European fusion reactor sets record for sustained energy | Science

In experiments culminating the 40-year run of the Joint European Torus (JET), the world’s largest fusion reactor, researchers announced today they have smashed the record for producing controlled fusion energy. On 21 December 2021, the U.K.-based JET heated a gas of hydrogen isotopes to 150 million degrees Celsius and held it steady for 5 seconds while … Read more

Human Spines Found Mounted on Sticks in Peru, And Archaeologists Think They Know Why

People in the Chincha valley of Peru threaded the spines of the dead onto wooden rods around 500 years ago, a mostly-unknown practice only recently documented by archaeologists.   It may have been an attempt to restore the bodies of the dead during the European colonization, according to a study by the researchers who unearthed … Read more

Fascinating objects illuminate the European Space Agency’s history

By Gege Li ESA/Remedia Agency ESA/Remedia THIS selection of objects appears random, but it reflects the history, achievements and ambitions of the European Space Agency’s key establishment, the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC). ESA ESTEC in 99 Objects is an online project that uses a diverse collection of items amassed from ESA missions … Read more

U.K. and Swiss researchers left in limbo with European grants | Science

For most of the 397 early-career scientists who learned this week that they had received €1.5 million grants, the first to be awarded under the European Union’s mammoth new funding program Horizon Europe, it was an ecstatic moment, a chance to launch a lab. But for 28 winners based in Switzerland and 46 in the … Read more

Powerful European Earth-observation satellite suffers anomaly in orbit

One of humanity’s most powerful Earth-observing satellites is having some problems in orbit. The Sentinel-1B radar satellite, part of the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation program, hasn’t beamed home any data since suffering an anomaly on Dec. 23. And the problem appears to be relatively serious. “Following the previous news on the Sentinel-1B anomaly that … Read more

Science of wine: European grapes have their genetic routes in western Asia

We used to think that European wine grapes were cultivated locally, independently of grape domestication in western Asia, but grape genetics suggests otherwise Humans 21 December 2021 By Carissa Wong Red grapes ready to be harvested in a vineyard alika/Shutterstock Grapes used to make common European wines may have originated from grapevines that were first … Read more

Football: European league matches are becoming more predictable

Computer predictions for the outcome of European football matches over a 26-year period become more accurate in recent years Humans 15 December 2021 By Chris Stokel-Walker A match between KRC Genk and Club Brugge in the Belgian First Division A Joris Verwijst/BSR Agency/Getty Images Football matches have become more predictable over time, according to an … Read more