https://www.sott.net/category/14-Science-Technology Signs of the Times: The World for People who Think. Featuring independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events. en-us Original content Copyright 2026 by Signs of the Times/Sott.net. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net. Wed, 08 Apr 2026 22:03:21 +0000 https://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net https://www.sott.net https://www.sott.net/article/505630-US-lab-unlocks-secrets-of-superconductors-that-ensure-no-energy-is-lost-during-electricity-flow Superconductors allow electricity to flow without resistance, meaning no energy is lost as heat. Researchers in the United States have unlocked secrets of high-temperature superconductors. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered how tiny changes in superhydride structure enable superconductivity at near room temperatures but extreme pressure — offering clues for designing more practical superconductors. "These experiments show what the upgraded APS can do. We can now study atomic-level structures with unprecedented detail in materials under extreme pressure," said Maddury Somayazulu, Argonne physicist. https://www.sott.net/article/505630-US-lab-unlocks-secrets-of-superconductors-that-ensure-no-energy-is-lost-during-electricity-flow Wed, 08 Apr 2026 21:59:05 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505600-Artemis-II-performs-closest-moon-flyby-amid-communication-loss The four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission have ventured farther from Earth than any humans before them. The Orion spacecraft, carrying three NASA astronauts and a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, performed its long-awaited lunar flyby, coming within roughly 4,070 miles (6,550 km) of the lunar surface and entering the Moon's gravitational sphere of influence. In a planned and highly anticipated phase of the journey, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with the crew at around 6:43pm ET for approximately 40 minutes. The communication blackout occurred as the Moon's body blocked radio and laser signals between the Earth-based Deep Space Network and the Orion spacecraft. While out of contact, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, focused on their scientific objectives, photographing and observing the lunar far side - including the 600-mile-wide Orientale basin. https://www.sott.net/article/505600-Artemis-II-performs-closest-moon-flyby-amid-communication-loss Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:25:21 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505593-Right-as-Artemis-II-astronauts-passed-behind-Moon-multiple-meteoroids-hit-it Artemis II were giddy (their words!) on the evening of April 6th when they witnessed explosions on the lunar surface. Meteoroids were hitting the Moon. "We saw at least five," reported mission commander Reid Wiseman. The meteors appeared in middle of a solar eclipse. About an hour after the crew made their closest approach to the farside of the Moon, the sun disappeared behind the lunar disk, giving the astronauts a chance to view the first solar eclipse ever seen by humans from behind the Moon. https://www.sott.net/article/505593-Right-as-Artemis-II-astronauts-passed-behind-Moon-multiple-meteoroids-hit-it Tue, 07 Apr 2026 07:46:52 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505590-The-most-pristine-star-yet-found-in-the-known-universe An unusual team of astronomers used Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V (SDSS-V) data and observations on the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to discover the most pristine star in the known universe, called SDSS J0715-7334. Their work is published in Nature Astronomy. Hunting for the universe's earliest stars Led by the University of Chicago's Alexander Ji — a former Carnegie Observatories postdoctoral fellow — and including Carnegie astrophysicist Juna Kollmeier — who leads SDSS, now in its fifth generation — the research team identified a star from just the second generation of celestial objects in the cosmos, which formed just a few billion years after the universe began. "These pristine stars are windows into the dawn of stars and galaxies in the universe," Ji explained. Several of his and Kollmeier's co-authors on the paper are undergraduate students from UChicago, whom Ji brought to Las Campanas on an observing trip for spring break last... https://www.sott.net/article/505590-The-most-pristine-star-yet-found-in-the-known-universe Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:01:13 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505562-DNA-reveals-a-mysterious-human-lineage-no-one-knew-existed-in-Asia A genetic study has uncovered a previously unknown human lineage that survived the end of the last Ice Age, challenging long-held assumptions about how ancient populations evolved and interacted during one of the most transformative periods in human history. The discovery, published in the journal Current Biology, centers on ancient human remains unearthed at the Donghulin archaeological site near modern-day Beijing. By analyzing DNA extracted from these remains, scientists have revealed a complex and surprisingly resilient human story — one in which multiple lineages coexisted, adapted, and sometimes disappeared without leaving a lasting genetic trace. A Hidden Branch of Humanity Emerges At the heart of the discovery is an approximately 11,000-year-old individual whose genetic profile does not match any previously identified human population. Researchers, led by Qiaomei Fu, found that this individual belonged to a deeply divergent northern East Asian lineage that likely split from... https://www.sott.net/article/505562-DNA-reveals-a-mysterious-human-lineage-no-one-knew-existed-in-Asia Sun, 05 Apr 2026 17:50:02 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505558-Bumblebees-have-a-brain-the-size-of-a-sesame-seed-but-they-ve-still-got-rhythm Humans are creatures of rhythms. As far as we know, humans have always sung and always danced. We can recognise a song by its rhythm alone, regardless of whether it is played fast or slow. We seem to have an almost effortless capacity to pick up on rhythmic patterns, and we have presumed this ability to require the very large and powerful human brain. But our new research, published today in the journal Science, shows humans are not alone in mastering rhythm. Even the bumblebee, which has a brain the size of a sesame seed, has an ability to quickly learn abstract rhythms. A world full of rhythms Rhythms are everywhere in nature. We hear them in the songs of birds and frogs and the ultrasonic hunting chirps of bats. And we see them in the flashing displays of fireflies, the rhythmic shakes of a peacock's tail, the waggle dances of honey bees and the courtship dances of fruit flies. But, up to now, we have assumed these were innate rhythmic patterns: the animals are not learning a... https://www.sott.net/article/505558-Bumblebees-have-a-brain-the-size-of-a-sesame-seed-but-they-ve-still-got-rhythm Sat, 04 Apr 2026 23:04:48 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505551-Caltech-team-finds-useful-quantum-computers-could-be-built-with-as-few-as-10000-qubits Theoretical discovery opens the door to building quantum computers with significantly reduced resources. Quantum computers of the future may be closer to reality thanks to new research from Caltech and