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A Small Cut in World Military Spending Could Help Fund Climate, Health and Poverty Solutions

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Carlo Rovelli and Matteo Smerlak The world’s military expenditure has nearly doubled since 2000. It now amounts to about $2 trillion per year, more than half of which is from NATO countries. Now, with the war raging in Ukraine, countries are rushing to increase their budgets even more; Germany, for instance, recently announced a roughly … Read more

Brain scanning studies are usually too small to find reliable results

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Most studies that have used MRI machines to find links between the brain’s structure or function and complex mental traits had an average of 23 participants, but thousands are needed to find reliable results Mind | Analysis 16 March 2022 By Clare Wilson A functional magnetic resonance imaging scan of a brain taken during tasks … Read more

We Only Spotted This Asteroid Hours Before It Fell to Earth. Here’s Why That’s Good

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On 11 March 2022, at around 9:20 pm UTC, a small asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere. This is not unusual. Space rocks enter Earth’s atmosphere all the time. What makes this asteroid so amazing is that an astronomer spotted it before it made its rendezvous with atmospheric entry. It’s named 2022 EB5, and it’s only the … Read more

AI Helps Small City Pull Toxic Lead Water Service Lines from the Ground Faster

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Benton Harbor, Mich.—This is a city in crisis. “You can’t drink the water. You can’t brush your teeth with the water. You can’t cook with the water…. You can’t make baby formula with the water,” says Reverend Edward Pinkney, president of the Benton Harbor Community Water Council. The community’s water is not safe to drink … Read more

Why are efforts to boost the small number of Black U.S. physicists failing? | Science

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This story is part of a special package about the barriers Black physicists face and potential models for change. Read more C. Smith/Science In the 1990s, physics departments at U.S. universities faced an existential crisis. The number of undergraduate physics majors had plummeted by 25% over 10 years, prompting fears that many departments might disappear … Read more

Scientists Unveil Extremely Small Battery For The Smallest Computers in The World

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There was a time, not so long ago, when computers were so large, they occupied entire rooms. Today, some processing units can come as small as a few specks of dust. Even next to a grain of rice, these stacks of micrometer-sized chips look infinitesimal.    Shrinking computer batteries to fit that size, however, has proved … Read more

Microdosing LSD May Not Have The Amazing Brain Effects We Think, New Study Hints

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Small doses of the psychotropic LSD has shown promise in recent years for its potential in rewiring the brain to be faster, happier, and more resilient. A recent study led by researchers from the University of Chicago in the US suggests we’ve got good reason to remain cautious in how we interpret the growing pile … Read more

Massive ‘Killer’ Croc Discovered With The Remains of a Dinosaur in Its Stomach

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About 95 million years ago in what is now Australia, a massive crocodile relative clamped down with its powerful jaws on the small body of a dinosaur and gulped nearly all of it down in one mighty swallow.   The crocodilian died soon after, and as it fossilized, so did the partly-digested and near-complete dinosaur … Read more

Drones: Giving small flying craft barn owl-like tails may make them more efficient flyers

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The barn owl’s tail has a surprisingly important role to play in making the bird more aerodynamic Physics 9 February 2022 By Christa Lesté-Lasserre A barn owl in flight Javier Fernandez Sanchez/Getty Images The barn owl’s tail plays an unexpected role in flight by making the bird more aerodynamic, which may have implications for drone … Read more