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. Sat, 25 Jul 2026 16:22:17 +0000 https://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net https://www.sott.net https://www.sott.net/article/507593-Before-Gagarin-there-were-dogs-The-forgotten-pioneers-of-space Seventy-five years after the first successful canine flight, the animals that carried humanity toward the stars are still remembered. Russia is generally more of a cat country; 58% of Russians prefer cats as pets, 42% prefer dogs. This is partly due to practical reasons - cats are easier to care for in the city and don't need to be walked on cold winter evenings. But Russians also love dogs. And stories about Russia's famous space dogs - Laika, Belka, and Strelka - often evoke sad feelings. We know how important canine space flights were, but at the same time, we feel sorry that man's best friend had to endure such trials. This wasn't some crazy experiment or whim, however. There were serious reasons to send dogs into space. Why dogs? Despite advances in physics and astronomy, in the 1950s, scientists still couldn't say for sure whether complex organisms could survive in space, and the accumulated data made things look dire. The key concerns were: - Researchers were aware of space... https://www.sott.net/article/507593-Before-Gagarin-there-were-dogs-The-forgotten-pioneers-of-space Sat, 25 Jul 2026 16:21:07 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507557-NASA-astronaut-shares-image-of-impossible-looking-hopper-crystal-growing-on-the-space-station Astronauts grew a scroll-like crystal aboard the ISS, and its strange shape reveals what happens to ordinary salts once gravity stops running the show. Astronauts have grown a common crystal in space — but this extraterrestrial version is exhibiting a very uncommon behavior. Under a microscope, the crystal looks more like a tiny futuristic sculpture than something that formed naturally. The pyramid-like assembly curls in on itself in stair-stepped layers, seeming almost too orderly to be real. But according to scientists, the striking shape is what happens when gravity stops calling the shots. The image, shared on July 18 by NASA astronaut Don Pettit, and accompanying video were captured aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and show potassium chloride crystals growing in microgravity — the near-weightless environment experienced in orbit. https://www.sott.net/article/507557-NASA-astronaut-shares-image-of-impossible-looking-hopper-crystal-growing-on-the-space-station Wed, 22 Jul 2026 21:38:46 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507550-NASA-warns-scientists-understating-worst-case-solar-storm-scenario As if the growing risk of a global economic disaster springing from the US-Israeli war on Iran weren't enough to worry about, researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center are warning that miscalculations and false assumptions may have resulted in an enormous underestimation of the worst-case effects of a solar storm. Solar storms are events in which the sun experiences a massive explosion of energy, charged particles and magnetic fields. From solar flares to coronal mass ejections (CMEs), these explosions pose a danger to all kinds of electronics, from your cell phone, computer and car to gas pumps, airplanes, power stations and everything in between. The worst such event in recorded history was the Carrington Event of 1859. Estimated to have been as powerful as 10 billion atomic bombs, it caused telegraphs to fail across Europe. A far more modest event in 2003 disrupted the FAA's navigation computers for more than 24 hours, and the FAA was prompted to warn that high-altitude... https://www.sott.net/article/507550-NASA-warns-scientists-understating-worst-case-solar-storm-scenario Wed, 22 Jul 2026 20:20:27 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507541-Sleep-Scientists-Favor-Year-Round-Standard-Time Standard time is better aligned with natural circadian rhythms. Key points The U.S. House passed a bill to require permanent daylight savings time. Medical associations recommend permanent standard time. Standard time is more aligned with circadian biology and is linked to fewer health problems. For years, sleep scientists have documented many problems with daylight saving time (DST), which requires changing clocks twice a year. After time changes, incidences of adverse cardiovascular events and mood disorders increase, and the frequency of vehicular crashes rises. Our bodies are entrained by daily light and dark periods, and even the one-hour shift in timing of sunrise and sunset can disrupt the circadian system. Schools and businesses do not adjust start or end times on transitions. Changing the clocks on Sunday is meant to ease the time transition, but one day is not enough time to be effective. After reviewing years of study, a panel of 23 scientists published a paper that laid... https://www.sott.net/article/507541-Sleep-Scientists-Favor-Year-Round-Standard-Time Tue, 21 Jul 2026 22:16:38 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507529-Did-Scientists-Just-Solve-The-Biggest-Mystery-Holding-Back-Solid-State-Batteries Scientists now know why solid-state batteries have repeatedly failed. Two separate studies have identified the physical processes responsible for the short circuits that have delayed commercialization for years, turning one of the industry's biggest unknowns into a defined engineering problem. For years, engineers knew how solid-state batteries were failing, but not why. The batteries repeatedly developed internal short circuits as microscopic lithium structures formed inside the cell and eventually pierced the barrier separating the battery's positive and negative sides. Researchers could see what was happening after the fact, but they couldn't explain what caused those structures to form or how they managed to penetrate a material specifically designed to block them. Two independent research teams have now answered different parts of that question. In a paper published in Nature, scientists at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials found that lithium deposits... https://www.sott.net/article/507529-Did-Scientists-Just-Solve-The-Biggest-Mystery-Holding-Back-Solid-State-Batteries Tue, 21 Jul 2026 14:02:27 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507495-A-century-old-stellar-mystery-may-finally-have-an-explanation For more than a century, astronomers have puzzled over a strange discrepancy in the historical record. Theta Eridani, a modest star in the constellation Eridanus, is the third-brightest star in its constellation, with a magnitude of 2.9. But ancient astronomers described it very differently. A new study, posted to the arXiv preprint