Oratomic, a Caltech-linked start-up company. Theorists and experimentalists teamed up to develop a new approach for reducing the errors that riddle today's rudimentary quantum computers. Whereas these machines were previously thought to require millions of qubits to work properly (qubits being the quantum equivalent to 1's and 0's in classical computers), the new results indicate that a fully realized quantum computer could be built with as few as 10,000 to 20,000 qubits. The need for fewer qubits means that quantum computers could, in theory, be operational by the end of the decade. The team proposes a new quantum error-correction architecture that is significantly more efficient than previous approaches. Quantum error correction is a process by which extra, redundant qubits are... https://www.sott.net/article/505551-Caltech-team-finds-useful-quantum-computers-could-be-built-with-as-few-as-10000-qubits Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:08:35 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505539-Rare-sungrazer-comet-MAPS-will-shine-superbright-on-Saturday-if-it-survives-a-dangerous-encounter-with-our-star Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) could shine brightly in the evenings after April 4, but only if it survives a very close encounter with the sun. A rare "sungrazer" comet is about to pass very close to our star and could become visible in daylight — or it could completely disintegrate before our eyes. Either way, there could be something special to see in the night sky, with a large tail potentially visible late this week. Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) was discovered Jan. 13 by French astronomers at the AMACS1 Observatory in Chile. Although the comet was initially thought to have a nucleus measuring around 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) wide, astronomers later reduced the estimate to under 0.25 miles (0.4 km) based on James Webb Space Telescope observations taken in February. C/2026 A1 (MAPS) belongs to a special family of comets called Kreutz "sungrazers," so called because they get very close to the sun, lighting up brightly but often breaking into smaller pieces. There are around 3,500 members of... https://www.sott.net/article/505539-Rare-sungrazer-comet-MAPS-will-shine-superbright-on-Saturday-if-it-survives-a-dangerous-encounter-with-our-star Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:02:07 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505530-Early-data-from-Vera-C-Rubin-Observatory-reveals-over-11000-new-asteroids Using preliminary data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids. The data were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC), making this the largest single batch of asteroid discoveries submitted in the past year. The discoveries were made using data from Rubin's early optimization surveys and offer a powerful preview of the observatory's transformative impact on solar system science. The submission to MPC comprises approximately one million observations, taken over the span of a month and a half, of over 11,000 new asteroids and more than 80,000 already-known asteroids, including some that had previously been observed but were later "lost" because their orbits were too uncertain to predict their future locations. You can interact with all of Rubin's asteroid discoveries in the Rubin Orbitviewer, which uses real data to provide an intuitive way to explore the structure of our cosmic backyard in three... https://www.sott.net/article/505530-Early-data-from-Vera-C-Rubin-Observatory-reveals-over-11000-new-asteroids Fri, 03 Apr 2026 19:25:18 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505506-Ancient-childrens-teeth-reveal-a-syphilis-like-disease-was-spreading-in-Vietnam-4000-years-ago Remains from three Stone Age children in Vietnam may challenge long-standing ideas about the origin of syphilis, scientists say. Archaeologists in Vietnam have made a discovery that could rewrite scientists' understanding of where syphilis originated. The team found the Stone Age skeletons of three people who had a debilitating bacterial disease that left marks on their bones and teeth. This disease is in the same family as syphilis, and the discovery of it in prehistoric Vietnam could challenge the idea that syphilis-like diseases originated in the Americas. In a study published March 13 in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, the researchers documented three cases of congenital treponematosis at two Neolithic sites in Vietnam dating to around 4,100 to 3,300 years ago. Treponemal diseases are a group of infections caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. These diseases, caused by different subspecies of the bacterium, include syphilis, bejel and yaws. For decades,... https://www.sott.net/article/505506-Ancient-childrens-teeth-reveal-a-syphilis-like-disease-was-spreading-in-Vietnam-4000-years-ago Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:56:47 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505462-Medieval-DNA-reveals-trans-Saharan-connections-rapid-genetic-mixing-and-leprosy-in-Islamic-Ibiza Medieval Ibiza was far from a quiet Mediterranean backwater. New DNA evidence shows that the island was part of a dynamic world linking Europe, North Africa and even the Sahel zone, south of Sahara. An international research team led from the Centre for Palaeogenetics (CPG), a joint venture between Stockholm University and the Swedish Museum of Natural History, has revealed that its population was remarkably diverse, connected to Europe, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa through trade, migration, and social networks. The study is published in Nature Communications. By analysing ancient DNA from 13 individuals buried in a tenth- to twelfth-century Islamic cemetery, the researchers found a wide spectrum of genetic ancestries, ranging from predominantly European to predominantly North African. This reflects varying degrees of mixing following the Muslim conquest of Ibiza in 902 CE. Historical sources describe two major demographic waves shaping the island: an initial settlement... https://www.sott.net/article/505462-Medieval-DNA-reveals-trans-Saharan-connections-rapid-genetic-mixing-and-leprosy-in-Islamic-Ibiza Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:40:06 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505461-If-the-Laschamps-geomagnetic-excursion-happened-today-aviation-radiation-exposure-would-be-radically-altered Earth's magnetic field acts as a vital shield against radiation arriving from space, but it is not constant. A new international study has examined how a reduction of the magnetic field similar to the Laschamps excursion would affect aviation on routes such as Helsinki-Dubai and Helsinki-New York if it occurred today. The magnetic field protects Earth from harmful cosmic radiation and solar eruptions. However, its strength slowly varies over time. Occasionally, the field can even reverse, meaning the magnetic north and south poles switch places. "The effects of a weakening and reversal of the magnetic field on the atmosphere and environment can be dramatic, yet still largely unknown. The consequences could be serious for our modern, highly technological society," says Professor Ilya Usoskin from the University of Oulu, who is a principal investigator of the prestigious large-scale ERC-funded GERACLE project. The new study includes researchers