Science News

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Fracois Halzen, a Physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, today, for his research in Neutrino Astronomy. His research made contributions to the Ice-Cube Neutrino Observatory, in Antarctica, studying high energy, cosmic neutrinos.

It took 270 years for a photon to complete the journey from what is possibly a second gen planet in the neighbourhood of a white dwarf ,as recently discovered "The planet is likely a gas giant orbiting a white dwarf called HS 0209+0832 located about 270 light-years from Earth, according to the authors of a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy." https://edition.cnn.com/2026/10/05/science/second-generation-planet-discovery-white-dwarf and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02983-7 That is (was) a long time and a hell of a distance. It seems ,after our Sun has blown its top there may still be life in the old Solar System after all.(time now to i…

Lots of interesting work currently going on at the base of crown group Metazoa. The YT channel Life through Time focuses (mainly) on pre-mesozoic palaeontology through the perspective of Joseph Botting, a leading researcher in the field. He presents not just the raw material but also a (usually) highly digestible step-by-step guide through his analytical processes. I find it fascinating.

As read on a video, the alteration produces spider web strength silk, claimed to make stronger than kevlar fiber. Am sorry but got it not in English. ---> https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HJPAjJQce/

The race to build the fastest superComputer in the world has been going on for some time. First MegaFLOP computer - IBM 7030 1961 First GigaFLOP computer - Cray 2 1985 First TeraFLOP computer - ASCI Red 1997 First PetaFLOP computer - Roadrunner 2008 First ExaFLOP computer - Frontier 2022 The list is somewhat linear after the advent of ICs in the mid 70s, with a three order of magnitude increase every dozen ( or so ) years, and we should expect ZetaFLOP performance ( Floating Point Operations per Second ) by the mid 2030s. The Chinese 'LineShine' System id the current #1, at over 2 ExaFLOPs, with the rest of the rankings in this article LineShine Debuts at No. 1 as the TOP…

Not really current news, but based on recent papers, about something I find very interesting. In the 50s, J A Wheeler proposed that Black Holes could be formed by a suitably large concentration of EM radiation, and he introduced the term Geons, for such concentrations. Recent ( within the last couple of years ) papers make these processes extremely unlikely ( by 50 orders of magnitude ), due to pair creation effects of QED, and the ability to carry energy/momentum out of the system. As always, this guy does an excellent job of explaining the whys and hows of this process ... And I'm getting tired of all the non-science discussion. ( it's in the forum name people ! )

“Heart's X1 demonstrator flew for 27 minutes from a regional airport in upstate New York, running on battery power the entire time. … The ES-30's design reflects a central problem in electric aviation: batteries store far less energy per pound than jet fuel. As aircraft get larger, battery packs have to grow too, leaving less room for passengers, bags, and freight. Batteries also don't get lighter in flight – a conventional plane sheds weight as it burns fuel, but an electric aircraft carries the same battery mass from departure to arrival.” https://www.techspot.com/news/113540-heart-aerospace-30-seat-electric-plane-takes-flight.html You probable need a hybrid for anythin…

As you may have heard, Open AI claimed to have solved the Navri-Stokes problem https://openai.com/index/navier-stokes-solution/ However, there are multiple discussions around that claim. For now, the full solution has not been presented so there are a few uncertainties regarding the validity of the claim: There is also another controversy: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/science/tristan-buckmaster-openai-math-navier-stokes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AFE.CA12.DVpcZwQn9Yl6&smid=url-share That opened up a completely different question. Let's assume that a mathematical problem is solved without human input but at high cost (the estimated computation time was value…

We have the occasional thread on alleged aliens but nobody ever seems willing to tackle the physics and engineering discussion of how they got here This discusses various methods of propulsion, assuming a cruising speed of 0.1c https://theconversation.com/could-aliens-ever-visit-earth-an-aerospace-scientist-unpacks-the-challenges-of-interstellar-spaceflight-280657 “Consequently, using chemical propulsion on a spacecraft with a cruise velocity of 19,000 miles per second (30,000 km/s) would require more fuel than all the mass in the observable universe” Of course you could go slower but that amplifies some other issues raised, like how equipment breaks down over time. It’d …

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/27/cockroaches-used-search-rescue-earthquakes-science-technology-australia When you're finished shuddering, you can read the article. Brief clip: For people trapped under rubble in an earthquake or similar disaster, the arrival of a fleet of cockroaches could one day be the difference between life and death. Biorobotics engineers have been working on the design of six-legged cyborg insects with cameras and miniature medical injectors for search and rescue missions. The roaches are designed to deliver emergency aid to people trapped in collapsed buildings, caves or other places too dangerous for rescuers to reach.