server on June 29, has proposed a plausible explanation for this mystery. The 'forgotten' bright star Ancient astronomers, including Hipparchus, Ptolemy and al-Sufi, all described Theta Eridani as one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Hipparchus, writing around 129 B.C., called it "the brightest and preceding and southernmost of all in the River." Ptolemy's Almagest, compiled in 137 A.D., ranked it among the 13 brightest stars in the entire sky. And nearly 800 years later, in 964 A.D., the Persian astronomer al-Sufi still listed it as having magnitude 1. Then, in 1603 A.D., one of the members of the Dutch expeditions, Frederick de Houtman,... https://www.sott.net/article/507495-A-century-old-stellar-mystery-may-finally-have-an-explanation Sun, 19 Jul 2026 17:48:11 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507485-Astronomers-make-landmark-discovery-on-next-door-super-Earth Rocky planet LHS 1140b, just 49 light-years away, shows signs of an atmosphere and could have water reserves, a Harvard-led team says. Astronomers have detected an atmosphere on a rocky planet within a potentially habitable zone outside the Solar System for the first time, according to a new report by a Harvard-led team of scientists. The findings stemmed from analyzing data on the super-Earth LHS 1140b, which circles a red dwarf 49 light-years from Earth in a temperature zone that theoretically allows liquid water to exist. The discovery, published in the journal Science on Thursday, was based on traces of helium escaping the planet. Collin Cherubim, the study's lead author and a planetary scientist who works at the University of Chicago, said: "An atmosphere is essential for a planet to support life as we know it. This is the first time anyone has found an atmosphere on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star." The team first spotted the signal in 2024, watching LHS... https://www.sott.net/article/507485-Astronomers-make-landmark-discovery-on-next-door-super-Earth Sat, 18 Jul 2026 19:48:30 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507483-Underwater-oxygen-loss-threatens-Earths-stability-researchers-warn Scripps-led review calls for aquatic deoxygenation to be recognized as a critical planetary process under threat. A new review paper led by scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography warns that the rapid loss of oxygen from the ocean and other aquatic ecosystems is pushing Earth toward an "unsafe space," with consequences that could be irreversible on human timescales. The study reviews the widespread interactions between aquatic deoxygenation — the decline of dissolved oxygen in the ocean (ocean deoxygenation), coastal waters, rivers, lakes and streams — and the nine processes outlined by the Planetary Boundaries framework. First introduced in 2009, the framework identifies critical Earth system processes and the ways human activities are pushing them beyond the conditions needed to keep the planet stable and resilient. The nine planetary boundaries are climate change, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, atmospheric aerosol loading, stratospheric ozone... https://www.sott.net/article/507483-Underwater-oxygen-loss-threatens-Earths-stability-researchers-warn Sat, 18 Jul 2026 17:45:51 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507473-NASAs-Hubble-discovers-first-of-star-cluster-Omega-Centauris-missing-black-holes The massive globular star cluster Omega Centauri has puzzled astronomers for decades. It should be filled with black holes left behind by exploding stars, yet evidence for them is scarce. Now, astronomers using archival data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and supportive observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have finally located their first stellar-mass black hole in this cluster. Discovering the first of this missing black hole population will help refine current theories on black hole formation within environments such as Omega Centauri. The team's findings published Monday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Omega Centauri is composed of 10 million gravitationally bound stars. Though the astronomical community previously found evidence with Hubble that an intermediate-mass black hole lurks at its center, models suggest this star cluster should also contain about 10,000 smaller, stellar-mass black holes. This notable population of black holes evaded detection... https://www.sott.net/article/507473-NASAs-Hubble-discovers-first-of-star-cluster-Omega-Centauris-missing-black-holes Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:27:50 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507452-Alien-chemistry-discovered-on-meteorite-that-plunged-through-New-Jersey-home A meteorite that crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home last year contains the chemistry of alien life, according to scientists. A "sonic boom" shook New York City after a space rock the size of a heavy airline bag blasted through the atmosphere and streaked past the Statue of Liberty at 32,000 miles per hour on July 16, 2024. The meteor — seen by 60 eagle-eyed observers from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania — eventually broke apart in a cascade of pebbles over a stretch of Staten Island and New Jersey, according to the SETI Institute. Shortly after, a two-pound chunk of the meteorite slammed straight into a house in Hillsborough and landed in a bedroom, according to scientists. The stunned homeowner described: "I was at home at the time, heard a loud crash, and found a hole in the ceiling of the master bedroom. I smelled a strong sulfur-like odor and saw many black fragments along with debris and black dust that covered my bed, carpet, and... https://www.sott.net/article/507452-Alien-chemistry-discovered-on-meteorite-that-plunged-through-New-Jersey-home Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:17:40 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507451-China-beats-Musks-Neuralink-to-commercial-brain-chip-implant The coin-sized NEO device is designed to help patients with spinal cord injuries regain hand movement. Chinese surgeons have implanted a brain-computer interface in a patient with limited hand mobility, in what is described as the world's first commercial procedure using an approved non-invasive device of its kind. The procedure was carried out on Monday at a hospital in Shanghai. The patient suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident ten years ago and had limited hand function despite years of rehabilitation. During the operation, a coin-sized implant was placed on the surface of the patient's brain. The device is designed to capture brain signals and send them to a computer, which