from the Sodankylä Geophysical... https://www.sott.net/article/505461-If-the-Laschamps-geomagnetic-excursion-happened-today-aviation-radiation-exposure-would-be-radically-altered Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:31:27 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505460-Chinas-Breakthrough-Lithium-Battery-Could-Double-EV-Range-To-600-Miles-Survive-94F-Temp A team of researchers in China has unveiled an all-weather electrolyte designed to boost the performance of lithium batteries across a wide range of conditions. Scientists based in Shanghai and Tianjin report that batteries built with the new hydrofluorocarbon-based electrolyte delivered more than twice the energy density of conventional designs when tested at room temperature. Beyond efficiency gains, the team says the chemistry remains stable in extreme environments, with batteries continuing to operate effectively at temperatures as low as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius). The development points to a potential path for longer-lasting, more resilient batteries suited for EVs and other demanding applications, where both energy density and reliability under stress are critical. https://www.sott.net/article/505460-Chinas-Breakthrough-Lithium-Battery-Could-Double-EV-Range-To-600-Miles-Survive-94F-Temp Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:22:21 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505448-Mystery-medical-episode-that-left-astronaut-unable-to-speak-shows-one-of-NASAs-biggest-risks-for-extended-space-flight Veteran astronaut Michael Fincke's sudden medical emergency aboard the ISS is a stark reminder that, as NASA pushes toward long-term lunar missions, astronaut health remains one of spaceflight's biggest unknowns. As NASA prepares to send four astronauts around the moon for the 10-day Artemis II mission, a veteran space flier's unexplained illness in orbit is spotlighting one of the biggest risks of deep-space travel: the need for medical systems in case of emergencies. NASA astronaut Michael Fincke said a sudden episode aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in January left him unable to speak and forced NASA's first-ever medical evacuation from the orbiting laboratory. Doctors have ruled out a heart attack, Fincke told the Associated Press, but they still don't know what caused the medical issue. https://www.sott.net/article/505448-Mystery-medical-episode-that-left-astronaut-unable-to-speak-shows-one-of-NASAs-biggest-risks-for-extended-space-flight Mon, 30 Mar 2026 20:09:14 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505438-White-dwarf-discovered-gobbling-material-from-gamma-Cassiopeia Powerful X-rays from the nearby naked-eye star Gamma Cas mystified astronomers for decades. Now, a new observatory reveals that they come from its white dwarf companion. Some 550 light-years away, a bright star called Gamma Cassiopeiae is belching out bursts of X-rays. Now, astronomers have discovered that the radiation is actually coming from the star's invisible companion, which lights up in X-rays as it gobbles up material from the star. Gamma Cassiopeiae (Gamma Cas for short) is visible to the naked eye at 2nd magnitude, making up the center of the Cassiopeia constellation's distinctive "W" in northern skies. It's a variable star that's exhausting its supply of hydrogen, but it hasn't run out just yet. Unlike other stars like it, it emits X-rays. The star is surrounded by a gaseous disk, and for years, astronomers theorized that the emission was being produced either from the star's magnetic fields interacting with the disk, or perhaps from disk material falling onto an unseen... https://www.sott.net/article/505438-White-dwarf-discovered-gobbling-material-from-gamma-Cassiopeia Mon, 30 Mar 2026 16:26:22 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505436-China-Flexes-Robot-Wolves-With-Machine-Guns-And-A-Collective-Brain Four years of hyperdevelopment, battlefield testing, and deployment of FPVs, ground robots, AI-enabled kill chains, and soon humanoid robots have permanently altered the course of the modern battlefield, as war technologies once viewed as 2030s-era weapons are being pulled forward into the present day and are now proliferating across battlefields stretching from the Eastern European theater to the Gulf theater, as Eurasia appears to be at war. The latest reminder is that, regardless of the battlefield across Eurasia, there will increasingly be large swaths of land, miles deep, effectively forming a new kind of no-man's-land controlled by FPVs and ground robots operating with AI kill chains. In Ukraine, that no-go zone stretches 15 miles wide and already means a quick death for any biological soldier, with FPVs able to detect, track, and strike. A new form of attritional warfare is emerging in which FPVs and robots are cheap and disposable, while soldiers are mainly exposed only... https://www.sott.net/article/505436-China-Flexes-Robot-Wolves-With-Machine-Guns-And-A-Collective-Brain Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:39:27 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505430-Researchers-discover-the-breaking-point-where-liquids-can-be-made-to-fracture-like-solids In a development that could shift our basic understanding of fluid mechanics, researchers from Drexel University have reported that, given the right circumstances, it is possible to induce a simple liquid to fracture like a solid object. Recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the research shows how viscous liquids can suddenly break if stretched with enough force. The fracturing behavior suggests that viscosity — a liquid's resistance to flowing — may play a more prominent role in its mechanical properties than previously understood. It also raises new possibilities for how liquids might be manipulated in everything from hydraulics to 3D printers to blood vessels. "Our findings show that if pulled apart with enough force per area, a simple liquid — a liquid that flows — will reach what we call a point of 'critical stress," when it will actually fracture like a solid. And this is likely true for all simple liquids, including common examples, such as water and... https://www.sott.net/article/505430-Researchers-discover-the-breaking-point-where-liquids-can-be-made-to-fracture-like-solids Sun, 29 Mar 2026 22:36:52 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505425-Chinese-lander-reveals-giant-cavity-of-radiation-between-Earth-and-the-moon-It-could-change-how-lunar-exploration-is-done A new study using data from China's Chang'e-4 moon lander found an area of reduced radiation from cosmic rays near the moon. The findings could be used to improve the safety of lunar explorations. Could being a "morning person" improve your health ... on the moon? Scientists have identified what appears to be a "cavity" of reduced cosmic radiation near Earth's moon. The finding could help lower astronauts' exposure to harmful radiation on future lunar missions by timing some surface operations for local morning hours. The discovery, based on data from China's Chang'e-4 lunar lander, suggests Earth's magnetic field may affect distances in space farther than scientists previously expected. According to the researchers, the finding challenges the long-held assumption that galactic cosmic rays are roughly uniform throughout the space between Earth and the moon outside our planet's protective magnetic field. Cosmic