Enlarge / A miniature predatory robber fly (Holcocephala fascia) feeds on a captured rove beetle. A new study reveals that the fly approaches its prey from underneath, aiming for a future meeting point wth the target. (credit: Samuel Fabian) Robber flies are aerodynamic acrobats, able to spot their prey, dodge around obstacles, and capture smaller […]
Enlarge / The slightly hazy, light patch in the middle of the image is the DF2 galaxy, so diffuse that other galaxies are clearly visible behind it. (credit: NASA, ESA, and P. van Dokkum) The first evidence for dark matter were galaxies that behaved as if they had far more matter than could be accounted […]
Enlarge / A rendering of a spacewalk happening outside of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. (credit: SpaceX) One of the most visually appealing Super Bowl advertisements on Sunday night starred Matthew McConaughey dressed as an astronaut. The advertisement begins with suggestive images of McConaughey in space only to find him in a hot air balloon. “It’s not […]
Enlarge / A vial containing Moderna COVID-19 booster vaccine at a vaccination center. (credit: Getty | SOPA Images) COVID-19 booster doses are largely holding up against the ultratransmissible omicron variant, despite the fact that protection inevitably wanes over time, according to a recent study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, with […]
Enlarge (credit: Lee et al.) Most muscles in our bodies only act in response to incoming nerve signals, which have to trigger each individual muscle cell to contract or relax. But heart muscle is different. The impulses that trigger contraction in heart muscle are passed from one muscle cell to its neighbors, leading to a […]
Enlarge / Could this guy’s mental abilities be staving off some of the impact of climate change? (credit: Andrew Howe ) Many bird species are slowly but surely getting smaller. One study from 2019 looked at more than 70, 000 North American migratory birds across 52 species that met untimely ends by flying into Chicago […]
Enlarge / The white areas on the walls near Lake Mead provide an indication of how much its waters have dropped. (credit: Lingqi Xie ) About half of the contiguous US is currently experiencing moderate to extreme drought—including almost all of the West. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, as widely pervasive drought has been […]
Enlarge / Cue Health’s at-home molecular diagnostic test amplifies and detects viral RNA from the virus that causes COVID-19. Plenty of things have changed in the two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example , think about how many people now know the difference between the rapid antigen test and a new […]
Enlarge (credit: Iberdrola Renewables ) Not for the first time, global energy markets are in turmoil. Internationally traded gas prices more than quadrupled in 2021 . In their wake, many energy suppliers have gone bust and household bills across Europe are set to soar. Energy prices are usually driving up the cost of living and […]
Enlarge / The Moon is safe from Falcon 9 rockets. (credit: NASA) About three weeks ago Ars Technica first reported that astronomers were tracking the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, and were increasingly confident that it would strike the Moon on March 4. This story set off a firestorm of media activity. Much […]