New Gaia data paint the most detailed picture yet of the Milky Way
1.6 billion stars. 11.4 million galaxies. 158,000 asteroids. One spacecraft. The European Space Agency’s Gaia space observatory, which launched in 2013, has long surpassed...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Nasal vaccines for COVID-19 offer hope and face hurdles
A few weeks ago, I was obsessed with my nose and throat. I was on a trip to Seattle to speak at a small,...
Scientists created ‘smoke rings’ of light
Smoke rings are being seen in a new light. Doughnut-shaped structures called vortex rings are sometimes seen swirling through fluids. Smokers can form them...
Samples of the asteroid Ryugu are scientists’ purest pieces of the solar system
Samples of the asteroid Ryugu are the most pristine pieces of the solar system that scientists have in their possession. A new analysis of...
Quantum physics exponentially improves some types of machine learning
Machine learning can get a boost from quantum physics. On certain types of machine learning tasks, quantum computers have an exponential advantage over standard...
Ancient penguin bones reveal unprecedented shrinkage in key Antarctic glaciers
Antarctica’s Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers are losing ice more quickly than they have at any time in the last few thousand years, ancient...
Scientists grew living human skin around a robotic finger
The Terminator may be one step closer to reality. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have built a robotic finger that, much like Arnold...
How having health care workers handle nonviolent police calls may impact crime
For the last two years, a person acting erratically in downtown Denver has likely first encountered unarmed health care workers rather than police. That...
A pigment’s shift in chemistry robbed a painted yellow rose of its brilliance
The fading of a once-vibrant yellow rose reveals how the ravages of time and chemical alteration can dampen the visual power of a painting....
Mosquitoes prefer dozing over dining when they are sleep-deprived
Turns out there is rest for the wicked: Sleepy mosquitoes are more likely to catch up on missed z’s than drink blood, a new...
A new treatment could restore some mobility in people paralyzed by strokes 
What has Perseverance found in two years on Mars? 
This robot automatically tucks its limbs to squeeze through spaces 
Greta Thunberg’s new book urges the world to take climate action now