rays are among the biggest radiation hazards for astronauts traveling... https://www.sott.net/article/505425-Chinese-lander-reveals-giant-cavity-of-radiation-between-Earth-and-the-moon-It-could-change-how-lunar-exploration-is-done Sun, 29 Mar 2026 20:14:25 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505417-Shock-new-evidence-showing-no-link-between-CO2-and-temperature-over-last-three-million-years-stumps-net-zero-activists The climate science world ('settled' division) is in shock following the discovery in ancient ice cores that levels of carbon dioxide remained stable as the world plunged into an ice age around 2.7 million years ago. Levels of CO2 at around 250 parts per million (ppm) were said to be lower than often assumed with just a 20 ppm movement recorded for the following near three million-year period. In addition, no changes in methane levels were seen in the entire period. Massive decreases in temperature with occasional interglacial rises appear to have occurred without troubling 'greenhouse' gas levels, and this revelation has caused near panic in activist circles. The assumed level three million years ago of CO2 was around 400 ppm, a convenient mark that has been used to explain the subsequent ice age and a drop to 250 ppm. Due to the recently published paper, this explanation has become more problematic and natural climate variation is correctly noted to have occurred with the... https://www.sott.net/article/505417-Shock-new-evidence-showing-no-link-between-CO2-and-temperature-over-last-three-million-years-stumps-net-zero-activists Sun, 29 Mar 2026 18:59:34 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505397-Comet-break-up-caught-action The Hubble Space Telescope caught a long-period comet breaking up just after it passed the Sun. The Hubble Space Telescope is more than 30 years old and has just one functional gyroscope left to steer it, yet the iconic observatory is still making incredible findings. Hubble has now caught a rare, close-up look at a comet that broke into several pieces during a close approach to the Sun. These observations have given us a unique front-row seat to the swan song of one of these icy wanderers. Caching this event required a good deal of luck. The team of researchers behind the finding originally requested time to observe a different comet — the brightest at the time — but it was moving too fast for Hubble to track. When telescope operators asked for a backup target, the team suggested C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) simply because the comet was in the right place at the right time. So when the researchers looked at the images, several days after they were taken, they were shocked to find five... https://www.sott.net/article/505397-Comet-break-up-caught-action Sat, 28 Mar 2026 17:31:15 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505395-Earth-is-facing-an-unexplained-surge-of-massive-booming-daytime-fireballs-in-early-2026 On a Saturday afternoon this past March, a piece of the solar system plummeted toward a home in north Houston. The one-ton space rock broke apart nearly 30 miles above the city, unleashing a violent sonic boom equivalent to 26 tons of TNT. A dark, jagged fragment smashed through a residential roof and even ricocheted around a bedroom like a cosmic pinball. This would have been stunning in itself, except there were more such meteor strikes. During the first three months of 2026, our planet waded through an unusually dense shooting gallery. The American Meteor Society (AMS) has tracked a staggering wave of large, bright meteors — known as fireballs — lighting up skies from California to Germany. Earth sweeps up tons of space dust every day. Usually, this material is the size of a grain of sand and burns up harmlessly in the upper atmosphere. But right now, we are colliding with much bigger rocks. And scientists are scrambling to figure out why. Mike Hankey, a researcher who manages... https://www.sott.net/article/505395-Earth-is-facing-an-unexplained-surge-of-massive-booming-daytime-fireballs-in-early-2026 Sat, 28 Mar 2026 17:20:08 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505354-Scientist-reveals-cause-of-lost-magnetism-at-meteorite-site A University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist has discovered a method for detecting and better defining meteorite impact sites that have long lost their telltale craters. The discovery could further the study of not only Earth's geology but also that of other bodies in our solar system. The key, according to work by associate research professor Gunther Kletetschka at the UAF Geophysical Institute, is in the greatly reduced level of natural remanent magnetization of rock that has been subjected to the intense forces from a meteor as it nears and then strikes the surface. Rocks unaltered by manmade or non-Earth forces have 2% to 3% natural remnant magnetization, meaning they consist of that quantity of magnetic mineral grains — usually magnetite or hematite or both. Kletetschka found that samples collected at the Santa Fe Impact Structure in New Mexico contained less than 0.1% magnetism. https://www.sott.net/article/505354-Scientist-reveals-cause-of-lost-magnetism-at-meteorite-site Thu, 26 Mar 2026 21:00:14 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505352-Large-new-crater-discovered-on-the-moon-Impact-likely-occurred-in-last-2-years A once-in-a-century crater formed on the moon right under our noses. A routine search of images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera found a fresh crater as wide as two American football fields, planetary scientist Mark Robinson reported March 17 at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Meeting in The Woodlands, Texas. The crater is 225 meters wide and formed in April or May 2024, Robinson said. According to predictions based on other lunar landmarks, a crater that big should form only once in 139 years. The discovery can help highlight the risks impacts pose to future astronauts. https://www.sott.net/article/505352-Large-new-crater-discovered-on-the-moon-Impact-likely-occurred-in-last-2-years Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:30:44 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505346-Surviving-inside-a-tornado This scientist did by accident - he's lucky to be alive I have seen the center of a monster. Most people describe the sound of a tornado as like a freight train, but up close, it's more like a thousand screaming jet engines. I am one of the few people on Earth who has driven into a tornado and lived to tell the tale. While it might sound like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster involving a high-tech armored truck, my experience was much more dangerous and terrifying. I am an atmospheric scientist who studies tornadoes, but I am only alive today because of split-second decisions and a massive amount of dumb luck. Believe me, I do not want to ever be in that situation again. https://www.sott.net/article/505346-Surviving-inside-a-tornado Thu, 26 Mar 2026 16:15:45 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505342-Naked-eye-comet-on-the-way A visitor from the outermost reaches of the solar system is about to become a naked-eye object. Introducing Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2025 R3): Michael Jaeger and Gerald Rhemann photographed the comet (magnitude +7.8) from Weißenkirchen, Austria: "The comet's brightness has increased