Project 2025, the sweeping right-wing blueprint for a new kind of U.S. presidency, would sabotage science-based policies that address climate change, the environment, abortion, health care access, technology and education. It would impose religious and conservative ideology on the federal civil service to such an extent that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has, dubiously, tried… Continue reading Project 2025’s Blueprint for a Second Trump Presidency Spells Out How to Harm U.S. Science
Category: Quantum Stuff
How SpaceX Will Turn a Workhorse Vehicle into a Hulking Destroyer of Space Stations
How SpaceX Will Turn a Workhorse Vehicle into a Hulking Destroyer of Space Stations SpaceX will supercharge its Dragon capsule to send the International Space Station to a watery retirement By Meghan Bartels In just a handful of years, a beefed-up version of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will launch on a unique mission to safely destroy… Continue reading How SpaceX Will Turn a Workhorse Vehicle into a Hulking Destroyer of Space Stations
It Might Be Possible to Detect Gravitons After All
Einstein proposed a solution in 1905: A wave of light is made of many discrete units called “quanta,” each with energy related to the wave’s frequency. The higher the frequency of the wave, the more energetic its quanta. And the brighter the wave, the more quanta there are. If you try to start an electric… Continue reading It Might Be Possible to Detect Gravitons After All
How Tornado Science Has Changed between Twister and Twisters
Between Twister and Twisters, Tornado Science Has Improved a Lot in Three Decades Three decades of tornado science research is now at play in the new summer flick Twisters By Max Springer Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as their characters Jo and Bill Harding in the 1996 movie Twister. Universal Pictures/Maximum Film/Alamy Stock Photo “Dorothy”… Continue reading How Tornado Science Has Changed between Twister and Twisters
How Heat Combined with Hurricane Beryl to Cause Misery in Houston
CLIMATEWIRE | HOUSTON — At first, Annette Villeda tried to wait out the heat. Hurricane Beryl had knocked out her power, along with 2 million other residents of southeast Texas. Which meant no lights, no electricity and, worst of all, no air conditioning. But when hours without cool air turned into days, Villeda decided to… Continue reading How Heat Combined with Hurricane Beryl to Cause Misery in Houston
Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked
The bunkbed conjecture says that the probability of finding the path on the bottom bunk is always greater than or equal to the probability of finding the path that jumps to the top bunk. It doesn’t matter what graph you start with, or how many vertical posts you draw between the bunks, or which starting… Continue reading Math’s ‘Bunkbed Conjecture’ Has Been Debunked
Artificial Intelligence Will Let Humanity Talk to Alien Civilizations
Artificial intelligence mania has overtaken our economy and will soon expand beyond Earth to become omnipresent in spacecraft as well. It’s worth asking, what does this mean for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence? Just like on Earth, AI promises a rethinking of long-cherished hopes for space exploration, such as finding that we are not alone… Continue reading Artificial Intelligence Will Let Humanity Talk to Alien Civilizations
Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph
If you’ve been making the same commute for a long time, you’ve probably settled on what seems like the best route. But “best” is a slippery concept. Perhaps one day there’s an accident or road closure, and your fastest route becomes the slowest. Scenarios like this are also a challenge for researchers who develop algorithms,… Continue reading Computer Scientists Establish the Best Way to Traverse a Graph
Emotional Ads Show How Climate Change Is ‘Robbing Our Kids of a Safe and Beautiful World’
Emotional Ads Show How Climate Change Is ‘Robbing Our Kids of a Safe and Beautiful World’ The nonpartisan group Science Moms says its campaign of ads that show the harms that climate change brings to children is nonpartisan and meant to educate the public about climate impacts By Adam Aton & E&E News A child… Continue reading Emotional Ads Show How Climate Change Is ‘Robbing Our Kids of a Safe and Beautiful World’
Meet the Eukaryote, the First Cell to Get Organized
Three billion years ago, life on Earth was simple. Single-celled organisms ruled, and there wasn’t much to them. They were what we now call prokaryotic cells, which include modern-day bacteria and archaea, essentially sacks of loose molecular parts. They swirled together in shallow, primordial brews or near deep-sea ocean vents, where they extracted energy from… Continue reading Meet the Eukaryote, the First Cell to Get Organized