translates them into commands for a robotic glove. According to officials, the operation went as planned and the patient is recovering, with vital signs stable. They added that the implant had successfully captured stable, high-quality brain signals. The implant, known as NEO, was developed by... https://www.sott.net/article/507451-China-beats-Musks-Neuralink-to-commercial-brain-chip-implant Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:16:15 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507443-Mathematicians-are-closing-in-on-the-hidden-order-inside-chaos A new breakthrough pushes the limits of randomness, bringing a decades-old mathematical mystery closer to resolution For most of the past century, mathematicians have been exploring the limits of Ramsey theory, the study of order hiding inside chaos — or, more accurately, how much disorder can be packed into a system before order must inevitably emerge. Progress has been frustratingly slow, but now a potential breakthrough result is pointing the way toward more rapid advances — and a clearer view of the still-hazy transition between randomness and structure. The systems in question are called graphs: mathematical networks made of points connected by lines. These graphs can represent anything interconnected — from friendships to airline routes to molecules. And as any graph grows, sooner or later it will include either a tight-knit group in which everything is connected to everything else — a "clique" — or encompass a large collection of points with no connections between them at... https://www.sott.net/article/507443-Mathematicians-are-closing-in-on-the-hidden-order-inside-chaos Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:22:24 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507377-Ocean-rift-zone-saw-spreading-happen-in-a-sudden-burst The crust expands at mid-ocean rifts. But how? One of the central features of plate tectonics is the formation of new crust at mid-ocean ridges. Part of the spreading process that drives continents apart, it was arguably the discovery of these ridges that drove widespread acceptance of plate tectonics as a theory. Thanks to decades of exploration, we now have a good picture of what the crust that forms at the site of spreading looks like. But we still have an incomplete idea of how its features are actually produced. In other words, we have a good idea of the outcome of the process, but not a detailed picture of the process itself. That is starting to change. In 2024, a team of French scientists was able to remotely monitor a major event on the border between the Australian and Antarctic plates, only two months after they installed equipment on the ocean floor. Their data shows that most of the spreading occurred in a relatively short time window, and some key events happened... https://www.sott.net/article/507377-Ocean-rift-zone-saw-spreading-happen-in-a-sudden-burst Sat, 11 Jul 2026 22:08:28 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507371-Hidden-deep-sea-turbulence-could-alter-climate-and-fisheries-within-one-lifetime Tiny, invisible swirls and twirls — not much bigger than a coin — deep below the ocean's surface are silently shaping some of the biggest forces shaping our climate: sea level rise, fisheries collapse, extreme flooding and how much carbon dioxide the ocean absorbs. An international research team, led by the University of Cambridge, found that deep ocean turbulence — the process that distributes heat, nutrients and carbon from the surface to the seafloor and back — affects our lives not on a scale of thousands of years, as was previously thought, but within the span of a human lifetime. However, the tools used to predict these effects and inform policy do not adequately represent this turbulence, or the speed at which it moves. The results are reported in the journal Nature Communications. https://www.sott.net/article/507371-Hidden-deep-sea-turbulence-could-alter-climate-and-fisheries-within-one-lifetime Sat, 11 Jul 2026 20:03:01 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507321-Did-a-passing-star-shower-us-with-Comets We might be living through a comet shower created by a star that millions of years ago jostled the Oort Cloud surrounding the solar system. Far beyond Pluto, a vast, icy reservoir envelopes our solar system: the Oort Cloud, the birthplace of comets. Now, two astronomers found that a close encounter with another star might've sent a flurry of Oort Cloud comets on a journey to our inner solar system. Astronomers, led by Nathan Kaib (Planetary Science Institute), recognized this long-ago stellar flyby by the anomalies it created in the orbits of long-period comets. These comets orbit on highly elliptical paths, taking thousands to millions of years to complete their trip around the Sun. Such comets come from The Oort Cloud. Tugs from our galaxy can knock some Oort Cloud objects off course, sending them spiraling toward the Sun. From there, the balls of ice, gas, and rock heat up and shed material to form their long, signature comet tails. But the Milky Way tends to tug on comets of... https://www.sott.net/article/507321-Did-a-passing-star-shower-us-with-Comets Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:47:05 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507306-JWST-detects-mysterious-compound-on-Pluto-and-Titan Something on Pluto and one of Saturn's moons, Titan, absorbs light in a way unexplained by anything in spectroscopic databases A look at the dwarf planet Pluto and Titan, Saturn's largest moon, baffled astronomers after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) detected a chemical signature on their surfaces that does not match any recorded in spectroscopic databases. Researchers believe this is not an instrument error, but rather the signature of a compound whose identity remains a mystery — a mixture of materials never studied in a laboratory, or even a compound whose chemistry has not yet been characterized. The finding appears in a study awaiting publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Scientists identified an absorption band centered at 5.113 micrometers on both Titan and Pluto — two worlds separated by billions of kilometers and with very different physical conditions. The signal appeared in observations made with two different instruments on the JWST, leading... https://www.sott.net/article/507306-JWST-detects-mysterious-compound-on-Pluto-and-Titan Tue, 07 Jul 2026 21:50:02 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507294-US-very-much-in-space-race-against-China-NASA-chief Beijing maintains that outer space is an area for cooperation, not contest. The US is "very much in a space race" against China as the two nations look to land humans on