeit one fittingly alien from those we find orbiting the sun, according to a new study published Wednesday. Continue reading
Jun 27 Hayabusa2, a Japanese spacecraft, arrives at Ryugu asteroid to retrieve minerals By Jeremy Hsu, Scientific American If all goes according to plan, two spacecraft will commence close encounters with two asteroids by the end of August, in order to retrieve organic materials dating back to the solar system’s birth. Continue reading
May 16 Analysis: Yanny, Laurel and why our brains struggle with ‘ambiguity illusions’ By Stephen L. Macknik, Scientific American On Tuesday, the "Yanny-Laurel" auditory illusion took the internet by storm. A neuroscientist explains why listening to a single sound clip can yield different perceptions. Continue reading
Apr 26 This stunning map of the Milky Way pinpoints more than 1 billion stars By Lee Billings, Scientific American The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission has released a catalog, the most detailed to date, of more than 1.5 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Continue reading
Mar 27 James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s $8.8 billion successor, faces lengthy delay By Lee Billings, Scientific American On Tuesday, NASA officials revealed James Webb Space Telescope’s launch date has slipped from spring of 2019 to approximately May 2020 — a delay that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Continue reading
Mar 25 Primeval salt shakes up ideas on how the atmosphere got its oxygen By Nola Taylor Redd, Scientific American Our planet may have gained breathable air in the geologic blink of an eye. Continue reading
Mar 09 False news travels 6 times faster on Twitter than truthful news By Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American False news -- inaccurate information presented as truth or opinion presented as fact -- is 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than information that faithfully reports actual events, according to a new study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Continue reading
Jan 28 Controversial fossil hints Homo sapiens blazed a trail out of Africa earlier than thought By Kate Wong, Scientific American The jaw fragment suggests our species began traveling abroad 50,000 years earlier than previously thought. Continue reading
Jan 20 The data behind the women’s movement By Amanda Montañez, Scientific American Charts highlight some of the key issues Women’s March activists are fighting for. Continue reading
Jan 03 Satellites predict a cholera outbreak weeks in advance By Sarah Derouin, Scientific American Back in May 2017 a team of scientists used satellite information to predict an outburst of cholera in Yemen. Continue reading