Science

WASHINGTON — Astronomers are calling on nations to ban advertising in space that can be seen from the ground, calling it the latest threat to the dark and quiet sky. At a briefing during the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society earlier this month, the organization rolled out a statement calling for bans on

Coal power plants contribute to global warming Walaiporn Sangkeaw Current policies of governments around the world are likely to result in Earth warming by anywhere between 1.9 and 3.7°C by 2100, with potentially more to come in the 22nd century. “Every year we keep emitting CO2 after 2100 results in higher and higher global temperatures,”

Fast radio burst came from a neutron star’s magnetosphere, say astronomers – Physics World Skip to main content Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2025 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin’s next suborbital spaceflight will be a long-awaited demonstration of New Shepard’s ability to generate lunar gravity rather than microgravity. Blue Origin announced Jan. 24 that it has scheduled its new New Shepard flight for no eaelier than Jan. 28 at 11 a.m. Eastern from the company’s test site in West Texas. The

Firefighters in California during a prescribed burn San Francisco Chronicle via Getty You can fight fire with fire, even in the flammable forests of the western US. According to an analysis of California’s record-breaking 2020 fire season, intentionally burning land can reduce the severity and amount of smoke from wildfires that burn those areas later

The physics of George R R Martin’s Wild Card virus revealed – Physics World Skip to main content Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2025 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

WASHINGTON — Boeing says it expects to take additional losses on its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew program when it releases its fourth quarter financial results next week. In a Jan. 23 press release, Boeing provided preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2024. That included a projection of $1.7 billion in charges against earnings for

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks at the White House in Washington DC on 21 January 2025 AARON SCHWARTZ/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock This week, OpenAI and other tech companies joined US president Donald Trump at the White House to pledge a private investment of half a trillion dollars in US data centres over the next four years. The “Stargate

Why electrochemistry lies at the heart of modern technology – Physics World Skip to main content Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2025 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

WASHINGTON — NASA is beginning to implement a White House executive order to terminate certain diversity programs at the agency that were once praised by its current acting administrator. In a memo to employees Jan. 22 obtained by SpaceNews, NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro said the agency was working to close offices related to diversity,

Caroline Tompkins/Refinery29 for Getty Images When trying to form a healthy habit, it usually helps to be conscious. So it is easy to understand why sleep-tracking devices, which claim to reveal what happened while users were out for the count, have become so popular with those in pursuit of better rest. These promise to monitor

Nanocrystals measure tiny forces on tiny length scales – Physics World Skip to main content Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2025 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

WASHINGTON — Finland signed the Artemis Accords Jan. 21, the first country to do so this year amid questions about the future of the agreement in the new Trump administration. NASA said in a statement that Finland signed the Accords, which outline best practices for safe and sustainable space exploration, during the Winter Satellite Workshop

Donald Trump holding an executive order announcing the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images A cheer went up from the crowd in a Washington DC stadium on 20 January as US president Donald Trump signed an order on stage to withdraw the US from the Paris climate treaty. The order said the

SMART spherical tokamak produces its first plasma – Physics World Skip to main content Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2025 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

WASHINGTON — The second Trump administration started with soaring rhetoric about sending humans to Mars but confusion about who was leading NASA on an acting basis. President Donald Trump, in his inaugural address shortly after being sworn in as the 47th president Jan. 20, mentioned human missions to Mars as part of the “manifest destiny”

Foxys_forest_manufacture/Getty Images There are many things we can blame for a bad night’s sleep – screen time, stress, too much booze. Now there is another culprit: the microbes in our gut. This article is part of special series investigating key questions about sleep. Read more here. We have long known that our microbiome has a

Wrinkles in spacetime could remember the secrets of exploding stars – Physics World Skip to main content Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2025 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here