How the pandemic upended our perception of time
A new paper by cognitive neuroscientist Nina Rouhani has uncovered that isolating to curb the spread of COVID-19 significantly impacted our ability to accurately recall events – findings that are consistent with memory lapses experienced by prison inmates. Though almost everyone agrees that time has been passing very strangely...
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Ethiopia restores social media after 5 months of shutdown
Ethiopia has taken a momentous stride towards reinstating communication freedom and reconnecting its citizens with the digital realm by lifting its social media ban after a prolonged five-month shutdown. The restoration of access to popular platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and YouTube comes as a welcome relief for millions of...
Fragments of interstellar meteor discovered in the Pacific Ocean
Harvard University Professor Avi Loeb has recovered tiny iron fragments near the fireball path of the first recognised interstellar meteor. Tests are now underway to discover more about its mysterious origin beyond our solar system. Scientists looked on in wonder in 2014, as a 500kg fireball plummeted from the sky...
Instagram officially launches Twitter competitor Threads
With Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter causing mounting problems, Instagram has swooped in with its own competitor, Threads. The app has officially launched. Zuckerberg has officially launched his direct Twitter competitor Threads. Largely based on a similar, endless feed of statuses, Threads directly moves over your Instagram profile and provides...
Alef Aeronautics receives testing approval for world’s first flying car
Startup Alef Aeronautics has been given FAA Special Airworthiness Approval, which means it will be allowed to undergo experimental testing of its new flying car. Could we soon be buying flying cars? Well, we’re one step closer at least. The startup company Alef Aeronautics, backed by Space-X, is the first...
Developer of ‘Gollum’ shutting down after disastrous launch
Publisher of the infamous ‘Gollum’ game Daedalic Entertainment is shutting down its development studio. With big-name titles ballooning in budget, facing increased delays, and putting their developers at higher financial risk, is the industry becoming unsustainable? The studio behind 2023s worst video game ‘Gollum’ is shutting down. Ridiculed online for...
Scientists discover ‘anomalies’ under Mars’ surface
Results from the latest NASA mission InSight indicate that Mars may have a liquid core, alongside unexplained irregularities in its mantle. NASA’s latest mission to Mars, InSight, has brought back new data that shows anomalies underneath the planet’s surface, and strengthens theories that it may lack a solid inner core. Information gathered by Insight was focused on Mars’ subterranean layers, including the core and mantle. The mission finished in December...
Scientists discover that the Earth’s atmosphere can clean itself
Researchers have found that a strong electric field between airborne water droplets and surrounding air can create a molecule called hydroxide, which breaks down pollutants. Amid the constant, disheartening chatter of how climate change is threatening the planet’s survival, here’s a galvanising report to prevent you from falling victim to yet another bout of existential dread. According to researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), the Earth’s...
Music made with AI will be eligible for a Grammy
To better reflect an evolving industry, artists using machine learning for their compositions now have the opportunity to win an award. However, as stressed by Harvey Mason Jr. – CEO of the Recording Academy – only the human creators who contributed to a song can be nominated. Last month, the Recording Academy announced a series of changes to the Grammy Awards to better reflect an ever-evolving music industry. Of those newly introduced...
Scientists turn humid air into renewable energy
Realising Nikola Tesla’s 1930s theory that the Earth could one day act as a super battery, a team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have successfully generated hygroelectricity. ‘We are on the threshold of a gigantic revolution, based on the wireless transmission of power,’ wrote Nikola Tesla in the 1930s. ‘We will be enabled to illuminate the whole sky at night and eventually we will flash power in virtually...
