Lab-made DNA can store memory like a flash drive
Our DNA stores a remarkable amount of information. A single gram contains about 215 million gigabytes of data on everything from our eye color to the shape of our feet.…
Volcanoes that made history
The first telegram arrived in Singapore on a Monday, sent from the city of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia). “Terrific detonations from Krakatau (volcanic island),” it…
Putting mice into hibernation causes a major loss of synapses
Our leading hypothesis for how our memories are stored is that when you learn something, the connections among neurons involved get stronger and physically larger, and that constitutes the memory.…
Dismantling the Roadless Rule threatens to disrupt wildlife and water in US
Pause for a moment and listen. What do you hear? Chances are, somewhere in the background, is the ever-present hum of a road. More than 4.2 million miles of public…
Thunder + fiber-optic cabling used for seismic imaging
Most of what we know about the Earth’s interior comes from observing seismic waves. These travel at somewhat different speeds depending on the details of the rock they’re moving through—whether…
Neck fans might look goofy, but tests show they work surprisingly well
Wearable neck fans, the kind that drape around users’ collarbones and shoot short streams of cooling air upward, have existed for the better part of two decades, but have never…
Fisherman finds live WWII mine at bottom of Danube River in Slovakia
Europe’s brutal heatwaves have left the Danube River at historically low water levels. Over the last few weeks alone, residents in Serbia and Hungary discovered World War II artifacts like…
British man spends $7,000 building a street-legal sports car in his shed
Looking for a new car in 2026 can feel like a drag. Physical designs often coalesce into middle-of-the-road conformity, while increasingly complex components and additional tech make the more exciting,…
Waymo doubles spending on lobbying in robotaxi battle with Uber
Waymo has sharply increased its lobbying spending as it seeks to persuade US regulators to clear a path for fully autonomous taxi services, intensifying its battle with rival Uber over…
Scientists smash atoms together to create ‘little’ big bangs
It’s difficult to imagine anything of consequence occurring within a millionth of a second, but one of the most pivotal moments in cosmic history occurred in that miniscule time.. Physicists…