It appears we might have the first genuine detection candidate for a DM particle in one of our liquid xenon detectors: Berkeley Lab News CenterLZ Sees Surprising Result in Search for Dark MatterOf course, a single detection event - if it is confirmed to be real - does not yet constitute a discovery, but it is interesting.

(gift link) https://www.theatlantic.com/science/2026/08/el-nino-effects/688429/?gift=43H6YzEv1tnFbOn4MRsWYhe5nEFgk7C87XxiXaHSqXw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share This El Niño Will Be Unlike Any in the Past Eight DecadesDie-offs and floods have started already, a prelude to supercharged storms and droughts. By Joshua Partlow In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, along the equator, scientists have drawn a box. It’s a big box, two-thirds the size of China, yet hardly anyone lives inside it. This rectangular swath of open ocean is monitored by satellites and a network of moored buoys that measure minute changes in the temperature of the w…

The BGS have revealed the "Secrets of an ancient supervolcano uncovered that change our understanding of England's geological past" From the referenced paper:

The issue presented raises moral and legal questions about the training of AI BBC NewsSecondhand book sales are booming. Is it because of AI?Booksellers are reporting mysterious bulk orders. It's thought the books are being used to train AI - and ending up pulped.I wonder also what Ray Bradbury would have made of it (Fahrenheit 451) ?

“Rarely” might be headline exaggeration “After adjusting for age, sex, race, ethnicity and education, roughly 1 in 100 taxi and ambulance drivers died of Alzheimer’s, compared with 1 in 60 people overall.” There is mention of a study showing that the brain is changed “under sustained navigational demand” in support of this result The news article https://theconversation.com/taxi-drivers-rarely-die-of-alzheimers-how-complex-mental-maps-and-spatial-reasoning-protect-your-brain-286650 The paper https://www.bmj.com/content/387/bmj-2024-082194

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/13/forests-carbon-dioxide-emissions (Clip) In that past era, forests covered a much larger extent of the world than now, with no ice at the poles and much higher seas than today. But while the PETM changes occurred over many thousands of years via carbon released by the natural forces of volcanic activity, current climate change is much faster and caused by our deliberate combustion of fossil fuels. The paper is a “genuine advance” and provides a record over tens of thousands of years that shows the knock-on impacts of thinning forests, according to Trevor Keenan, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was n…

Saxifraga candelabrum isn't newly discovered, just its carnivorous ability and it might not be the only one. A pretty good article for a non-scientific publication. Darwin might have proven this himself if he had lived in the eastern Himalayas. Modern methods have made the discovery more definitive, however. International Business Times, Singapore EditionDarwin Was Right: Sticky Alpine Flower Confirmed as Carni...Scientists confirmed that Saxifraga candelabrum is a carnivorous plant, validating Charles Darwin's 150-year-old prediction that some Saxifraga species digest insects for nutrients.

“It doesn’t alter our theory of what caused the extinction event—but it makes it less likely that sulphur contained in the impactor was the smoking gun,” co-author Philippe Claeys, a planetary scientist and professor at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, said in a statement. “The fine debris thrown into the atmosphere would have [been] the primary factor.” https://gizmodo.com/the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-may-not-have-done-it-exactly-how-we-thought-2000787712

BBC NewsSecrets of birdsongs' 'spectacular diversity' revealedA scientific study has revealed the acoustic secret that connects all birdsong - and it is surprisingly simple

Thermodynamics of the Gravity from Entropy Theory Deep dive into the possible persistence of significant cosmological structure deep into the far future of the universe.

Apparently Europe has hit a milestone in the month of June. It is reported that Europe got 25 % of its energy from solar in the month; an increase from 10 % five years ago. Mind you, the situation is not as rosy in the winter, because A/C is not a big energy load in European summers. Mean while the US is attacking Iran ... again, in an effort to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, and get oil flowing again to save its reserves. How is that for clear-headed planning. I like this girl. Born in the Vatican, spoke Latin as a little girl, and PhD in Computer Science. Her analysis provides my daily vent against all things Trump/MAGA/Republican.

---> https://www.electricaltechnology.org/2026/02/nobel-chemist-turns-air-into-water.html At the heart of the technology are advanced materials known as Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs). These specially engineered materials contain billions of microscopic pores that can capture water molecules from the air. Despite weighing only a few grams, MOFs have an enormous internal surface area, allowing them to absorb significant amounts of moisture. Imagine producing clean drinking water straight from the air, even in some of the driest places on Earth. That vision is becoming a reality thanks to a groundbreaking invention developed by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist. …

A different approach being polished... --> https://www.electricaltechnology.org/2026/02/nobel-chemist-turns-air-into-water.html