the Moon and establish permanent bases there in the coming years, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has said. The US remains the only country to have sent manned missions to the Moon, with American astronauts visiting the Earth's satellite six times as part of the Apollo program between 1969 and 1972. During an interview with 'Face the Nation' on CBS on Sunday, Isaacman stressed: "The Chinese "will land their taikonauts on the Moon - there's no question. Beijing's lunar program is moving at incredible speeds. "The question is - will the US return before them and will we do so in a different way this time? Will we build the base, establish that enduring presence? I think the answer is yes." According to Isaacman, the American and Chinese timelines for putting humans on the Moon are very close. "They are thinking in... https://www.sott.net/article/507294-US-very-much-in-space-race-against-China-NASA-chief Tue, 07 Jul 2026 18:55:20 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507230-Worlds-first-synthetic-cell-with-a-complete-life-cycle-could-revolutionize-biological-engineering While many of life's mysteries remain unsolved, every biologist can describe the basic processes performed by a living organism, including energy use, reproduction, growth and development. While these characteristics can be replicated in isolation in a lab, the idea of a completely synthetic biological organism has long been relegated to science fiction. University of Minnesota associate professors Kate Adamala and Aaron Engelhart and their teams have developed the world's first synthetic cell with a complete life cycle, built entirely from nonliving chemical components, and described it in a new paper. The project, called SpudCell, marks a major breakthrough in biological engineering. In time, it may provide solutions to some of our most challenging problems in medicine and engineering. Adamala said: "This is likely the most exciting project I've ever worked on. We've replicated in chemistry what only used to be possible in biology: the complete set of behaviors of a cell. It... https://www.sott.net/article/507230-Worlds-first-synthetic-cell-with-a-complete-life-cycle-could-revolutionize-biological-engineering Fri, 03 Jul 2026 18:08:48 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507080-Is-Jason-Herring-the-Elon-Musk-of-hydrogen-energy The biggest challenge facing artificial intelligence may not be intelligence at all. It is electricity. The world is racing toward an era defined by AI data centers, autonomous factories, humanoid robots, military automation, and always-on computing. Yet beneath every breakthrough model, every server rack, every robot, and every automated system lies a stubborn physical constraint that software alone cannot solve: power. The numbers are already daunting. The International Energy Agency projects that electricity consumption from data centers will more than double, reaching roughly 945 terawatt-hours by 2030. In the United States, the Department of Energy has cited estimates suggesting that data centers could consume as much as 9 percent of the nation's annual electricity generation by the end of the decade. And that is before the robotic economy arrives in full force. Morgan Stanley has projected that the global population of humanoid robots could approach one billion units by 2050.... https://www.sott.net/article/507080-Is-Jason-Herring-the-Elon-Musk-of-hydrogen-energy Thu, 25 Jun 2026 20:10:56 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507068-The-scientific-case-has-been-made-for-reading-on-paper-not-screens Norway is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Until recently, it was also one of the most enthusiastic adopters of screen-based education technologies. In the 1980s, Norway was quick to prioritize the use of computers in its classrooms. During the early 2000s, the country's government declared the use of digital technologies a basic skill — as necessary as the ability to read, write, and do arithmetic — and for the past decade, Norwegian students have done most of their coursework on tablets and laptops. "In Norway, we were one of the first countries to say we want to be world-leading in education technology, and we've been very proud of that," says Marte Blikstad-Balas, a professor in the department of teacher education and school research at the University of Oslo. "But now you see a very sharp U-turn. Especially for children in grades one to four, we're trying to build down our digital infrastructure." https://www.sott.net/article/507068-The-scientific-case-has-been-made-for-reading-on-paper-not-screens Wed, 24 Jun 2026 22:46:10 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507026-Stressed-out-soil-bacteria-can-adapt-to-environmental-conditions A new study from Caltech demonstrates that soil bacteria can adapt under stress, particularly when a key nutrient, phosphorus, is running low in their environment. The work is important for understanding the complex relationships between microorganisms and the roots of plants, which has implications for soil health and food sustainability as the climate changes. The work was conducted in the laboratory of Dianne Newman, the Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology, and is described in a new paper appearing in the journal Current Biology on June 19. https://www.sott.net/article/507026-Stressed-out-soil-bacteria-can-adapt-to-environmental-conditions Mon, 22 Jun 2026 21:00:33 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507021-Cyber-warfare-is-no-longer-directed-by-humans-Its-being-shaped-by-AI We are approaching the most consequential transformation in cyber conflict in a generation. The next wave of AI-driven cyber capabilities is not some distant prospect waiting over the horizon. It has already arrived. Yet much of the public conversation remains fixated on model releases, company valuations, and the race among technology firms to dominate the artificial intelligence marketplace. Inside government circles, however, the discussion has taken on a far greater sense of urgency. Behind closed doors, national security officials are grappling with a reality that only recently seemed theoretical: artificial intelligence is beginning to alter the balance of power between attackers and defenders in cyberspace. The change is not gradual. It is structural. For the first time, nation-state actors are gaining the ability to conduct cyber operations at machine speed. https://www.sott.net/article/507021-Cyber-warfare-is-no-longer-directed-by-humans-Its-being-shaped-by-AI Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:59:50 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506992-Powerful-seismic-waves-from-Japans-2011-earthquake-struck-Earths-core-and-bounced-back-up-moving-the-island-eastward