Enlarge (credit: Craig Hastings | Getty Images) President Joe Biden on Tuesday issued a proclamation revoking controversial travel restrictions targeting southern Africa where the ultra-transmissible omicron coronavirus variant was first detected in late November. The travel limitations on eight countries in southern Africa—Botswana, Eswatini/Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe—will be lifted at […]
Enlarge / SEM Micrograph of a tardigrade, more commonly known as a water bear or “moss piglet. ” (credit: Cultura RM Exclusive/Gregory S. Paulson/Getty Images) There’s rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we’re once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, […]
Enlarge / A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in May 2021 carrying the 29th batch of approximately 60 satellites as part of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband Internet network. (credit: SOPA Images / Getty Images ) Earlier within December, the Chinese government filed a document with […]
Enlarge / Travelers wait in line to check-in at LaGuardia Airport in New York, on December 24, 2021. -On Christmas Eve, airlines, struggling with the Omicron variant of Covid-19, have canceled over 2, 000 flights globally, 454 of which are domestic, into or out of the US. (credit: Getty | YUKI IWAMURA ) As the […]
Enlarge / These rodents seemingly manage to avoid developing cancer. (credit: Jason Hollinger / Wikimedia Commons ) Cancer is a sad fact of life, as nearly 40 percent of people are diagnosed with it at some point in their lives. But humans aren’t alone in this. Many different species can also develop the disease—some more […]
Enlarge / Capturing carbon, as this algae-growing plant does, may not be the most economical way to reach our climate targets. (credit: Santiago Urquijo / Getty Images ) What will it cost if the climate exceeds the Paris Agreement temperature goals this century—even if we later remove co2 dioxide from the air and manage to […]
Enlarge / Artist’s representation of the microstructure of Velcro. Scientists at the Italian Institute of Technology have created a soft, biodegradable and soluble Velcro inspired by the particular micro-hook structure of leaves on the “catchweed” plant ( Galium aparine ). (credit: Clouds Hill Imaging Ltd. /Getty Images) There’s rarely time to write about every cool […]
Enlarge (credit: Florin Petrescu | Getty Images) You’ve probably heard it before: drinking coffee is good for your health. Studies have shown that drinking a moderate amount of coffee is associated with many health benefits, including a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease . But while these associations have been demonstrated […]
Enlarge / The Falcon Heavy rocket is the most recent heavy-lift booster to debut, and that was more than three years ago. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann / Ars Technica ) A little more than three years ago, Ars published an article assessing the potential for four large rockets to make their debut in 2020. Spoiler alert: […]
Enlarge (credit: Peter Dazeley / Getty Images ) Smoking can really clog up the lungs, even for people who’ve never been near a cigarette. Turns out that smoking habits from the early 1900s are still inflicting damage—not on tobacco users or their families, but on people with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a hereditary […]