A Harvard Mathematician Has Basically Solved an Epic, 150-Year-Old Chess Problem

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On one level, chess seems like a simple game: 64 individual black or white squares, 16 pieces per side, and two competitors striving for conquest. Dig a little deeper though, and the game offers incredibly complex possibilities, posing challenges to chess theorists and mathematicians that can go unsolved for decades or even centuries.   In … Read more

‘Killer Lake’ in Africa Looks Like Paradise, But It’s Hiding a Deadly Secret

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The engineers aboard the floating power station on Lake Kivu could only watch nervously as the volcano in the distance erupted violently, sending tremors rumbling through the water beneath them.   It was not the lava shooting from Mount Nyiragongo last May that spooked them, but the enormous concentrations of potentially explosive gases within Kivu, … Read more

Study Confirms Suspicions That Cat Brains Are Smaller Than They Used to Be

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As cats have become domesticated over the last 10,000 years or so, their brains have shrunk significantly in size, a new study confirms – a finding that could lead to important new insights into how animals adapt when they start being regularly kept by human beings.   Researchers compared the size of craniums (an indicator … Read more

Record-Breaking Nuclear Fusion Experiment Achieves Historic Plasma Milestone

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The secret behind a record-breaking nuclear fusion experiment that spit out 10 quadrillion watts of power in a split second has been revealed: a “self-heating” – or “burning” – plasma of neutron-heavy hydrogen inside the fuel capsule used in the experiment, according to researchers.   Last year, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in … Read more

Abandoned SpaceX Rocket Will Crash Into The Moon Within Weeks, Scientists Say

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A chunk of a SpaceX rocket that blasted off seven years ago and was abandoned in space after completing its mission will crash into the Moon in March, experts say. The rocket was deployed in 2015 to put into orbit a NASA satellite called the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR).   Since then, the second … Read more

‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Chapter 4 sets up a potential ‘Star Wars’ series crossover

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Warning: Spoilers ahead for “The Book of Boba Fett” Chapter 4 Like many recent contemporary science fiction shows, “The Book of Boba Fett” uses a number of different directors throughout a single season. This has perhaps been most noticeable in “Star Trek: Discovery” where the pace, tone and amount of time given to secondary plots … Read more

Meteorite hunters rejoice: Antarctica probably harbors 300,000 undiscovered space rocks

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An artificial intelligence program suggests there may be hundreds of thousands of meteorites left for scientists to discover on the icy fields of Antarctica and reveals what may be the most likely places to unearth them, a new study finds. Nearly two-thirds of all meteorites recovered on Earth originate in Antarctica. The cold, dry nature … Read more

FEMA to Start Tracking Race of Disaster-Aid Applicants

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has received White House approval to begin tracking the race and ethnicity of people who apply for disaster relief so the agency can analyze whether there is discrimination in the distribution of billions of dollars of federal aid. FEMA published a notice yesterday inviting the public to comment over the next two … Read more

Best telescopes: Top picks for viewing planets, galaxies, stars and more

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If you’re looking for the best telescopes of 2022, then you’ve come to the right place. Our handy guide of the best telescopes is perfect for seasoned astronomers, who want nothing but the best views of deep-sky targets like galaxies and nebulas, as well as beginners trying their hand at skywatching for the first time. … Read more