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What’s The Deal With 5G And Plane Safety? Here’s What You Need to Know

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Several international airlines recently cancelled flights into certain US airports over concerns the rollout of 5G mobile communication technology could interfere with some planes’ equipment.   After warnings about the potential problem from aviation bosses and the Federal Aviation Administration, telecommunications companies AT&T and Verizon delayed activating some 5G masts around US airports. But how … Read more

U.S. prosecutors said an MIT scientist hid his China ties. Here’s why their case collapsed | Science

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For the past year, the U.S. government had argued that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineering professor Gang Chen broke the law by failing to disclose his ties to China when applying for a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE). But last week, prosecutors abruptly reversed course and dropped all charges against him, telling … Read more

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship will depart space station today with a ‘cytoskeleton’ on board. Here’s how to watch.

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Editor’s note:  The NASA TV broadcast above will begin coverage of SpaceX’s Dragon CRS-24 undocking at 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 GMT). You can watch live Saturday (Jan. 22) as a SpaceX Dragon resupply ship gets set to rocket thousands of pounds of science back to Earth. Coverage will start at 10:15 a.m. EST (1515 GMT) … Read more

U.S. science no longer leads the world. Here’s how top advisers say the nation should respond | Science

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A new data-rich report by the National Science Foundation (NSF) confirms China has overtaken the United States as the world’s leader in several key scientific metrics, including the overall number of papers published and patents awarded. U.S. scientists also have serious competition from foreign researchers in certain fields, it finds. That loss of hegemony raises … Read more

How does the sun shine? Here’s why we are still a little in the dark

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By Chanda Prescod-Weinstein JIRAROJ PRADITCHAROENKUL/Alamy Stock Photo ONE of the best things about being a columnist for New Scientist is the readers. I can tell you read my columns closely because I get fantastic emails asking smart questions about them. Last month, I wrote about how fusion works inside the local plasma gas ball, otherwise … Read more

We’re Facing a Myopia ‘Epidemic’, Scientists Say. Here’s Why

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Scientists are warning of an emerging ‘epidemic‘ of myopia or near-sightedness, having observed sharp increases in the adult onset of myopia among late baby boomers. Based on data collected from 107,442 participants in the extensive Biobank program in the UK, people born in the late 1960s are 10 percent more likely to be near-sighted than … Read more

Here’s how the James Webb Space Telescope is aligning its mirrors in deep space

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The James Webb Space Telescope continues to fine-tune its mirrors to ultimately peer into the deep and distant universe. The telescope launched Dec. 25 with the 18 hexagonal segments of its primary mirror and its secondary mirror folded up and stowed so that the components would survive the rigors of liftoff. Now, the telescope is … Read more

A huge asteroid flies will fly safely by Earth today. Here’s how to watch it live.

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You can watch live as a humongous asteroid flies safely past our planet today (Jan. 18). Italy’s Virtual Telescope Project, which is based in Rome, will host a livestream starting at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), when asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1) is almost at its closest approach to our planet: 1 million miles or 1.6 … Read more

It’s Time to Upgrade Your Mask, Experts Say. Here’s Why

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With the rapid spread of Omicron, many countries are rethinking their COVID mask advice for the community. Respirators have been mandatory in public places in Austria for a year. Now, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests respirators be considered for greater protection, for instance, on public transport or in enclosed crowded … Read more

You’ve Got a Rare Chance to See a Huge Asteroid Fly by Earth This Week. Here’s How

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In a slow-moving universe, asteroids give us a rare chance to see things moving in real time. We have such a chance coming right up on the evening of Tuesday, January 18th, when 1.1-kilometer asteroid (7482) 1994 PC1 passes 1.23 million miles (1.98 million kilometers) from Earth.   This is about five times the distance … Read more