significantly in recent weeks," they say. "One week after the full moon in April, it is expected to become visible to the naked eye." Discovered by the Pan-STARRS survey in Sept. 2025, the comet is diving toward its closest approach to the sun (0.50 AU) on April 19th, bringing it well inside the orbit of Venus. If current trends continue, the comet could brighten to magnitude +2, easily seen and photographed in the pre-dawn sky. https://www.sott.net/article/505342-Naked-eye-comet-on-the-way Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:56:56 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505335-The-mystery-of-the-Ohio-and-Texas-fireballs Is Earth under siege? If you've been reading headlines about space rocks falling over Ohio and Texas, you might be wondering what's going on. According to NASA, it's nothing unusual, yet still a little mysterious. "Spring is fireball season," says Bill Cooke of the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office. "For reasons we don't fully understand, the rate of very bright meteors climbs 10% to 30% during weeks around the vernal equinox." The Ohio and Texas meteors landed squarely in the middle of the season. Onlookers saw the Ohio fireball on March 17th only 3 days before the equinox. The Texas fireball appeared one day after the equinox on March 21st. Both were visible in broad daylight, with sonic booms and meteorites. One fragment reportedly punched through the roof of a home in suburban Houston. "Meteorite falls--fragments that actually hit the ground--are more common in spring as well," says Cooke. https://www.sott.net/article/505335-The-mystery-of-the-Ohio-and-Texas-fireballs Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:24:29 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505330-Data-centers-suspected-of-producing-mysterious-hum-heard-across-several-US-states Residents report vibrating homes and sleepless nights A mysterious humming noise has been reported in neighborhoods across several US states, rattling homes and leaving residents struggling to sleep. The latest reports come from Vineland, New Jersey, where locals say the sound began after construction started on a massive 2.5-million-square-foot data center, though officials have not confirmed a direct link. Residents say the constant noise is disrupting daily life. 'That is not construction, and that monstrosity is only partially built,' Scott Montgomery told ABC 6. 'It is infringing on our peace of mind and our tranquility.' Similar complaints have surfaced in parts of Virginia, home to hundreds of data centers, and in Connecticut earlier this year, though officials in those areas have yet to identify a confirmed source. Experts noted that data centers can produce continuous low-frequency humming caused by powerful cooling systems and electrical equipment operating around the... https://www.sott.net/article/505330-Data-centers-suspected-of-producing-mysterious-hum-heard-across-several-US-states Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:48:13 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505329-Snow-flies-found-to-create-their-own-heat-plus-other-strategies-to-avoid-freezing New study finds specialized 'snow flies' produce bursts of heat and antifreeze proteins Snow flies might be undergoing an identity crisis. In a new study, Northwestern University scientists explored how snow flies — small, wingless insects that crawl across snow to find mates and lay eggs — survive in freezing cold temperatures. They discovered this snow-dwelling fly uses a surprising combination of strategies: it generates its own body heat like a mammal and produces antifreeze proteins like an Arctic fish. While sub-zero temperatures are a death sentence for most other insects, these adaptations allow snow flies to remain active at temperatures as low as -6 degrees Celsius (or 21.2 degrees Fahrenheit). The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, shed light on how life has adapted to survive in extreme environments and potentially could inform new strategies for protecting cells, tissues and materials from cold damage. https://www.sott.net/article/505329-Snow-flies-found-to-create-their-own-heat-plus-other-strategies-to-avoid-freezing Wed, 25 Mar 2026 19:14:46 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505287-High-school-student-invents-filter-that-eliminates-96-percent-of-microplastics-from-drinking-water Virginia teenager Mia Heller's filtration system harnesses the power of ferrofluid, a magnetic oil that binds to microplastics in flowing water A few years ago, teenager Mia Heller came across an article in her local newspaper about ongoing water quality issues in her neighborhood in Warrington, Virginia. Tests had revealed that the water available for daily consumption was highly contaminated with PFAS and microplastic pollution. The article further reported that government agencies would not be providing any funds for filtering the water. "It was up to people to provide their own filtration," says Heller. Not long after the article came out, Heller's parents invested in an advanced water filtration system at her home. The system, however, required constant upkeep. Seeing her mother replace the water filter membranes time and again, Heller set out to find a better solution. https://www.sott.net/article/505287-High-school-student-invents-filter-that-eliminates-96-percent-of-microplastics-from-drinking-water Mon, 23 Mar 2026 19:54:58 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505283-More-moons-for-Jupiter-and-Saturn-New-totals-here On March 16, 2026, the Minor Planet Center announced an additional 11 moons for Saturn, bringing its total to a whopping 285. Plus, Jupiter's moon count has finally cracked 100, with the addition of four newly discovered moons. Jupiter's grand total now stands at 101. The newly discovered moons are all quite small, at least as far as moons are concerned. That's why they haven't been discovered until now. These faint, distant space rocks are around 2 miles wide (3 km) with magnitudes of +25 to +27. The lower the number, the brighter it is. And truly bright objects even have negative numbers, like the sun (-26) and Venus (-4). So these moons are extraordinarily faint. They also orbit far from their planet, making them harder to track down. In fact, the moons of Saturn are so spread out, they span the width of about five full Earth moons as seen from our location here on Earth. So, as you look toward the ringed planet, imagine its entourage of satellites extending for vast distances... https://www.sott.net/article/505283-More-moons-for-Jupiter-and-Saturn-New-totals-here Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:53:39 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505221-BIG-NEWS-3-million-year-old-ice-cores-flummox-researchers-CO2-is-irrelevant For the first time Antarctic ice core teams have got hold of ice that is 3 million years old and the results have confounded them. The way CO2 responds in ice cores is canon to "the faith" so this is more important than it seems at first glance. Believers are really struggling. Three million years ago the world was warmer, and about to cool into the violent ice age cycles. The ice core experts were expecting to confirm that CO2 levels were about 400ppm, as other proxies had shown, and they thought that greenhouse gases might fall and lead the cooling shift. But instead of CO2 being at 400 parts per million, and then leading