Enlarge / An experimental satellite, not made of wood, that was used to test ideas for orbital junk removal. (credit: NASA) We here at Ars were somewhat surprised to stumble across a BBC headline indicating that a university-industry partnership in Japan was working on developing wooden satellites. The plan is less insane than it sounds—wood […]
Enlarge / Earlier this year, researchers analyzed the skulls of early Caribbean inhabitants, using 3D facial “landmarks” as a genetic proxy for determining how closely people groups were related to one another. A follow-up study this month added ancient DNA analysis into the mix, with conflicting results. (credit: Ann Ross/North Carolina State University) There’s rarely […]
Enlarge (credit: pitju / Adobe Stock) This month, Google forced out a prominent AI ethics researcher after she voiced frustration with the company for making her withdraw a research paper. The paper pointed out the risks of language-processing artificial intelligence, the type used in Google Search and other text analysis products. Among the risks is […]
Enlarge (credit: Flickr) Early in 2020, I wrote about my experiences of moving to online learning: learning to use new tools, changing the way I taught, and dealing with the challenges of remote assessment. Sitting, unmentioned in the background, was the fact that the faculty where I teach had already agreed to revamp our electrical […]
Enlarge / Oxford University is associated with the hospital that ran this study, as well as a vaccine that is currently undergoing clinical trials. (credit: Gallo Images) The two authorizations issued by the FDA for COVID-19 vaccines come because of clear data that they limit infections by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and ensure that any ensuing […]
Enlarge / Danish explorer Jørgen Brønlund’s petroleum burner was found in 1973. Brønlund and two compatriots died in 1907 during an expedition to Greenland. (credit: Jørn Ladegaard) Over 100 years ago, a Danish explorer named Jørgen Brønlund perished during an expedition to northeast Greenland, along with two members of his expedition. He left behind a […]
Enlarge / Pluto’s atmosphere is fairly hazy. (credit: NASA) Saturn’s moon Titan is distinctive, in part for its orange-ish and hazy atmosphere. It’s virtually impossible to see surface features because the haze is so opaque in the visible portion of the spectrum; what we know of it comes from things like radar imagery, instead. The […]
Enlarge (credit: Pompeii Archaeological Park/Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism/Luigi Spina/Handout via REUTERS) A recently-unearthed termopolium, or “hot drinks counter” served up ancient Roman street food—and plenty of wine—to the people of northeast Pompeii in the days before Mount Vesuvius destroyed the city in a cataclysmic 79 CE eruption. Painted bright yellow and […]
Enlarge / Some common types of drinking water pipes: Black plastic is HDPE; white is PVC; yellow is CPVC; red, maroon, orange, and blue are PEX; green is PP; and gray is polybutylene. The metal pipes are lead, iron and copper. (credit: Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND ) When wildfires swept through the hills near […]
Enlarge / These might look like your standard leather-bound texts, but they are actually bound in human skin—a practice known as “anthropodermic bibliopegy.” All five are housed in the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. (credit: Mütter Museum/College of Physicians of Philadelphia)) There’s rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So […]