Smart News Ideas & Innovations

An illustration of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, currently docked to the International Space Station as engineers troubleshoot helium leaks and thruster issues.

Starliner Astronauts Will Remain on Space Station Until July Amid Technical Issues

NASA and Boeing have delayed the crewed mission's return to Earth again, as engineers assess helium leaks and a thruster issue on the spacecraft's service module

Akira Endo discovered the first statin, a class of molecule that decreases the production of cholesterol. He died June 5 at the age of 90.

Akira Endo, Biochemist Who Found a Way to Fight Heart Disease, Dies at 90

Endo's research paved the way for the development of drugs to treat high cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attacks or strokes

Geoscientist Sian Proctor (left) and physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux (right) on the Inspiration4 mission, a three-day tourist trip to Earth orbit in 2021.

Scientists Release Largest Trove of Data on How Space Travel Affects the Human Body

A collection of 44 new studies, largely based on a short-duration tourist trip in 2021, provides insight into the health effects of traveling to space

SpaceX's Starship launches on its fourth test flight on Thursday morning.

SpaceX's Starship Lands Successfully for the First Time in a Test Flight

Three previous uncrewed test flights ended with Starship being destroyed, but both the booster and the spacecraft splashed down on the fourth try

From 1979 to 2020, severe turbulence in some locations increased by as much as 55 percent, according to a 2023 study.

Climate Change Is Making Airplane Turbulence More Common and Severe, Scientists Say

Following turbulence on a flight last week that led to one death and dozens of injuries, researchers, flight attendants and transportation officials alike are warning about links between warmer air and turbulence

TOKUFASTbot solved the Rubik's Cube in just 0.305 seconds.

Robot Sets New Rubik's Cube Speed Record, Completing the Puzzle in 0.305 Seconds

A team of Mitsubishi engineers harnessed high-speed motors and an A.I. algorithm to eclipse the previous record, set six years ago

Electrodes, placed above and below the injury, provide electric stimulation during rehabilitation, in this artist's rendering of the new Arc-Ex device.

New Device Delivers Electric Pulses to Help Patients Regain Movement After Spinal Cord Injuries

Alongside physical therapy, the electric stimulation helped patients with tetraplegia improve mobility in their arms and hands in a small trial

Found at a property in London last year, this 1972 Q1 desktop microcomputer is now going up for auction.

Cool Finds

Cleaning Crew Discovers One of the World's Oldest Surviving Desktop Computers

The 1972 Q1 microcomputer could fetch $60,000 at auction

Larinioides sclopetarius, commonly known as bridge spiders, are orb-weavers that listen to the environment through their webs.

How Spider Silk Could Inspire Microphones of the Future and Revolutionize Sound Design

Spiderwebs can pick up vibrations in air flow caused by sound waves, and researchers say microphones designed this way could become more sensitive and compact

A protein-DNA interaction, modeled by AlphaFold 3.

Google Releases A.I. That Can Predict How the Human Body's Molecules Behave, Boosting Drug Discovery Research

Called AlphaFold 3, the latest update of the software models the interactions of proteins with DNA, RNA and other molecules for the first time

An image from the eBay listing for Forest With a Stream, which is attributed to Claude Monet

Art Meets Science

A.I. Detects 40 Allegedly Counterfeit Paintings for Sale on eBay

Art Recognition's algorithm is trained to identify specific artists' patterns of style and composition

A map of excitatory neurons from the new research. The team cataloged around 57,000 cells and 150 million connections between neurons.

Scientists Imaged and Mapped a Tiny Piece of Human Brain. Here's What They Found

With the help of an artificial intelligence algorithm, the researchers produced 1.4 million gigabytes of data from a cubic millimeter of brain tissue

The portals were unveiled on May 8 in Manhattan's Flatiron District and on Dublin's O'Connell Street.

Through Newly Installed 'Portals,' New Yorkers and Dubliners Can Wave, Dance and Inappropriately Gesture to Each Other in Real Time

New art installations connect the two cities through continuous silent video feeds

Toxins from the Colorado River toad have been ingested by some for their psychedelic and medicinal effects.

A Modified Psychedelic Toad Toxin Reduces Signs of Depression and Anxiety in Mice, Study Suggests

Colorado River toads produce a psychoactive toxin that some have claimed has medical benefits. The new research suggests these benefits could be achieved without hallucinations

An angled view of the solar system with main asteroid belt discoveries in green and near-Earth objects in light blue.

Scientists Discover 27,500 Asteroids in Old Telescope Images Using A.I.

While most of the team’s new finds are located in the main asteroid belt, about 100 are near-Earth asteroids that pass close to our planet's orbit

The driverless race cars were controlled with cameras, advanced processing units and sensors.

World's First Race of A.I.-Driven Cars Was Filled With Spins, Swerves and Stops

Though the cars could not compare to human drivers, the event may help improve self-driving technology, experts say

To create mouse-rat "chimeras," researchers injected rat stem cells into mouse embryos that lacked some genes for brain development.

Researchers Breed Mice With Hybrid Brains Containing Cells From Rats

In one experiment, rat neurons helped mice restore their senses of smell—the first time any animal has perceived the world through the sensory hardware of another species

Astronauts could run around the interior walls of cylindrical homes on the moon.

Could Running Around a 'Wall of Death' Help Astronauts Stay in Shape on the Moon?

Short sprints on these cylindrical structures, long used by daredevil motorcycle riders, might promote muscle mass and bone density in low-gravity conditions

Researchers are recruiting some 1,100 people globally to participate in the trial's third phase.

Personalized Melanoma Vaccine Could Be a 'Game Changer' by Teaching the Body to Fight Cancer Cells

The mRNA therapy, designed to prevent treated skin cancer from returning, is entering its third phase of trials

Doctors perform a pig kidney transplant on April 12. So far, the patient is recovering well, but doctors will need to continue to monitor her in the hospital and make sure her immune system doesn't reject the transplanted organ.

Second Patient Receives Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Transplant in Breakthrough Surgery

The woman, 54-year-old Lisa Pisano, also received a mechanical heart pump implant days earlier, making her the first person to undergo both procedures

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