Menu Close

Science + Tech – Articles, Analysis, Opinion

Displaying 651 - 675 of 3559 articles

Bacteria (clusters of light pink, surrounded by larger magenta blood cells) can cause deadly infections, but overreactive immune responses can deliver the lethal blow. Scharvik/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Sepsis is one of the most expensive medical conditions in the world – new research clarifies how it can lead to cell death

An overactive immune response to infection can be deadly. Studying how one key player called tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, induces lethal immune responses could provide new treatment targets.
When two neutron stars merge and create a black hole, they produce a powerful blast of gamma rays. A. Simonnet (Sonoma State Univ.) and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Unusual, long-lasting gamma-ray burst challenges theories about these powerful cosmic explosions that make gold, uranium and other heavy metals

Gamma-ray bursts occur when a massive star explodes or when two neutron stars merge. A newly discovered burst has puzzled astronomers, as it lasted much longer than astronomers would have expected.
Cells secrete exosomes carrying molecules that play a critical role in both health and disease. Meletios Verras/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Chickenpox and shingles virus lying dormant in your neurons can reactivate and increase your risk of stroke – new research identified a potential culprit

People with an active case of shingles have up to an 80% higher risk of stroke than those without. The increased risk is highest for patients under 40.
Your zodiac sign – like Sagittarius, the archer – might be in the stars, but your future isn’t. scaliger/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Why is astronomy a science but astrology is not?

Astrology and astronomy were once practiced side by side by scientists like Galileo and Kepler. And they’re more similar than you might think.
Engineers have tried to corral a mud volcano in Indonesia that has covered more than 1,700 acres with mud. Eka Dharma/AFP via Getty Images

What are mud volcanoes?

When mud, fluids and gases erupt at the Earth’s surface, they hint at what’s happening underground, allowing scientists to build a more comprehensive 3D view of what’s going on inside our planet.
Killer T cells (green and red), or cytotoxic T cells, surround a cancer cell (blue, center). NICHD/J. Lippincott-Schwartz

Anti-cancer CAR-T therapy reengineers T cells to kill tumors – and researchers are expanding the limited types of cancer it can target

Immunotherapy has the potential to eliminate tumors, but works best for select patients. Engineering T cells to bypass cancer’s defenses could help expand treatment eligibility to more patients.
The James Webb Space Telescope is providing astronomers with images and data that reveal secrets from the earliest era of the universe. NASA/STScI

How the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a surprisingly bright, complex and element-filled early universe – podcast

It has been one year since the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope and six months since the first pictures were released. Astronomers are already learning unexpected things about the early universe.
The target chamber at the National Ignition Facility has been the site of a number of breakthroughs in fusion physics. U.S. Department of Energy/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Why fusion ignition is being hailed as a major breakthrough in fusion – a nuclear physicist explains

The promise of abundant, clean energy powered by nuclear fusion is one big step closer thanks to a new experiment. The results are a historic scientific milestone, but energy production remains a ways off.
Three taikonauts rode aboard the Shenzhou 15 mission on their way to China’s new Tiangong space station. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

China’s new space station opens for business in an increasingly competitive era of space activity

China has completed construction of the Tiangong space station, and science projects are now underway. The station is an important piece of China’s ambitious plans for space activity in coming years.
Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, was more than just another mathematician. Watercolor portrait of Ada King, Countess of Lovelace by Alfred Edward Chalon via Wikimedia

Ada Lovelace’s skills with language, music and needlepoint contributed to her pioneering work in computing

Lovelace was a prodigious math talent who learned from the giants of her time, but her linguistic and creative abilities were also important in her invention of computer programming.