NASA’s Perseverance Rover Chokes on Mars Pebbles While Collecting a Rock Sample

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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has some rocks stuck in its throat. Perseverance drilled and collected its sixth Red Planet rock sample late last month, but the car-sized rover hasn’t been able to seal up the titanium tube containing the material yet. “I recently captured my sixth rock core and have encountered a new challenge. Seems some … Read more

Osteoarthritis: Electric knee implants could help repair worn cartilage

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A device that delivers electric current to the knees could help combat osteoarthritis, a painful condition caused by worn cartilage, after successful tests in rabbits Health 12 January 2022 By Clare Wilson Coloured X-ray of the knees of an 87-year old man with severe osteoarthritis SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Knee implants that generate a tiny electrical … Read more

NASA may need more astronauts for space station, moon missions, report says

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NASA may need more astronauts to meet its human spaceflight goals over the coming years, according to a new report from the agency’s investigative office. Currently, NASA only flies astronauts to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules and Russia’s Soyuz vehicles. But the agency’s ambitious Artemis program to return humans to the … Read more

Giant galactic bubble is driving star formation, new study finds

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This visualization shows the Local Bubble with star formation happening on its surface. (Image credit: Leah Hustak (STScI)) Earth is surrounded by a vast bubble about 1,000 light-years wide whose borders drive the formation of all nearby young stars, a new study finds. For decades, astronomers have known the solar system lies within the so-called … Read more

Supercomputers: UK’s ARCHER2 starts working on real science

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ARCHER2, a £79 million machine funded by the UK government, is still in a testing period, but already working on real science such as modelling volcanic plumes Technology 12 January 2022 By Matthew Sparkes Supercomputers can perform billions or trillions of calculations per second Timofeev Vladimir/Shutterstock A government-funded machine has become the UK’s mightiest supercomputer, … Read more

AI makes simulations of huge amounts of molecules possible

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Computer simulations of clouds of atoms and molecules must always trade scale for accuracy, but a new technique shows that both are possible at once using AI and clever coding Technology 12 January 2022 By Matthew Sparkes The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee ORNL and Carlos Jones Artificial intelligence has been used … Read more

How bacteria-killing viruses are being used to keep food safe

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By Michael Le Page   Universal Images Group via Getty LISTERIOSIS kills hundreds of people every year in Europe alone. The bacterium that causes it, Listeria monocytogenes, can contaminate all kinds of foods and keeps growing even in fridges. But if you live in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or Israel, you probably have … Read more

New NASA chief scientist pledges a plan to renew agency’s Earth satellite fleet

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NASA’s newly appointed science and Earth science lead says there is “more to plan” when it comes to figuring out next priorities for the agency’s aging satellite fleet. Katherine Calvin is the first NASA chief scientist to also act as the agency’s senior climate advisor, a role created in February 2021. Calvin is serving in … Read more

The Large Hadron Collider blips that could herald a new era of physics

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Hints of a new particle carrying a fifth force of nature have been multiplying at the LHC – and many physicists are convinced this could finally be the big one Physics 12 January 2022 By Harry Cliff Marcus Marritt At half past six on the evening of 20 January 2021, amid the gloom of a … Read more