Science

An eosinophil immune cell, which can be involved in asthma KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Alamy It might be possible to effectively cure the most common form of asthma by using genetically engineered cells to kill off the rogue immune cells that trigger asthma attacks, a study in mice suggests. But making this kind of treatment affordable

HELSINKI — China’s experimental reusable spacecraft has released an unknown object into orbit while conducting its third mission. U.S. Space Force space domain awareness teams cataloged the object as 59884 (International designator 2023-195G). The suspected spaceplane launched Dec. 14, 2023 and has been in orbit 164 days. The object appears to have been released May

Illustration of six ancient monotreme species whose fossilised remains were found at Lightning Ridge, Australia Illustration by Peter Shouten From inside an old safe in the Australian Museum in Sydney, palaeontologist Tim Flannery carefully removes a shoe-box-sized container and places it on a table. Inside are more boxes and containers, like a Russian doll. Once

LOS ANGELES — Rocket Lab launched the first of two NASA Earth science cubesats on an Electron rocket May 25, exactly seven years after the company’s first launch. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 3:41 a.m. Eastern after a brief hold because of ground winds. It placed

On Yakushima island, sika deer might have forced flora to shrink as small as a tenth of the size of their mainland counterparts Read the original article here

LOS ANGELES — SpaceX has set a June 5 launch date for its next Starship integrated test flight, with a focus on demonstrating the ability to bring both stages of the vehicle back intact. SpaceX announced May 24 it planned a launch of Starship on its fourth integrated flight test, also known as IFT-4, as

Mice that were given a high dose of the antiviral drug oseltamivir phosphate, better known as Tamiflu, after prolonged and excessive noise exposure showed fewer signs of hearing loss compared with those not given the medication Read the original article here

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force is soliciting bids from commercial satellite manufacturers for a 10-year procurement of small satellites to carry experimental payloads to space. The Space Test Program office on May 23 issued its final request for proposals for the Space Test Experiments Platform (STEP) 2.0 contract — an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ)

Ants that drink a caffeinated solution can locate sweet rewards faster than un-caffeinated ants, suggesting the drug boosts learning. To see how Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) respond to caffeine, researchers created an ant-sized arena on a sheet of printer paper in the lab. They then placed a drop of sugary solution on the paper for

A passion for building instrumentation, and a hint of dark matter in dwarf galaxies – 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. Space Force announced the selection of six companies to develop proposals for a electromagnetic warfare (EW) training range designed to simulate space combat scenarios. In a statement May 22, the Space Force said this specialized environment will be crucial for training service personnel, known as guardians, to defend critical satellites and

It can be hard to wrap our minds round the very large and the very small. Ron Koeberer/Millennium Images, UK Imagine setting off on a spacecraft that can travel at the speed of light. You won’t get far. Even making it to the other side of the Milky Way would take 100,000 years. It is

Quantum entanglement expands to city-sized networks – 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

SAN FRANCISCO – Boston University took home top honors in the 2024 SmallSat Alliance 2024 Collegiate Space Competition. For the competition, which focused on congestion and orbital debris, Boston University students proposed pushing defunct satellites from geosynchronous Earth orbit to a graveyard orbit with cubesats. The proposed GEO Rendezvous and Space Debris Pusher Satellite Swarm,

Fractal geometry is common in nature Shutterstock/Sabine Hortebusch You have almost certainly seen computer-generated fractals – beautiful, trippy images in which colourful, intricate structures repeat ad infinitum as you fall ever further down the rabbit hole. Formally speaking, fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. But, in an echo of their

Shrinivas Kulkarni wins Shaw Prize in Astronomy for work on variable and transient objects – 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

SAN FRANCISCO – Privateer’s recent acquisition of Orbital Insight sheds new light on the Hawaiian startup’s ambitious plans, which may include future acquisitions. “We’re trying to build Uber for space data,” Alex Fielding, Privateer CEO and co-founder, told SpaceNews. “We’re treating nation states like drivers, satellites like cars and those of us that need to

Biodiversity contains several dimensions Hans-Joachim Schneider/Alamy At first blush, the idea of biodiversity seems simple enough. It is essentially the variety of all life on Earth. But making sense of biodiversity in a way that can help us halt or even reverse its decline is anything but straightforward. “People often use the word biodiversity just