Science

SAN FRANCISCO — Dawn Aerospace is poised to begin supersonic testing of its Mk-II Aurora spaceplane. New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) awarded Dawn a certificate to fly the Mk-II Aurora at unlimited speeds and a maximum altitude of 80,000 feet, the company announced July 12. “This unlocks the next major performance milestone for the

Those living in Papua New Guinea’s highlands may benefit from having Denisovan DNA Michael Runkel/Danita Delimont/Getty Images/Gallo Images ROOTS People living in the highlands and lowlands of Papua New Guinea have different frequencies of several Denisovan genetic variants, which may help them adapt to their local environmental conditions. The Denisovans were hominins that lived across

Second team uses laser to excite thorium-229 nuclear transition – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

TOKYO — SpaceX says it will not be able to recover the 20 Starlink satellites left in a very low orbit after a malfunction of a Falcon 9 upper stage on a July 11 launch. In a statement July 12, the company said that the 20 satellites on the Group 9-3 launch have been unable

Pupil size can help diagnose conditions such as concussion Irina Shilnikova/Getty Images The size of our pupils fluctuates as we breathe. They are at their smallest as we start to breathe in, increase steadily to reach their largest size when we are in the middle of breathing out, then shrink rapidly as we finish exhaling.

Spacesuit backpack allows astronauts to drink their own urine – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is poised to award an estimated $3 billion multi-year contract for commercial data and analytics services to monitor potential threats across the Indo-Pacific region, a focal point of global geopolitics and a priority theater for the Department of Defense. The program, known as Long-Range Enterprise Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Activity

Not all diving boards obey the laws of thermodynamics vm/Getty Images A microscopic version of a diving board has been driven to cheat the second law of thermodynamics 95 per cent of the time. The finding doesn’t challenge the validity of the law, but underscores how different the rules of the microscopic world can be.

Laura Tobin: the meteorologist and broadcaster who won’t stop talking about climate change – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

TAMPA, Fla. — Armada has raised an extra $40 million through a Microsoft-led funding round to develop mobile data centers tailored for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, the San Francisco-based startup announced July 11. The venture, which said it has received around $100 million from investors after emerging from stealth six months ago, is first focusing on

A special laser (red) can spiralise electrons (blue) Dr. Yiqi Fang, University of Konstanz An electron has been turned into a spiralling wave of mass and charge, with the help of a laser. “Chirality, or handedness, is an interesting and still in part enigmatic feature of our universe,” says Peter Baum at the University of

Precision medicine: meet two medical physicists who are making it possible – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

TOKYO — NASA and Boeing say it may be the end of July before they’re ready to return the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station as they continue thruster tests. At a July 10 briefing, officials said ongoing ground tests of the spacecraft’s reaction control system (RCS) thrusters at NASA’s White Sands Test

Shutterstock/Marko Aliaksandr Imagine if governments around the world announced restrictions on the sale of rulers that are 34 centimetres long. You would be pretty confused, given there doesn’t seem to be anything special about that length – and 34cm rulers don’t exist. Such legislation would be ludicrous, but something similar has been enacted for quantum

Inverse Mpemba effect seen in a trapped-ion qubit – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here

TOKYO — An Astroscale spacecraft is continuing to inspect a Japanese upper stage left in low Earth orbit while demonstrating it can do so safely. Astroscale announced July 9 that its Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) spacecraft conducted a “fly around” maneuver, going part way around the H-2A upper stage it has been inspecting

Cultured meat, with added flavour Yonsei University Lab-grown meat could get a flavour boost thanks to aromatic chemicals that activate when cooked, releasing a meaty smell – or if you prefer, that of coffee or potatoes. Meat grown from cultured cells can already be created in various forms that resemble slaughtered meat, including steak and

Could athletes mimic basilisk lizards and turn water-running into an Olympic sport? – Physics World Skip to main content Close search menu Discover more from Physics World Copyright © 2024 by IOP Publishing Ltd and individual contributors Read the original article here