News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
The billionaire commander of SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission is flying back to space again with a set of new crewmates. Shift4 CEO Jared Isaacman and SpaceX jointly announced Monday (Feb. 14) the creation of Polaris Dawn, a mission set to fly a Crew Dragon to high Earth orbit in late 2022. The mission will be the … Read more
When TikTok videos emerged in 2021 that seemed to show “Tom Cruise” making a coin disappear and enjoying a lollipop, the account name was the only obvious clue that this wasn’t the real deal. The creator of the “deeptomcruise” account on the social media platform was using “deepfake” technology to show a machine-generated version of … Read more
Colorado’s Marshall Fire, which incinerated over a half-billion dollars’ worth of homes near Boulder in December, is likely to become the most investigated wildfire in U.S. history. One reason for that is the blaze hit close to home for fire experts. As many as 100 scientists studying wildfires, smoke, air pollution and climate change lived … Read more
You can give your valentine a card that’s out of this world, thanks to NASA. The space agency has put together some freely available e-cards that feature iconic space photos with special Valentine’s Day messages attached. For example, one card depicts the Perseverance Mars rover and Ingenuity helicopter together on the Red Planet, with “We … Read more
Large galaxies may steal dark matter from smaller galaxies they nearly collide with, new research suggests. Scientists from the University of California, Irvine and Pomona College used computer models to simulate the evolution of a corner of the universe about 60 million light-years across. The new computer models, which weren’t designed to do so, created … Read more
The billionaire commander of the first “all-civilian” space mission has now filed a new flight plan, underwriting a series of three SpaceX launches designed to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities while also raising funds and awareness for causes here on Earth. Jared Isaacman, the 39-year-old founder of Shift4, an online payment processing company, and the … Read more
Fish genetically engineered to glow blue, green, or red under blacklight have been a big hit among aquarium lovers for years. But the fluorescent pet is not restricted to glass displays anymore. The red- and green-glowing versions of the modified zebrafish have escaped fish farms in southeastern Brazil and are multiplying in creeks in the … Read more
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage around the world, another disease could be on its way out. Only 14 cases of infection with Guinea worm—a parasite that causes painful skin lesions—were reported in humans in 2021. This is the lowest tally ever for an infection that, as recently as the 1980s, was found in … Read more
The international scientific community has long been discussing the need to keep the far side of the moon free from human-made radio frequency intrusion. Doing so can make possible observations of the unexplored early epochs of the universe known as the dark ages and cosmic dawn, scientists say. The moon’s far side always faces away … Read more
When Russia annexed Crimea and meddled in Ukraine’s Donets Basin, or Donbas, region in 2014, its military revealed new technology, organization and tactics—and upended much of the U.S. military’s thinking about modern warfare. Now, as Moscow keeps U.S. and European leaders guessing about whether it will invade Ukraine again, the Pentagon is pushing forward with … Read more