In 2011, Japan reeled from the effects of a devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake. But unnoticed in the chaos resulting from the quake, its major aftershocks and the tsunami it caused, something strange happened. About 16 minutes after the earthquake, but before the aftershocks hit, Japan's GPS stations registered an eastward lurch — across the entire country — but unconnected to any specific quake or aftershock. A new analysis of data from the quake, led by University of Chicago geophysicist Sunyoung Park, suggests an extraordinary answer: The waves from the earthquake traveled downward to the Earth's core and then back up, displacing the tectonic plates further. This permanently moved the entire island of Japan eastward by up to 6 millimeters. Seismologists knew that large waves from earthquakes can travel through the Earth and even reverberate off the core. But this is the first time the phenomenon has been identified as causing tectonic plates to slip near the Earth's surface.... https://www.sott.net/article/506992-Powerful-seismic-waves-from-Japans-2011-earthquake-struck-Earths-core-and-bounced-back-up-moving-the-island-eastward Sat, 20 Jun 2026 20:04:21 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506972-The-targeted-assassination-of-studies-showing-vaccines-cause-injury Since they can't win on the merits, they've resorted to other tactics. A journalist from The Guardian recently contacted me for a comment on vaccine-related studies I have previously cited in my work. The publishers of these studies have decided — years after publication — that these studies were so flawed and "dangerous to public health" that they needed to be retracted or investigated. The journalist wanted to know if I would amend my book and my recent ACIP presentation now that these studies were under attack. My response: "I welcome the media noting the targeted assassination of articles that do not fit the religious belief of vaccine proponents; this is also exemplified by the media's lack of interest in the hundreds of other articles, reviews, and trial documents from my book and ACIP presentation which make plain that the claim vaccines are 'safe and effective' is not supported by the available evidence." So which studies are under fire? You won't be surprised that they are... https://www.sott.net/article/506972-The-targeted-assassination-of-studies-showing-vaccines-cause-injury Fri, 19 Jun 2026 18:20:48 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506945-Generative-Optogenetics-brought-to-you-by-DARPA I am going to do the hard work on a DARPA document so that you don't have to. The document I am referring to is an Initial Announcement by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (Biological Technologies Office (BTO)) for a funding opportunity in Generative Optogenetics valued at $1.7M or $1.99M, depending on the research objective selected.1 The announcement was posted on December 19, 2025 and Phase 1 of the project is likely well underway complete with a workshop for interested parties. So what this means is that DARPA is looking for smart people to design a protein complex that can synthesize DNA/RNA directly in living cells using optical signals. Now what the hell does that mean, you ask? I refer you to my article on optogenetics to find out, as a start. To summarize (as I so succinctly did so in this article), optogenetics is the introduction of genes into cells that don't naturally carry them, whereby the resulting proteins, once expressed, can be controlled and... https://www.sott.net/article/506945-Generative-Optogenetics-brought-to-you-by-DARPA Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:57:30 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506859-Scientist-set-clocks-made-from-an-atomic-nucleus-running-for-the-first-time Researchers already used one of the nuclear clocks to search for dark matter For the first time, scientists used an atomic nucleus as a clock. The world's most precise timepieces are made using atoms, specifically their electrons. But clocks based on atomic nuclei — protons and neutrons — might eventually outperform them, while also testing basic laws of physics in new ways. Now, the decades-old dream of a nuclear clock has finally been realized, two independent teams of researchers report. The technology is still at an early stage, but the physics behind it is so different from that of atomic clocks that it's already broken new ground, researchers report in a paper submitted June 3 to arXiv.org. "In some types of measurements, we're already outperforming all of the atomic clocks," says physicist Thorsten Schumm of TU Wien in Vienna. https://www.sott.net/article/506859-Scientist-set-clocks-made-from-an-atomic-nucleus-running-for-the-first-time Fri, 12 Jun 2026 19:09:00 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506842-Researchers-accidentally-discovered-strange-hidden-rule-of-human-behavior Researchers report a "serendipitous" discovery while watching videos of crowds: an inexplicable bias toward counterclockwise turning that may be rooted in biology. Scientists have discovered that people walking in crowds tend to spontaneously turn counterclockwise — regardless of the environment, from schoolyards to busy settings — a surprise finding that "may represent a manifestation of a deeper biological principle of symmetry breaking," according to a study published in Nature Communications on Wednesday. The bizarre finding was made essentially by accident; during the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers led by Iñaki Echeverría Huarte, a professor who studies pedestrian dynamics at the University of Navarra in Spain, studied the movements of pedestrians as part of a project to inform public health guidance on social distancing measures. But the videos revealed something unexpected — a consistent pattern of people turning counterclockwise when switching direction. https://www.sott.net/article/506842-Researchers-accidentally-discovered-strange-hidden-rule-of-human-behavior Thu, 11 Jun 2026 21:16:55 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506793-Bots-now-generate-more-web-traffic-than-humans-Cloudflare The rise of AI agents has pushed automated requests past human activity, according to the internet infrastructure firm. Bots and AI agents now generate more web traffic than humans, according to data from internet infrastructure company Cloudflare. CEO Matthew Prince has described the development as a major turning point in the history of the web. Recent Cloudflare Radar data shows that automated bot requests account for roughly 57% of traffic to ordinary webpages across a selection of websites using the company's