Here’s the Science Behind Why You’re Always Tired, Even if You Get Enough Sleep

When you’re feeling exhausted, the first advice is always to get more sleep. It makes sense that you’re nodding off in the afternoons if long work hours or a screaming toddler are interfering with your rest. But some of us spend our days tired and lethargic even after getting the...
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Introducing Steve – a Newly Discovered Astronomical Phenomenon

If there is one thing social media teaches us today, it’s not to leave naming rights up to the hive mind. Move over Boaty McBoatface – a group of aurora enthusiasts have given a newly discovered atmospheric phenomenon the name ‘Steve’, because … well what else are we going to...
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This plastic-eating caterpillar can help us get rid of our trash

Plastic bags need hundreds of years to biodegrade, but wax worms break them down in no time. Used primarily for disposable packaging like shopping bags and soda bottles, polyethylene is one of the most common plastics. It’s also notoriously slow to break down after it’s made its way into a...
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Cassini Completes Final — and Fateful — Titan Flyby

This unprocessed image of Saturn’s moon Titan was captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during its final close flyby of the hazy, planet-sized moon on April 21, 2017. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute This unprocessed image of Saturn’s moon Titan was captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during its final close flyby...
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‘Dragonfly’ Drone Could Explore Saturn Moon Titan

A relocatable lander could explore the hazy skies of Saturn’s intriguing moon Titan, according a new mission proposal. As the eight-bladed whirlybird travels across the moon, it could investigate some of the most promising potentially habitable sites on the Saturn satellite, where methane and ethane fall from the sky and flow...
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This Photo of Earth Peeking Through Saturn’s Rings Is Giving Us All the Feels

"That’s here. That’s home.” On Valentine’s Day, 1990, a member of the Voyager imaging team named Carl Sagan pointed the probe backwards as it was heading out of the Solar System and took a series of snapshots showing our world as a "pale blue dot". More than a quarter of...
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As Cassini Makes 1st ‘Grand Finale’ Dive, More Saturn Mysteries Remain

Running low on fuel, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has begun the final — and most daring — phase of its epic mission to Saturn. After using a final flyby of the moon Titan on Friday to boost its speed, Cassini was flung by the moon’s gravity to a trajectory that sent it...
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How To Not Break A Mars Rover

The Mars Yard, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is one of the closest simulations of Mars that we’ve got. Admittedly, there’s a bit more atmosphere and gravity, but it’s the only way to test what might happen before sending commands to a rover that’s light-minutes away. More about the Mars...
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First look at images from Cassini’s dive between Saturn’s rings

We’re getting up close and personal with Saturn. These are the first images of the planet taken as the Cassini spacecraft made the first of its 22 planned dives between its rings. The first dive, which began on 26 April, takes Cassini closer than any spacecraft has been before. These Grand Finale...
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6 Scientific Benefits of Playing Videogames

The jury is in – video games are not the mind-melting devil creations that your parents made them out to be. Not only can gaming be a whole lot of fun, but recent research has revealed there’s also a range of scientific benefits to playing videogames – everything from increasing...
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Martian Soil Can Be Compressed Into Bricks Stronger Than Concrete

We can make bricks out of the red dirt on Mars, and they’ll be stronger than steel-reinforced concrete. Scientists from the University of California have made a brick-like rock from the closest thing to Martian soil – a simulant they created and named Mars-1a. Compressing the soil at high pressures forced...
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Joint mission to Europa could seek life under the ice

It will take more than six years to get there. But if long-anticipated signs of life are found on Europa, a newly-proposed joint American-European trek to the enigmatic moon of Jupiter will have been worth it. Called the Joint Europa Mission, the proposal was unveiled on 24 April by Michel Blanc...
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Infrared telescope spots mystery flare-ups in distant galaxies

Some things that go bump in the night can only be seen with heat vision. SPRITEs, a new class of astronomical explosion, may be showing us never-before-seen phases in the lives and deaths of stars. SPRITEs, short for “eSPecially Red Intermediate-luminosity Transient Events”, are undetectable in visible light. They were...
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Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with NROL-76

SpaceX have successfully launched a Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A today at 11:15 UTC, 07:15 Local time, May 1st 2017. The rocket placed the first payload SpaceX have launched for the National Reconnaissance Office simply known as NROL-76 into orbit. Nothing more is...
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That Crazy Plan to Refreeze the Arctic Is Actually Getting a Trial Run in Switzerland

Back in February, physicists announced an outlandish plan to ’re-freeze’ the Arctic, by installing 10 million wind-powered pumps over the ice cap to replenish the dwindling sea ice. The idea was so wild, no one actually thought it would happen, but researchers in Switzerland have just launched a trial that...
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Here’s how an asteroid impact would kill you

It won’t be a tsunami. Nor an earthquake. Not even the crushing impact of the space rock. No, if an asteroid kills you, gusting winds and shock waves from falling and exploding space rocks will most likely be to blame. That’s one of the conclusions of a recent computer simulation...
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Gravitational waves could show hints of extra dimensions

Signatures of extra dimensions that don’t normally affect the four dimensions we can observe could show up in the way they warp ripples in space-time Hidden dimensions could cause ripples through reality by modifying gravitational waves – and spotting such signatures of extra dimensions could help solve some of the...
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Electrode can tell you if a baby is really experiencing pain

When a baby’s crying, it can be difficult to know what’s wrong. Detecting brain signals could provide a more reliable way to tell if babies are in pain. “Babies can’t talk, so we need other ways to tell if they’re in pain,” says Rebeccah Slater, at the University of Oxford....
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