Martian rocks offer clues that might indicate ancient life
Washington, United States - Colorful, speckled rocks found on the surface of Mars have offered among the most encouraging evidence...
Science
Musk’s megarocket faces crucial new test after failures
Washington, United States -- Elon Musk's SpaceX is gearing up for the next test of its Starship megarocket on Sunday,...
Geostrategy
Science
What to know about the NASA-funded commercial Moon fleet
Washington, United States - The year 2024 promises to be a busy one for American Moon landings, all under a new...
- Fourteen companies have been pre-selected to be in the running for contracts, with eight firm missions so far planned
- Many of the companies involved are considered fledging, rather than legacy aerospace giants, reflecting the initiative's experimental nature
Science
US private firm targets moon landing
Intuitive Machines, the Houston company, hopes to become the first non-government entity to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon.
- The hexagonal-shaped Nova-C lander named "Odysseus" had been set to blast off on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
- But NASA said the launch was postponed due to "off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load," according to a post on social media platform X
Science
World’s biggest flying lab comes to Asia on air pollution mission
Clark, Philippines - NASA has kicked off a series of marathon flights in Asia with the world's biggest flying laboratory, in...
- Starting this week in the Philippines, the US agency's DC-8 is flying for up to eight hours at a time, sometimes just 50 feet from the ground, to swoop up air particles for study.
- Millions of deaths each year are linked to air pollution, and improving the ability to identify its sources and behavior can lead to more accurate warning systems for the public.
Science
Japanese lander disabled again but could restart after two weeks
Tokyo, Japan - After a brief awakening, Japan's Moon lander is out of action again but will resume its mission if...
- The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.
- As the sun's angle shifted, it came back to life for two days this week and carried out scientific observations of a crater with its high-spec camera.
Business
KACST, ACWA Power sign pact
The aim is to develop technologies for clean energy.
- The center will conduct studies, scientific research, and work to attain technical development in clean energy and water sector.
- It will also work in developing solar energy technologies, energy storage technologies to support future energy networks.
Science
‘Game changer’: Gene therapy offers hope for children born deaf
Paris, France - A gene therapy that has allowed several children born deaf to hear for the first time is being...
- Several medical teams around the world are trialling the procedure, which focuses on a rare genetic mutation that affects only a small number of the 26 million people
- On Tuesday, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia revealed that 11-year-old Aissam Dam, who was born deaf, was now "literally hearing sound for the first time in his life."
Science
Deaf boy can now hear after gene treatment
The US hospital which carried out the treatment said the milestone represents hope for patients around the world with hearing...
- Aissam Dam was born "profoundly deaf" because of a highly rare abnormality in a single gene.
- Aissam, who was born in Morocco and later moved to Spain, may never learn to talk, as the brain's window for acquiring speech closes around the age of five.
Science
NASA regains contact with mini-helicopter on Mars
Ingenuity, a drone about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) tall, arrived on Mars in 2021 aboard the rover Perseverance and became...
- NASA has lost contact with the helicopter before, including for two months last year
- It previously said that Ingenuity had attained an altitude of 40 feet (12 meters) on Flight 72
Science
NASA loses contact with its mini-helicopter on Mars
WASHINGTON, US - NASA has lost contact with its tiny helicopter Ingenuity during the hard-working craft's 72nd flight, the space agency...
- In a post on X, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory added that Perseverance was temporarily "out of line-of-sight with Ingenuity.
- NASA has lost contact with the helicopter before, including for an agonizing two months last year.
Arts & Culture
Japan literary laureate admits using ChatGPT for her novel
TOKYO, JAPAN - The winner of Japan's most prestigious literary award has acknowledged that about "five percent" of her futuristic novel...
- The 33-year-old author of Tokyo-to Dojo-to openly admitted that AI heavily influenced her writing process as well.
- Set in a futuristic Tokyo, the book revolves around a high-rise prison tower and its architect's intolerance of criminals.
Martian rocks offer clues that might indicate ancient life
Washington, United States - Colorful, speckled rocks found on the surface of Mars have offered among the most encouraging evidence...
Science
Company News
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AI companions present risks for young users, US watchdog warns
New York, United States -- AI companions powered by generative artificial intelligence present real risks and should be banned for...
Geostrategy
‘Something new for the honey market’: Austria trials DNA testing to uncover fraud
Voels, Austria -- At a laboratory in Austria's mountainous Tyrol province, scientists are DNA testing about 100 honey samples a...
Business
Humanoid robots stride into the future with world’s first half-marathon
At the crack of the starter's gun, and as a Chinese pop song "I Believe" blared out from loudspeakers on...
Science
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Science
‘I don’t have a voice in my head’: Life with no inner monologue
Paris, France - Mel May only realised she was different while reading a news article one day. "Wait, what? Some...
- The idea of not being able to have inner monologue is so new that a clinical name, anendophasia, was only proposed for it in a paper last year
- The inner monologue has proven extremely difficult to study because it relies on people being able to describe how they think
Science
World’s tiniest pacemaker is smaller than grain of rice
Paris, France -- Scientists said Wednesday they have developed the world's tiniest pacemaker, a temporary heartbeat regulator smaller than a...
- While still years away from being tested in humans, the wireless pacemaker was hailed as a "transformative breakthrough" that could spur advances in other areas of medicine.
- Millions of people across the world have permanent pacemakers, which stimulate hearts with electrical pulses to ensure they beat normally.
Geostrategy
First orbital rocket launched from Europe crashes seconds after blast-off
Oslo, Norway -- The first orbital rocket launched from continental Europe crashed seconds after blast-off Sunday, in a closely watched...
- Isar Aerospace, which had said it did not expect to reach orbit with the launch, said the two-stage rocket fell into the sea, adding that "the launch pad seems to be intact".
- The 28-metre (92-foot) tall, two-meter diameter rocket has a one-ton carrying capacity, but was unloaded for the test flight.