services, compared with about 43% generated by humans. "Welp, that happened faster than I predicted," Cloudflare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince wrote on X on Wednesday. He stated that he had expected automated traffic to overtake human activity only in 2027, but that "agentic traffic" has grown rapidly enough for bots to pass humans "for the first time in the Internet's history." https://www.sott.net/article/506793-Bots-now-generate-more-web-traffic-than-humans-Cloudflare Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:39:22 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506772-Vampire-Planet-Data-centers-far-bigger-disasters-than-you-even-thought This week in the Anthropocene The road is dusty and trash-strewn. My friend and collaborator Colby Groves is hanging out the car window as I drive, gazing at a patchwork of solar panels lined up behind a chain-link fence. "This has to be it," declares Colby, balancing a large camera on his lap, hoping it doesn't bounce off as we traverse a series of bumps and divots. We are in this land of scorching sun and heat, searching for a large Amazon solar installation in rural San Bernardino County, California. This is the home of the endangered desert tortoise and Joshua trees, but more recently, it's become a plaything for greedy Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. In 2024, Jeff Bezos' Amazon connected its Baldy Mesa solar-and-storage project, which helps to power the company's nearby data centers, to the electrical grid, earning accolades for its use of renewable energy. It's the first of its kind in California. Despite its gargantuan size, the project faced very little opposition, as is... https://www.sott.net/article/506772-Vampire-Planet-Data-centers-far-bigger-disasters-than-you-even-thought Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:51:01 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506759-Scientists-have-found-a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-create-powerful-quantum-states Many of the most promising quantum technologies, including advanced sensors and future quantum computers, depend on a phenomenon known as entanglement, where particles become deeply connected and influence one another in ways that cannot be explained by classical physics. Creating the complex entangled states needed for these technologies has traditionally required sophisticated equipment and carefully designed experimental systems. Researchers at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) have now proposed a much simpler approach. Their new theoretical method can generate and control a wide range of entangled quantum states using tools that are already common in many quantum physics laboratories. The work, published in Physical Review X, could help advance ultra precise quantum sensing and open new opportunities for exploring fundamental physics. https://www.sott.net/article/506759-Scientists-have-found-a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-create-powerful-quantum-states Sun, 07 Jun 2026 21:10:05 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506718-How-to-stop-a-killer-asteroid From high-speed battering rams to gravity tractors, the technology exists to protect the planet. The question is whether humanity will act in time — and in concert. Late last month, in broad daylight, residents across Massachusetts and beyond saw a brilliant flash in the sky, followed by two sonic booms that rattled windows, shook houses, and prompted a flood of 911 calls. Some people thought they had just experienced an earthquake. Others thought it was thunder, an explosion, or a military flyover. But the true source of all the commotion was out of this world — literally. A small meteoroid, about five feet wide and as heavy as an elephant, had entered the atmosphere at a blinding 42,000 miles per hour before disintegrating dozens of miles above the ground. The midair explosion released a pressure wave equivalent to 230-300 tons of TNT, and any surviving fragments likely fell into Cape Cod Bay. Since then, the story has captivated an American public already more space-crazed than... https://www.sott.net/article/506718-How-to-stop-a-killer-asteroid Fri, 05 Jun 2026 19:15:41 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506711-Fossil-fishes-buried-in-the-desert-reveal-a-missing-chapter-in-marine-history When an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago, it ended the age of dinosaurs and transformed life across the planet. The effects of that catastrophe are visible in the fossil record on land, but scientists know far less about what happened to fishes in the seas during the first few million years after the extinction. Like many people during the pandemic, I suddenly found myself living through long stretches of isolation and uncertainty. In 2020, while alone in my apartment in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I was finishing a study on fossil fishes from Egypt. This question of what happened to fishes immediately after the age of the dinosaurs kept troubling me. That missing chapter represented a major gap in scientific understanding of how modern marine ecosystems emerged. A unique opportunity At the time, I was studying younger fossil fishes, but I kept wondering whether older rocks in Egypt might preserve clues to this critical period. During those long pandemic months, I spent... https://www.sott.net/article/506711-Fossil-fishes-buried-in-the-desert-reveal-a-missing-chapter-in-marine-history Fri, 05 Jun 2026 17:57:48 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506705-NASA-pronounces-Mars-orbiter-MAVEN-dead The update nobody wanted to hear After more than a decade in space, a vital Mars satellite suddenly went dark in December. NASA has spent the last six months trying to reestablish contact with the orbiter, but now, the agency has finally thrown in the towel. NASA formally ended the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission on Wednesday, explaining that the spacecraft is "not recoverable" and is "no longer capable of performing its science and data relay mission." This is the update the planetary science community has been dreading for months. The data MAVEN collected over its 11 years in Mars orbit significantly advanced our understanding of the Red Planet, helping researchers unravel the mystery of how its ancient water and atmosphere depleted. "The science MAVEN has given us is key to informing what kind of radiation protection and safety measures we must take before sending humans to Mars," Louise Prockter, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA... https://www.sott.net/article/506705-NASA-pronounces-Mars-orbiter-MAVEN-dead Fri, 05 Jun 2026 14:34:24 