the cooling, the bubbles trapped in ice were only 250 parts per million to start with and they stayed constant through important temperature swings. Sacre Bleu! CO2 did not appear to have any role in causing the warmth that was, or the cooling that followed. And nor did methane. O' the dilemma? Some sacred cows have to be sacrificed. Either CO2 is not a major... https://www.sott.net/article/505221-BIG-NEWS-3-million-year-old-ice-cores-flummox-researchers-CO2-is-irrelevant Thu, 19 Mar 2026 03:54:10 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505215-Now-They-Are-Actually-Admitting-That-There-Is-A-Massive-Gravity-Hole-Underneath-Antarctica For decades, we were told to ignore any of the strange reports that we were hearing about Antarctica. Experts assured us that nothing unusual was going on and that there wasn't anything to be concerned about. Of course we couldn't go investigate for ourselves, because as you will see below, there are 72 areas of Antarctica that only those with a special permit are allowed to enter. And if you try to fly to Antarctica without authorization, you will get into all sorts of trouble. So why all the secrecy? What are they trying to hide from all the rest of us? https://www.sott.net/article/505215-Now-They-Are-Actually-Admitting-That-There-Is-A-Massive-Gravity-Hole-Underneath-Antarctica Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:37:03 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505199-Chinese-scientists-construct-rare-hexagonal-diamond-thats-harder-than-natural-diamond In physics first, Chinese scientists create rare 'hexagonal diamond' that's harder than natural diamond Researchers in China have made what they claim to be the first samples of pure hexagonal diamond, a theorized rare variant of superstrong diamond found in meteorites from shattered dwarf planets. Natural diamond, also called cubic diamond, has been considered the hardest natural material on Earth for so long that the Mohs hardness scale, which rates minerals' resistance to scratching, uses diamond as the scale's upper limit. It's called cubic diamond for its neat arrangements of carbon atoms in a cubic structure. In contrast, hexagonal diamond organizes carbon atoms in a lattice made of hexagons, like a honeycomb. https://www.sott.net/article/505199-Chinese-scientists-construct-rare-hexagonal-diamond-thats-harder-than-natural-diamond Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:04:28 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505190-Earths-magnetic-field-during-solar-flare-January-2026 It seems improbable that a satellite designed to monitor polar ice sheets and floating sea ice could accurately measure a disturbance in Earth's magnetic field. But that is just what ESA's CryoSat mission did earlier this year. This is a story of unique innovation in satellite technology. At the end of last year, the CryoSat mission, which has been operating for almost 16 years, was given a remote upgrade of new software for its platform magnetometer. This instrument is installed on the satellite to ensure it orbits at the right altitude and directs its science instruments towards the right part of Earth's surface. The platform magnetometer is therefore an operational instrument and was not designed to produce scientific data about Earth's magnetic environment. https://www.sott.net/article/505190-Earths-magnetic-field-during-solar-flare-January-2026 Mon, 16 Mar 2026 22:02:29 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505147-Blackwater-lakes-and-rivers-in-the-Congo-Basin-are-emitting-ancient-carbon-into-the-atmosphere Blackwater lakes and rivers in the Congo Basin are releasing ancient carbon into the atmosphere, a new study shows. Previously, scientists thought this carbon was safely stored in the surrounding peatlands, but the research reveals that's not the case. The finding contradicts the long-held assumption that old peat carbon remains trapped underground, suggesting that some tropical peatlands could switch from being carbon sinks to major carbon sources. Comment: That's assumptions for you! If they'd been reading the Signs, they'd have noticed northern and Arctic peatlands 'catching fire', in winter, and made the connection to carbon/methane outgassing. "We are now faced with a 30-million-tonne question: we need to determine if this is just a small, natural leakage of ancient carbon, or the onset of broadscale destabilization," study lead author Travis Drake, a carbon biogeochemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), told Live Science in an email. Comment:... https://www.sott.net/article/505147-Blackwater-lakes-and-rivers-in-the-Congo-Basin-are-emitting-ancient-carbon-into-the-atmosphere Fri, 13 Mar 2026 21:56:32 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505141-Ancient-parrot-DNA-reveals-sophisticated-long-distance-animal-trade-network-that-pre-dates-the-Inca-Empire New analysis of ancient parrot DNA has revealed that vibrant Amazonian parrots were transported alive across the Andes to coastal Peru centuries before the Inca Empire, highlighting a sophisticated pre-Inca, long-distance trade network spanning rainforest, highlands and deserts. The international team of researchers, including scientists from The Australian National University (ANU), analyzed parrot feathers that were discovered at Pachacamac, Peru — one of the preeminent religious centers of the Andean civilization — far outside the birds' native rainforest range. The research is published in Nature Communications. According to lead author Dr. George Olah from ANU, the sequencing of the ancient parrot DNA has uncovered a thriving network of trade and animal transportation that connected Amazonian forests with arid communities across the Andes. "Through combining ancient DNA sequencing, isotope chemistry and computational landscape modeling, we have been able to trace how and where... https://www.sott.net/article/505141-Ancient-parrot-DNA-reveals-sophisticated-long-distance-animal-trade-network-that-pre-dates-the-Inca-Empire Fri, 13 Mar 2026 18:30:12 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505115-Humanoid-Soldiers-Tested-In-Ukraine-Founder-Eyes-Contract-To-Patrol-US-Border Corporate media is finally catching up to our humanoid robot theme, with these bots moving beyond factory floors and possibly soon marching onto modern battlefields, as conflicts rage in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. TIME reports that Foundation Robotics, a U.S.