From hundreds of kilometres above Earth, a national celebration looked very different. While crowds gathered across the United States for the country’s 250th anniversary, astronauts aboard the International Space Station watched the evening lights spread across the planet below. On July 4, as fireworks filled the skies over Los Angeles, the display became part of…
The Cambridge team behind the living algae-powered bio-battery: Lucia Giron, Dr Paolo Bombelli and Professor Chris Howe. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a living bio-battery that generates electricity continuously using photosynthetic algae, offering a potential alternative to millions of disposable batteries used in everyday electronics. Unlike conventional batteries that gradually run out…
For decades, scientists believed the world’s tallest trees faced a fundamental disadvantage during drought. The higher a tree grows, the harder gravity makes it for water to travel from the roots to the leaves, leading researchers to assume that towering rainforest giants would be especially vulnerable as the climate becomes hotter and drier. A new…
Some of the world’s most advanced robots are preparing for an extraordinary expedition to one of the planet’s most dangerous environments. Beginning this July, a fleet of autonomous drones, robotic boats, underwater vehicles and intelligent sensors will travel to Greenland to investigate how its glaciers are melting where they meet the ocean. The mission, known…
Australia’s renewable energy boom has reached a remarkable milestone. The country now generates so much electricity from rooftop solar panels that, during the middle of the day, wholesale power prices frequently fall to zero or even below zero. Instead of allowing surplus electricity to go to waste, eligible households in parts of Australia can now…
For most people, asteroids are distant objects that remain hidden behind telescope lenses and scientific instruments. That will briefly change in April 2029, when one of the best-known near-Earth asteroids is expected to become visible without specialist equipment across large parts of the world. The object, called Apophis, has attracted scientific attention for more than…
Quote of the day by John Locke (AI-generated image) You cannot know something you have never actually encountered in some form. That is the whole idea behind John Locke’s line, “No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.” He wrote it in 1689, in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, while arguing against the idea…
Picture credit: True Anomaly For decades, space battles have belonged to the world of Star Wars and science fiction. But as more satellites fill Earth’s orbit, military powers are now preparing for a future where satellites may have to track, approach and respond to rival spacecraft in orbit.That idea moved a step closer to reality…
Electricity generation from hydroelectric projects declined nearly 21%. (AI image) El Nino and the resultant weak monsoon has had an impact on India’s hydropower output, which has dropped by more than 20% in June. The dry weather, which is associated with El Nino, has meant that the water levels in reservoirs have gone down. This…
Archaeologists have deciphered a 1,700-year-old inscription at an ancient Roman temple in Turkey that offers rare written evidence of the shift from Mithraism to Christianity during the Roman period.The inscription was found at an underground Temple of Mithras inside Zerzevan Castle, a Roman fortification about 40 miles from the Syrian border. It was written in…