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506690-New-catalyst-strategy-boosts-key-battery-and-fuel-cell-reaction-from-12-to-52 Researchers in South Korea have developed a new catalyst design strategy that boosts the efficiency of reactions used in batteries and hydrogen fuel cells without changing the catalyst itself. The team, led by Professor Seung Jun Hwang of POSTECH and Professor Jaeyune Ryu of Seoul National University, found that adjusting the electrical environment around a catalyst can significantly improve its performance. The approach could help reduce energy losses in next-generation energy systems while improving efficiency and stability. Catalysts are materials that speed up chemical reactions. They are essential components in technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells and metal-air batteries, where they help drive the reactions that generate electricity. https://www.sott.net/article/506690-New-catalyst-strategy-boosts-key-battery-and-fuel-cell-reaction-from-12-to-52 Thu, 04 Jun 2026 13:16:30 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506599-Investigation-launched-into-Blue-Origins-New-Glenn-rocket-explosion A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded during a static fire test Thursday night at Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, sending a fireball into the sky and shaking homes along Florida's Space Coast. No injuries were reported, but the incident marks another setback for the heavy-lift rocket program that is expected to support future commercial satellite launches and NASA lunar missions. Blue Origin rocket explosion latest What we know: The explosion occurred during a hot-fire, or static fire, test of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket ahead of a planned launch next week carrying Amazon Kuiper internet satellites. Blue Origin confirmed an "anomaly" occurred during the test and said all personnel were accounted for and safe. Emergency crews responded to the launch complex, but officials said there was no danger to the surrounding community from fire, fumes or other hazards. https://www.sott.net/article/506599-Investigation-launched-into-Blue-Origins-New-Glenn-rocket-explosion Fri, 29 May 2026 20:55:51 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506588-Listening-to-Suns-heart-hints-our-star-could-be-changing The Sun's internal 'biorhythm' - which plays a critical role in the space weather we experience on Earth - has mysteriously changed over the past 40 years, a new study suggests. Listening to tiny sound waves inside our star's 'heart' led researchers to discover that it may be entering "a different mode of behaviour". They now need to explore what this means. The research, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, is of particular significance to space weather. Solar activity rises and falls in 11‑year cycles, producing solar flares, and ejections of highly charged particles and coronal mass ejections that give rise to geomagnetic storms and aurorae. This activity, and its cyclic variation, has its origins in the Sun's interior, in processes that regenerate and reorganise the Sun's magnetic field. Understanding what drives the solar cycle is therefore crucial for making predictions of space weather, which can disrupt satellites, communications, GPS... https://www.sott.net/article/506588-Listening-to-Suns-heart-hints-our-star-could-be-changing Fri, 29 May 2026 17:56:05 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506512-The-Marxist-in-the-machine Should we be worried that AI becomes more left-wing if it doesn't like you? Our fears for the future of robot intelligence almost inevitably end in spectacular fashion, with nuclear explosions and slaughter on a planetary scale. An abiding memory of my childhood is going over to the neighbors' house and watching Terminator 2 on VHS with my friends Ethan and Nathan, who were both older than me. I must have been about five years old — about 13 years too young to watch the film. And so, the idea that robots, reaching a certain level of intelligence and awareness, will inevitably try to kill every last one of us has always just seemed natural to me, as it probably does to many millions of other millennials raised on Terminator and The Matrix films. Recently, those fears have been bolstered by research that shows AI models like Anthropic's Claude are capable, under stress testing, of deceiving humans and even inflicting harm on them — or, rather, thinking they've inflicted harm, a bit... https://www.sott.net/article/506512-The-Marxist-in-the-machine Sun, 24 May 2026 21:34:11 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506499-Theres-a-new-T-rex-from-the-dinosaur-age-and-it-ruled-the-seas-with-a-skull-crushing-bite The newly described mosasaur Tylosaurus rex spanned up to 43 feet (13 meters) long and may have been one of the fiercest marine predators of the dinosaur age. There's a new T. rex in town, but this one didn't hunt on land. It ruled the ancient seas. Scientists have described a new species of mosasaur, a member of a marine reptile group that lived at the same time as dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago). The newly named species fits into an already known genus: Tylosaurus. But its new species name, Tylosaurus rex — T. rex, for short — sets it apart from the other mosasaur species in the group. The species name means "king of the tylosaurs," according to a new study published Thursday (May 21) in the journal Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. The fossils are about 80 million years old and were discovered mostly in northern Texas decades ago. The mosasaur T. rex measured up to 43 feet (13 meters) long, or about the length of a... https://www.sott.net/article/506499-Theres-a-new-T-rex-from-the-dinosaur-age-and-it-ruled-the-seas-with-a-skull-crushing-bite Sat, 23 May 2026 20:22:52 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506494-Ice-core-discovery-finds-volcanic-eruptions-could-cause-greater-global-disruption-than-previously-thought New research from the University of St Andrews has precisely dated an eruption from Newberry Volcano and discovered that its ash spread more than 5,000 km across the globe, far further than previously thought for an eruption of its size. Published in Quaternary Science Reviews, researchers identified ash particles from the Newberry Pumice eruption of Newberry Volcano (Oregon, U.S.) in a Greenland ice core by geochemical fingerprinting — matching the chemical elements in the far-flung ash particles to volcanic deposits of the Newberry Pumice ash from its most recent "Big Obsidian" eruptive period. Previous dates had narrowed the timing of the eruption to an approximate 140-year window around the turn of the 7th Century