Space agencies worldwide are advancing inflatable heat shields for future Mars missions. These unique heat shields can increase the amount of mass brought back from orbit, making them crucial for safe deceleration and landing on the thin-atmosphered planet. Currently, space agencies use rigid aeroshells to bring people and cargo back from space, but these have … Read more
People are getting impatient with the Federal Reserve. For over a year, interest rates have been at their highest level in decades, making it more expensive to borrow money, take out a mortgage, and pay off debt. Now, the Fed is considering lowering these rates for the first time since the pandemic. Fed Chair Jerome … Read more
People collect unusual things, like napkins or celebrity hair. Some people even collect buttons from clothing. But what about collecting buttons from websites? A new Google Chrome extension called Button Stealer lets you do just that. It’s created by designer Anatoly Zenkov and copies every button you visit on a website, storing them in a … Read more
Strongest solar storms in 20 years create new radiation belts around Earth. During these powerful events, a temporary third belt can form between the two permanent Van Allen Belts. In May, the strongest solar storms in 20 years produced Northern Lights as far south as Florida. NASA’s CIRBE CubeSat detected evidence of two new radiation … Read more
Scientists have discovered that there might be diamonds on Mercury, which is the smallest planet in our solar system. These diamonds would be about 15-18 kilometers deep and are thought to be formed when the core of Mercury cools down. This process could be happening on some other planets too, if they have a similar … Read more
The NASA TESS-Keck Survey provides details on the mass and density of 126 planets. Although thousands of planets have been discovered orbiting other stars, our understanding of them remains limited. A NASA catalog featuring 126 newly discovered exotic worlds provides detailed measurements, enabling comparisons with our own solar system. The catalog details a fascinating mix … Read more
Scientists produce tokamak plasma that’s stable at 10x Greenwald limit. Future reactor-scale tokamaks will likely need to operate near or above the Greenwald limit. Physicists from the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed a tokamak plasma that is stable at ten times the Greenwald limit. Their achievement has implications for tokamak fusion reactors, but scientists caution … Read more
A developer created a Windows XP mod without Internet Explorer’s core components. The mod runs basic apps like Calculator successfully, but not those reliant on IE components. It gives a classic Windows feel with an NT 4.0 Explorer replacement. Windows XP was highly rated when launched in 2001, but Microsoft faced criticism for deeply integrating … Read more
When it comes to DNA replication, humans and baker’s yeast are more alike than different, scientists discover. They found that a molecular complex called CTF18-RFC in humans and Ctf18-RFC in yeast loads a “clamp” onto DNA to keep the replication machinery from falling off the DNA strand. This mechanism is crucial for accurate DNA copying. … Read more