X-rays and computers study palm-leaf scriptures.
The DESY research centre reports on a project using two advanced technologies — machine learning and synchrotron X-rays — to study the physical structure of […]
Science
Science Art: Psyche Spacecraft at the Asteroid Psyche, 2026
From the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio: This illustration depicts NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. Launched in October 2023, the Psyche mission will explore a metal-rich asteroid of […]
Science Art: Body-centered cubic (bcc) unit cell of iron, 2009
If you were curious about the crystalline structure of iron mentioned in the last post, here it is — a molecular diagram of the cubic […]
Iron forms cubes at the heart of the Earth
And that, says Science, changes everything about Earth — how long ago it formed, and how earthquakes happen today: For decades, experiments and computer simulations […]
The first green star
RNZ reports on the discovery of an astronomical first, as astronomers used to identifying red giants, black holes, white dwarfs, and stars of a few […]
Science Art: MOON: For the Benefit of Humanity, 2023
It’s a poster made by NASA for lunar exploration, showing some landers, space stations, and sample-taking equipment, as well as what I make out as […]
Perseverance beats Opportunity on Mars
IFL Science reports on a new record set by a Mars rover. Perseverance has, in just 5 years, beaten Opportunity’s 15-year record for the furthest […]
Science Art: Bubble chamber with colour enhanced tracks, 2026
This is a CERN image from January 6, 2026, showing something that happened in the 1960s, but enhanced for 21st-century eyes. As it says on […]
The couples that rock together, stay together….
BBC Science Focus finds that one factor has an edge in determining whether romantic partners really are compatible … and that’s similar taste in music: […]
The only workout to lose fat and keep muscle: high-intensity.
So much for my tai chi. After a six-montd, y stuyScience Daily says, especially with older adults, only one kind of exercise reliably loses fat […]
RIP Margaret Hamilton, moon-shot programmer
MIT News was one of several science outlets to mark the passing of the woman who made the Apollo program happen, by programming the computers […]
Science Art: Dissection of Asterias rubens, by Hans Hillewaert.
Starfish anatomy. If you want to know the parts, according to Dutch Wikipedia, they are: Legend 1 Arm 2 Ampullae 3 Radial canal 4 Gonads […]
Loud, loud birds
404 Media reports on two new contenders for the world’s loudest bird — the bare-throated bellbird and the red-legged seriema — both of whom can […]
Science Art: Jupiter’s Family of Comets, 1898
This is a diagram from A New Astronomy For Beginners, a textbook that’s about a century and a quarter old, or a little more. It’s […]
Science Art: Beebe’s Bathysphäre, 1934
This is an image of William Beebe’s bathysphere, as placed on Wikimedia Commons by ETH Bibliothek. It was created by Swiss explorer/geologist/teacher/photographer Leo Wehrli… maybe. […]