-based startup developing humanoid robots for industrial and military applications, has recently sent two Phantom MK1 robots to Ukraine for testing. A Foundation spokesperson said the startup is preparing its Phantom robots for potential deployment in combat scenarios for the Pentagon, which "continues to explore the development of militarized humanoid prototypes designed to operate alongside warfighters in complex, high-risk environments." Foundation co-founder Mike LeBlanc, a 14-year Marine Corps veteran with multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, also told the outlet that the company is in "very close contact" with the Department of Homeland Security regarding possible patrol functions for Phantom along the U.S.... https://www.sott.net/article/505115-Humanoid-Soldiers-Tested-In-Ukraine-Founder-Eyes-Contract-To-Patrol-US-Border Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:33:45 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505019-Modern-warfare-sees-first-drone-strike-on-a-commercial-data-center We told readers one month ago that, while trillions of dollars are being allocated to the global data center buildout, virtually every Wall Street analyst remains fixated on financing, chip stacks, power, land, water, and other obvious mainstream inputs. However, we identified one overlooked emerging threat they missed: the risk of kamikaze drone attacks. By Sunday morning, that risk was realized, as our note pointed out that Amazon's cloud unit, AWS, experienced degraded service in the United Arab Emirates due to a "localized power issue. Now, a Reuters report provides more color on what exactly happened after an AWS data center in the UAE had to shut down operations, in what appears to be the first known instance of a commercial data center being physically targeted in a conflict. https://www.sott.net/article/505019-Modern-warfare-sees-first-drone-strike-on-a-commercial-data-center Fri, 06 Mar 2026 20:14:03 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504984-Every-single-cell-in-your-body-could-be-conscious The reason for such cooperation comes down to a cellular form of intelligence, says evolutionary biologist and physician William B. Miller, Ph.D. He's co-author of the book, The Sentient Cell: The Cellular Foundations of Consciousness, published in January 2024, which proposes a radical new way of thinking about some of life's tiniest components. Miller is among a small but growing group of scientists who believe we should no longer think of cells as passive robots that automatically follow a code of instructions, carrying out orders from our genome like mindless drones. Instead, they say, the roughly 37 trillion cells that make up our own bodies are conscious — and that life and consciousness began at the same time. It's a revolutionary idea, Miller tells Popular Mechanics, but assuming cells have a form of consciousness can give us a better understanding of complex processes. These include cellular communication and decision-making, and even the motivation behind an embryonic... https://www.sott.net/article/504984-Every-single-cell-in-your-body-could-be-conscious Wed, 04 Mar 2026 20:39:19 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504961-Damascus-steel-was-an-ancient-super-metal-Why-did-it-vanish Scientists are uncovering the mystery of this legendary sword metal. When Crusaders and pilgrims returned to Europe in the Middle Ages, they spoke of the fearsome weapons wielded by their Muslim adversaries — especially their swords. Over time, Europeans named the mysterious metal from which these blades were forged: Damascus steel, after the ancient Syrian city. Damascus steel swords, it was said, were sharper and harder, yet lighter and swifter, than the heavy Crusader blades. For centuries, the secret of their construction remained a mystery. https://www.sott.net/article/504961-Damascus-steel-was-an-ancient-super-metal-Why-did-it-vanish Tue, 03 Mar 2026 20:58:05 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504945-Run-screaming-Rising-CO2-has-been-detected-in-human-blood The one-eyed science monster is here again to scare teenage girlies No one is funded to poke holes in the CO2-octopus, so researchers can follow a silly idea for a long time. In a normal world someone would have scoffed and squashed this horror show in the tea room. It is yet another meaningless correlation pretending to be a dangerous trend. Supposedly rising levels of carbon dioxide in the air around us is tainting our very blood, causing a public health crisis. Atmospheric CO2 is "higher than anything humans ever experienced" says Dr Phil Bierwirth, worried that current CO2 levels are beyond what we evolved to deal with, and 100% wrong. Poor Dr Bierworth obviously doesn't realize that even though atmospheric CO2 has risen from 320ppm to 420ppm, normal indoor CO2 levels are 500 to 1,000 ppm, and the air we breathe out is 40,000ppm. We don't need a quarter century to raise our blood CO2 levels — we can hold our breath and get there in sixty seconds. Or we just need to go jogging.... https://www.sott.net/article/504945-Run-screaming-Rising-CO2-has-been-detected-in-human-blood Tue, 03 Mar 2026 04:29:42 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504927-Chandra-telescope-spots-first-alien-astrosphere-around-a-sun-like-star The first bubble of hot gas seen around another star has been spotted around the "Moth," just 117 light-years away. What it is: HD 61005, a sun-like star nicknamed the "Moth" Where it is: About 117 light-years away in the constellation Puppis When the photo was shared: Feb. 23, 2026 The sun orbits the center of the Milky Way wrapped in a protective bubble of its own making, dubbed the heliosphere. And for the first time, astronomers have spotted a similar protective bubble forming around an alien star. A star called HD 61005 has just been confirmed to have its own heliosphere, or "astrosphere." And since HD 61005 is much younger than the sun (about 100 million years compared to 4.6 billion years), the discovery also offers astronomers a rare glimpse into what our home star may have looked like in its infancy. This groundbreaking image uses X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (purple and white in the image) alongside infrared (blue and white) and optical (red, green and... https://www.sott.net/article/504927-Chandra-telescope-spots-first-alien-astrosphere-around-a-sun-like-star Sun, 01 Mar 2026 23:45:35 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504876-So-hackers-just-stole-Mexicos-tax-and-voter-rolls-You-ll-never-guess-how This story doesn't quite feature the gut-punch immediacy of Mexico's drug war escalating into a virtual civil war last week in and around Puerto Vallarta, but as a glimpse into the future, maybe it ought to send a chill or three down your spine. According to a new Bloomberg story (paywalled, sorry), a weeks-long hacker campaign against the Mexican government culminated in January with a massive data theft of some of the federal government's most sensitive information. "By the time it was over," Let's Data Science reported on Wednesday, "the attacker had stolen 150 gigabytes of sensitive data — including 195 million taxpayer records, voter registration files, government employee credentials, and civil registry data." https://www.sott.net/article/504876-So-hackers-just-stole-Mexicos-tax-and-voter-rolls-You-ll-never-guess-how Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:34:35 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504861-Not-flat-footed-lumbering-giants-New-research-shows-T-rex-walked-on-tiptoes Powerful, fierce and the king of the Cretaceous world, Tyrannosaurus rex was the ultimate apex predator. But it was also surprisingly dainty on its feet, according to new research. Findings published in the journal Royal Society Open Science show that when these giant beasts walked and ran, they did so on tiptoes. The T. rex fossil record is rich and has given us many insights into how these animals hunted and grew. But little is known about one aspect of its locomotion and that is how its foot struck the ground. So a team led by the College of the Atlantic in Maine studied the feet of four well-preserved T. rex specimens. Foot strikes The scientists started by taking precise measurements of leg and foot bones and plugging the numbers into three equations used to estimate animal speeds. Next, they modeled three ways