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

Fusion Power Experiment in The UK Smashes Its Old Record in Major Step Forward

Late last century, the Joint European Torus (JET) near Oxford, UK, churned out 22 megajoules of energy in what was, at the time, a record in fusion power. Now, experimental upgrades have brought the facility into line with the technology anticipated for a major international project, resulting in the production of nearly three times that … Read more

Mars rover Perseverance sets distance record on the Red Planet

The Perseverance rover’s self-driving function is working just great on Mars, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission, not quite at one Earth year on Mars, has topped a new distance record for Red Planet rovers. On Friday (Feb. 4) Perseverance made the longest drive completed in a single Martian day, or sol, traveling … Read more

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins to set new record for Black women in space (report)

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins is preparing to make history as the first Black woman to embark on an extended mission in space. This April, Watkins will launch to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that will lift off as part of the company’s Crew-4 mission. Watkins, who is a part of … Read more

World-Record ‘Megaflash’ of Lightning Stretched Across The US For Almost 500 Miles

A jaw-dropping lightning megaflash that snaked across three states in the southern US just won a world record. A megaflash is not your standard cloud-to-ground lightning bolt. It’s an enormous electric zigzag that travels from one electrified cloud to the next, almost instantaneously.   A big enough thunderstorm system can allow a megaflash to cover hundreds of … Read more

This New Record in Laser Beam Stability Could Help Answer Physics’ Biggest Questions

Scientists are on a mission to create a global network of atomic clocks that will enable us to, among other things, better understand the fundamental laws of physics, investigate dark matter, and navigate across Earth and space more precisely.   However, to be at their most effective, these clocks will need to be reliably and … Read more

Physicists Just Smashed a Record by Keeping a Bubble Intact For Over a Year

When you think of the word “ephemeral”, many people will immediately conjure up the image of a soap bubble: delicate, gorgeous, and gone in a blink (or maybe a few). Now a team of physicists led by Aymeric Roux of the University of Lille in France has defied this cliché, creating a bubble that maintained … Read more

Climate change: Last 7 years were the warmest on record

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization found that 2021 was the seventh hottest year to date, at 1.11°C above pre-industrial levels Environment 19 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan In Palmdale, California, temperatures reached 41.1°C in July 2021 ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images The past seven years were the warmest on record as climate change continued apace, … Read more

Ash from Tonga eruption reaches record altitude but climate cooling unlikely

The volcanic eruption that destroyed a small island in Polynesia on Saturday (Jan. 15) injected a huge amount of ash into a record altitude but won’t cause any disruption to Earth’s climate, experts said. Satellites detected the ash cloud, which has already spread over Australia, at over 24 miles (39 kilometers) above Earth’s surface, Oxford … Read more