While many headlines (like, uh, ours) will note that the X-2 is a stealth fighter, it’s much closer to America’s X-47B in function: a technology demonstrator, more than a factory-ready design. While America is more than eager to export its stealthy jack-of-all-trades F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the United States kept an exclusive monopoly on its air superiority fighter, the F-22. So for Japan to get a top-line aerial combatant, it has to make one itself....
The majority of the money will be allocated to three new neuroscience institutes at Johns Hopkins University, UCSF, and the Rockefeller University, which will become a part of seven Kavli neuroscience institutions within universities. Of the $100 million committed, about half will come from the Kavli Foundation itself and the remaining half will be provided by the seven university partners. During a press conference held by the Kavli Foundation in Washington, D....
A little organization will go a long way if you don’t want to miss out, and getting extra help from apps and online platforms will definitely make things easier—especially when you run into the dreaded question of what to watch, read, or listen to next. Keep track of your movies and shows A lot of the time, though, something will catch your eye when you’re not on Netflix or your preferred streaming service....
Also on sale is the BlissLights ARK Lite for $20.99 (usually $29.99)—if you want a simpler soothing aurora effect—and the BlissLights Sky Lite 2.0—$49.99, down from $59.99—if you want more groovy “galaxies.” Or, if the sky’s not the limit, so to speak, check out dozens of our other picks for last-minute gifts that can still get there by Christmas.
British musician Sivu released his first video today on YouTube, for his single “Better Man Than He.” The 3-minute music video is composed entirely of MRI images of his head (with a few after-affects, naturally), giving fans the mesmerizing ability to watch every movement of his throat and mouth as he sings. It kind of looks like what would happen if you overlaid a brain scan with a psychedelic Windows 98 screensaver....
In fact, the number of tick-borne disease cases is on the rise in the United States. The range where various species of ticks live in North America may be expanding due to climate change. Researchers continue to discover new pathogens that live in ticks. And new, invasive tick species keep turning up. In my career as a public health entomologist, I’ve been amazed at the ability of ticks to bounce back from all the ways people try to control them, including with pesticides....
This week, the IPCC released the third and final part of the latest version of the report, which focuses on the mitigation of climate change. It brings something new to the table: the importance of shifting society’s demand for products and services, and how that can lower emissions. This is the first time that the report has zeroed in on how people’s behavior can make a difference. “This assessment report shows that many people care about nature, the environment and other people and are motivated to engage in climate actions,” says Linda Steg, an IPCC author and professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands....
That’s about to change. In August, University of Tokyo researcher Takao Someya made elastic conductors that could someday give robots humanlike skin. Until now, no one had succeeded in combining the conductivity of metals with the flexibility of rubber—most elastic materials have near-zero conductivity. The new skin combines a salty liquid with malleable single-walled carbon nanotubes that can stretch to 134 percent their original size and improve conductivity by 570 percent....
The scientists, led by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan, identified 24 genes that are active in embryonic stem cells but not in adult cells. They deposited combinations of the 24 genes into the DNA of adult mouse skin cells. They found that just four of the original 24 genes will turn adult cells into stem cells. The scientists aren’t quite sure what the genes do. They think two of the genes code for proteins that encourage further protein synthesis....
Although the Curiosity rover is trucking along just fine so far, the space agency might take extra precautions on its next rover. Space News reports that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is designing a helicopter-like drone that could scope out the landscape ahead of the Mars 2020 rover, to guide it to potentially interesting locations and help it avoid potholes and sand traps. The drone could triple the distance the rovers traverse in a day....
A new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy finds that roughly four billion years ago, Mars could have been home to an underground world of microscopic organisms. However, if simple life like microbes existed, they “might actually commonly cause its own demise,” the study’s lead author, Boris Sauterey, now a post-doctoral researcher at Sorbonne University, told the Associated Press. He added that the results, “are a bit gloomy, but I think they are also very stimulating....
This “social” or “brood” parasitic behavior is quite widespread in birds, says Claire Spottiswoode, professor at the University of Cambridge. In a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Spottiswoode and a team of researchers found information on the inheritance of egg mimicry genes. “It’s actually evolved seven times independently in different groups of birds,” says Spottiswoode. “It’s a total of about 100 bird species, about 1 percent of all the world’s birds....
For years, climate scientists have seen carbon dioxide as our tortoise—the slow, steady enemy we need to wrestle back to prevent climate change. And it’s true, CO2 has a half life of somewhere between 19 to 49 years, meaning it stays in the Earth’s atmosphere anywhere from 300 to 1,000 years. That’s why over the past century or so, it’s been the key culprit in the greenhouse gas effect. Now comes the hare in this climate fable....
Here’s how the chip is configured. It has alternating layers for sensing and processing. Instead of having copper wires, the layers of the chip communicate internally through optical signals, more specifically, with light-emitting diodes (LEDs). These two features allow various elements on individual layers to be easily interchanged with other elements. “As we enter the era of the internet of things based on sensor networks, demand for multifunctioning edge-computing devices will expand dramatically,” Jeehwan Kim, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, said in a press release....
Scientists analyzed the DNA of spotted skunks collected from across North America, and found that several populations previously considered subspecies were in fact distinct enough to deserve a promotion. The findings have implications for efforts to conserve the rarer members of the group, the researchers reported on September 1 in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. “There are a lot of places where spotted skunks are not doing particularly well at all,” says Samantha Wisely, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville who was not involved in the research....
While Marlinspike has admirers throughout the encryption community, law enforcement figures like FBI director James Comey have issued dire warnings about the ability to communicate beyond the reach of eavesdropping. Last month, the FBI abruptly walked away from its high-profile case in which it tried to compel Apple to defeat its own iPhone security measures, but only after a third-party provided the means to hack into the work phone of the dead San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook....
Depending on if you prefer extra-large mugs or delicate tea cups, you’ll be able to fit up to six mugs on this simple mug tree. At 15 inches high, 7 inches wide, and 7 inches in diameter, you can feature it as a centerpiece on your sideboard or set it on your countertop next to the coffee pot. This sleek and modern design is available in a chrome or copper finish to complement your decor....
A team of scientists based in Germany examined the child mummy, combining cutting-edge scientific techniques with historical records to better understand what childhood was like during the Renaissance, a period of time between the 14th and 17th Centuries marked by a surge of scientific discoveries and artistic creativity. The conditions within the crypt preserved the soft tissues, allowing for a natural mummification process. This soft tissue contains critical information about the child’s life and untimely death....
Plants have had a short but lively history of being grown on the International Space Station. As astronauts move towards long-term independence from Earth, it’s even more imperative that they be able to meet their own nutritional needs in orbit. “The small-scale projects performed on the space station today focus on conducting primary research associated with crop growth and performance,” says NASA in an emailed statement. “They serve as a stepping stone to the development of fully functional operational crop production systems that will accompany astronauts in the future....