the foot could hit the ground. These were landing on the rear of the foot, the middle or on tiptoes. To see which style was most likely, they compared these models to... https://www.sott.net/article/504861-Not-flat-footed-lumbering-giants-New-research-shows-T-rex-walked-on-tiptoes Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:06:41 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504854-New-technology-reveals-hidden-DNA-scaffolding-built-before-life-switches-on Researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial College London have overturned a long-standing assumption about how life begins at the molecular level. Using a new high-resolution technology, they show that the genome is far more organised during its earliest moments than previously believed. Understanding this 3D organisation is critical, as its failure can lead to developmental disorders and diseases such as cancer. For decades, scientists viewed the genome of a newly fertilised egg as a structural 'blank slate' - a disordered tangle of DNA waiting for the embryo to 'wake up' and start reading its own genetic instructions. In research published today in Nature Genetics, Professor Juanma Vaquerizas and his team have found that a surprising level of structure is already in place. They've developed a breakthrough technology, called Pico-C, which enables scientists to see the 3D structure of the genome in unprecedented detail. Using this technique, they... https://www.sott.net/article/504854-New-technology-reveals-hidden-DNA-scaffolding-built-before-life-switches-on Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:50:34 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504831-Man-accidentally-gains-command-of-7000-robot-vacuums A software engineer's earnest effort to steer his new DJI robot vacuum with a video game controller inadvertently granted him a sneak peak into thousands of people's homes. While building his own remote-control app, Sammy Azdoufal reportedly used an AI coding assistant to help reverse-engineer how the robot communicated with DJI's remote cloud servers. But he soon discovered that the same credentials that allowed him to see and control his own device also provided access to live camera feeds, microphone audio, maps, and status data from nearly 7,000 other vacuums across 24 countries. The backend security bug effectively exposed an army of internet-connected robots that, in the wrong hands, could have turned into surveillance tools, all without their owners ever knowing. Luckily, Azdoufal chose not to exploit that. Instead, he shared his findings with The Verge, which quickly contacted DJI to report the flaw. While DJI tells Popular Science the issue has been "resolved," the... https://www.sott.net/article/504831-Man-accidentally-gains-command-of-7000-robot-vacuums Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:08:33 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504797-A-tiny-45-base-long-RNA-can-make-copies-of-itself Self-copying RNAs may have been a key stop along the pathway to life. There are plenty of unanswered questions about the origin of life on Earth. But the research community has largely reached consensus that one of the key steps was the emergence of an RNA molecule that could replicate itself. RNA, like its more famous relative DNA, can carry genetic information. But it can also fold up into three-dimensional structures that act as catalysts. These two features have led to the suggestion that early life was protein-free, with RNA handling both heredity and catalyzing a simple metabolism. For this to work, one of the reactions that the early RNAs would need to catalyze is the copying of RNA molecules, without which any sort of heritability would be impossible. While we've found a number of catalytic RNAs that can copy other molecules, none have been able to perform a key reaction: making a copy of themselves. Now, however, a team has found an incredibly short piece of RNA — just 45... https://www.sott.net/article/504797-A-tiny-45-base-long-RNA-can-make-copies-of-itself Sun, 22 Feb 2026 21:57:55 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504715-Three-Key-Constraints-That-Could-Derail-The-Data-Center-Buildout-Story The data center investment macro story centers on hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon Web Services, whose massive cloud computing services are becoming the backbone for AI workloads, including ChatGPT and others. However, as we've previously noted, the data center buildout has run into supply-chain snarls, including memory chip shortages, power-grid constraints, and even a shortage of turbine blades for natural-gas generators. The data center boom powering the AI revolution is certaintly impressive to watch unfold, but it won't be a straight line from here as the US attempts to hold the number one spot in the global AI race. Challenges are mounting, and the latest coverage on this comes from a conversation Goldman analyst Brian Singer had with Mark Monroe, a former principal engineer in Microsoft's Datacenter Advanced Development Group, who warned that data center buildouts face three major headwinds. Here's a recap of the conversation between Singer and... https://www.sott.net/article/504715-Three-Key-Constraints-That-Could-Derail-The-Data-Center-Buildout-Story Thu, 19 Feb 2026 08:37:41 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504712-How-cat-eyes-made-roads-safer One foggy night in 1933, a businessman named Percy Shaw was driving home from the pub in Yorkshire, England. The road was twisty and hard to see. Suddenly, two bright dots flashed back at him from the roadside. Percy slammed on the brakes. The glowing dots belonged to a cat — and they probably saved his life. If he'd kept driving, he could have gone straight off the road. That's when Percy got his eureka moment. What if roads could "shine back" at drivers the same way cats' eyes do? Within a year, he had invented Catseye® reflectors — those studs you still see embedded in roads today. They bounce your own headlights back at you, helping you see where you're going in the dark. But why do cats' eyes glow like that? https://www.sott.net/article/504712-How-cat-eyes-made-roads-safer Wed, 18 Feb 2026 21:24:26 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504690-Researchers-create-a-fluid-that-can-store-solar-energy-and-then-release-it-as-heat-months-later Sunlight can cause a molecule to change structure, and then release heat later. Heating accounts for nearly half of the global energy demand, and two-thirds of that is met by burning fossil fuels like natural gas, oil, and coal. Solar energy is a possible alternative, but while we have become reasonably good at storing solar electricity in lithium-ion batteries, we're not nearly as good at storing heat. To store heat for days, weeks, or months, you need to trap the energy in the bonds of a molecule that can later release heat on demand. The approach to this particular chemistry problem is called molecular solar thermal (MOST) energy storage. While it has been the next big thing for decades, it never really took off. In a recent Science paper, a team of researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and UCLA demonstrate a breakthrough that might finally make MOST energy storage effective. https://www.sott.net/article/504690-Researchers-create-a-fluid-that-can-store-solar-energy-and-then-release-it-as-heat-months-later Tue, 17 Feb 2026 19:50:48 +0000