The race to build a nuclear-powered moon base
Experts are turning to nuclear power to revolutionize energy generation on the moon, thanks to its remarkable reliability. Humanity has long been interested in the vast possibilities of space exploration. For decades, ever since Neil Armstrong first set foot on the lunar surface, many have envisioned a base there. A...
Current in Science
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...
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...
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...
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...
Is bacteria the key to making limitless energy from thin air?
Scientists have been studying a form of bacteria able to scavenge atmospheric hydrogen from thin air. They believe applying this principle to new technology could help humanity create limitless energy. As the world continues to negligently burn through fossil fuels, science is frantically searching for sustainable ways to power civilisation....
Study suggests Mars may be ‘too dangerous’ for human colonisation
Following a recent study, scientists recommend that no human expedition to Mars should surpass four years on account of its exceedingly high radiation. Colonising the Red Planet has long been a source of obsession for billionaire tech tycoons like Richard Branson and Elon Musk, but the science suggests lengthy human expeditions may be off the table. Researchers at the University of California have been testing the feasibility of living on Mars,...
Electronic implant helps paralysed man walk again in historic first
The revolutionary wireless device, which reads brain waves and sends instructions to the spine to move the right muscles, has allowed him to regain his natural mobility simply by thinking about it. In 2011, Gert-Jan Oskam was in a motorcycle accident that left him paralysed from the waist down. Now, thanks to revolutionary new technology, neuroscientists have given him control over his lower body again. ‘For 12 years I’ve been...
Scientists accomplish most ambitious genetics project to date
In the hope it will lead to important insights about health and human disease, an international team of researchers have sequenced the DNA of nearly every mammal on Earth.
Despite decades of advancements in genomics, it remains unclear what most of our DNA actually does. An ambitious international research collaboration is on course to change this, however.
Dubbed the Zoonomia Project, scientists from across the globe
Physicists say a second Big Bang could have created dark matter
Two physicists at the University of Texas suggest dark matter is so elusive and mysterious because it has an entirely different origin to that of the Big Bang. They believe a second cosmic explosion may have occurred weeks after the initial formation of the universe. Hump day is the perfect time for a large dose of existentialism. So, how’s about we get stuck into the incomprehensible subject of dark matter. The general cosmological...
