Science

China’s population may start to shrink this year, new birth data suggest | Science

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After many decades of growth, China’s population could begin to shrink this year, suggest data released yesterday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics. The numbers show that in 2021, China’s birth rate fell for the fifth year in a row, to a record low of 7.52 per 1000 people. Based on that number, demographers estimate … Read more

‘The Book of Boba Fett’ episode 3 offers colorful new additions to Tatooine culture

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Warning: Spoilers ahead for “The Book of Boba Fett” chapter 3 Expectations were dangerously high after the incredible episode 2 of “The Book of Boba Fett” on Disney Plus and it’s safe to say, nothing that happened this week could’ve possibly been predicted — in both good and bad ways, but we’ll get to that. … Read more

Brain surgeries are opening windows for neuroscientists, but ethical questions abound | Science

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In 2019, Kate Folladori spent a month sitting in a hospital room hoping she’d have a seizure. Since her diagnosis with epilepsy nearly 20 years earlier, a series of medications had failed to bring relief. Now, a team at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center had placed wire electrodes into her brain to record neural activity. … Read more

China sends classified satellite into space during first launch of 2022

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China executed its first launch of 2022 with a classified mission, the Shiyan 13 test satellite. The Long March 2D rocket carrying Shiyan 13 launched from the China National Space Administration‘s (CNSA) northern Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center Tuesday (Jan. 17) at 10:35 a.m. local time (0235 GMT, or 9:35 p.m. EST on Jan. 16) The … Read more

Moon’s crust may have formed from ‘slushy’ magma ocean long ago

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The moon’s crust might have formed from an unevenly layered “slush” of magma that once covered the entire body, a new study reports. It’s the latest turn of the wheel on scientists’ picture of how the moon and its features formed, a picture that’s been continually changing ever since Apollo astronauts brought moon rocks back … Read more

COVID Threatens to Bring a Wave of Hikikomori to America

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In 2014, a vibrant and well-traveled patient I will call Alice, whom I (Berman) was treating for bipolar disorder, began refusing to leave her home after a prolonged course of physical rehabilitation for a spinal injury. None of the usual diagnoses—depression, anxiety or agoraphobia—explained her withdrawal, which continued after medications stabilized her mood. Patients with … Read more

SpaceX’s Starlink satellites leave streaks in asteroid-hunting telescope’s images

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A prime ground-based observatory that scans the sky for exploding stars and dangerous near-Earth asteroids is struggling with disruptive light streaks from SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellite constellation, a new study revealed.  The observatory, called the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), opened its telescope eye in California in 2017. Scanning the entire sky every two days, the … Read more

NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission readies for ‘wet dress rehearsal’

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The first moonbound rocket and spacecraft of NASA’s Artemis program are expected to do a “wet dress rehearsal” on the launch pad in February, the agency said. Engineers on the mission, expected to launch later this year, put the mission hardware through a series of checks to make sure they’re ready for the milestone, which … Read more

Black hole created star-forming gas jets in a dwarf galaxy

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Black holes located in dwarf galaxies usually stop star formation, but now one has been seen seeding new stars through a huge plume of ionised gas Space 19 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins A dwarf galaxy known as Hen 2-10 NASA A black hole at the centre of a dwarf galaxy has birthed new stars … Read more