What happens when you try to chop a photon in half?
A photon is a single particle of light, and under normal circumstances, it can’t be divided. But a photon is also not a particle, in the sense that it does…
Tech
Jimothy the raccoon has a rare spinal condition. Here’s what that means.
You’d have to be living under a dumpster not to have heard of Jimothy, Seattle’s favorite raccoon and the internet’s newest folk hero. He’s inspired nicknames like ‘King Jimothy,’ as…
Let Tom Hiddleston be your guide to Pompeii’s final day
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, it spewed molten rock, pumice, and hot ash over the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, killing thousands of people. It’s one of the…
Naked mole-rat queens use a chemical signal to suppress fertility in rivals
Naked mole rats are weird. They spend their lives almost entirely underground, are largely insensitive to some kinds of pain, can persist without oxygen for a long time, rarely develop…
Coilable Stacked Solar Sails for Very High delta-V Missions
2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Graphic depiction of the Coilable Stacked Solar Sails for Very High delta-V Missions concept. Artur Davoyan Artur Davoyan University…
TreeSize won’t renew perpetual-license support unless users subscribe
The company behind the disk space analyzer TreeSize has irked some users by no longer offering support or updates for perpetual licenses beyond their maintenance period unless customers subscribe. Further…
Mars’ desolate desert landscape captured by asteroid-bound NASA spacecraft
NASA’s asteroid-hunting Psyche spacecraft recently needed a little gravitational assist from Mars to keep speeding towards its intended target, but it didn’t leave the Red Planet empty-handed. While testing its…
The Space Force is now seeking to buy up to $30 billion in rocket launches
It seems as though $5.6 billion wasn’t enough. That was the news from the US Space Force on Friday, when military officials announced they were tripling the maximum value of…
India’s first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on dramatic debut launch
Indian space officials celebrated the debut flight of Skyroot Aerospace’s Vikram-1 rocket, India’s first fully commercial satellite launcher, as a “grand success” Saturday after an on-target climb into a 280-mile-high…
Do AI writing detectors actually work? We put 5 to the test.
Whether you’re marking essays or reviewing job applications or merely browsing the web and scrolling through social media, it’s a sign of our times that you might find yourself wondering—did…