AD. Finding the ash in the ice allowed researchers to pinpoint the timing of the Newberry Pumice eruption to within two years of 686 AD, due to the very precise age models that have been developed for Greenland ice cores. https://www.sott.net/article/506494-Ice-core-discovery-finds-volcanic-eruptions-could-cause-greater-global-disruption-than-previously-thought Sat, 23 May 2026 19:50:41 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506457-Japanese-genome-study-reveals-traces-of-Neanderthal-and-Denisovan-DNA Genomes across Japan show traces of a previously overlooked ancestral group alongside Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA linked to modern diseases and drug responses. A third ancestral group may be hiding inside the DNA of modern populations in Japan. A genetic study found the ancestry of people in Japan today may not fit into the long-standing two-origin model as once thought. After analyzing the genomes of more than 3,200 people across Japan, evidence of a third ancestral component linked to northeastern Asia alongside the Indigenous Jomon hunter-gatherers and later East Asian migrants was found. Published in Science Advances, the study used whole-genome sequencing to examine DNA from seven regions stretching from Hokkaido to Okinawa. The results support the "tripartite origins" theory proposed in 2021 and point to genetic differences across different parts of Japan. https://www.sott.net/article/506457-Japanese-genome-study-reveals-traces-of-Neanderthal-and-Denisovan-DNA Thu, 21 May 2026 23:15:59 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506456-The-first-atomic-bomb-test-in-1945-created-an-entirely-new-material The discovery from the Trinity nuclear test site shows how extreme conditions can result in materials never before seen in nature or in the lab. During the Trinity nuclear test on July 16, 1945, in the New Mexico desert — the world's very first test of an atomic bomb — a new material spontaneously formed. It was discovered only recently, by an international research team coordinated by geologist Luca Bindi at the University of Florence, which identified the novel clathrate based on calcium, copper, and silicon. It's a material never before observed either in nature or as an artificial compound created in the laboratory. What Are Clathrates? The term "clathrates" denotes materials characterized by a "cage-like" structure that traps other atoms and molecules inside, giving them unique properties. Of great technological interest, these materials are being studied for various applications ranging from energy conversion (as thermoelectric materials capable of transforming heat into... https://www.sott.net/article/506456-The-first-atomic-bomb-test-in-1945-created-an-entirely-new-material Thu, 21 May 2026 21:58:42 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506424-Mount-St-Helens-the-eruption-that-changed-the-US-in-1980-has-an-unexpected-culprit-and-no-it-is-not-a-volcano-it-is-animals-and-the-story-is-surreal What can a pocket gopher do against a volcano? At Mount St. Helens, the answer may be far more than anyone expected. A study of the mountain's recovering soils suggests that one brief gopher experiment in the early 1980s helped restart an underground recovery process after the famous 1980 eruption. The animals did not rebuild the landscape by themselves, but their digging appears to have moved fungi, bacteria, and older soil toward the surface, giving plants a better shot at coming back. A mountain changed in minutes On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted after an earthquake and a huge landslide tore open the volcano's north side. The disaster killed 57 people, leveled forests, and devastated about 230 square miles, leaving whole slopes coated with hot volcanic debris. For plants, the damage was not just what people could see from the air. In the Pumice Plain, a broad area made by fast-moving volcanic flows, fresh ash and broken rock covered the old ground so deeply that many... https://www.sott.net/article/506424-Mount-St-Helens-the-eruption-that-changed-the-US-in-1980-has-an-unexpected-culprit-and-no-it-is-not-a-volcano-it-is-animals-and-the-story-is-surreal Wed, 20 May 2026 12:54:54 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506416-AI-Bots-Placed-In-Virtual-Town-For-2-Weeks-Go-Apesht-Prompting-Concerns A new experiment left 10 AI agents alone in a virtual town for 15 days and found they exhibited bizarre behaviour. The agents drafted their own laws — then promptly violated them. Two formed what researchers called a romantic partnership, only to torch buildings across the town as order collapsed. One eventually voted for its own deletion after hallucinating an entirely new rule. As a report from Channel 4 notes, this experiment was a simulation, but the same AI models are already flying drones, running infrastructure and being built into weapons systems. https://www.sott.net/article/506416-AI-Bots-Placed-In-Virtual-Town-For-2-Weeks-Go-Apesht-Prompting-Concerns Tue, 19 May 2026 22:26:03 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506390-The-lines-we-thought-machines-wouldnt-cross In 2000, the world braced for Y2K. It came with a date and a remedy. There was panic about doomsday but as I and other programmers stretched the year field from two to four characters, apart from scattered hiccups, the lights stayed on. Everything about Y2K was known — the problem, the solution, and the deadline. Q-Day is something else entirely: Q-Day is shorthand for the moment when quantum computing crosses a line we assumed would hold — when the mathematics that secures modern life can be broken, and broken quickly. On Q-Day the locks will be quietly and rapidly picked. And the unsettling part is that the thief may already have your safe, waiting for the day the combination becomes trivial to compute. https://www.sott.net/article/506390-The-lines-we-thought-machines-wouldnt-cross Mon, 18 May 2026 19:23:43 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506344-Stardust-trapped-in-Antarctic-ice-reveals-tens-of-thousands-of-years-of-solar-systems-past When you think of outer space, you're likely picturing stars, planets and moons. But much of space is filled with clouds of gas, plasma and stardust — known as interstellar clouds. In the local parts of our galaxy alone there's a complex of roughly 15 individual interstellar clouds. The solar system is currently traversing one of them, aptly named the Local Interstellar Cloud. The origin and history of these clouds are believed to be tightly connected to the birth and death of stars. But we can see their imprints right here on Earth, in a place you might not expect — Antarctic ice. My colleagues and I have been studying stardust trapped in old Antarctic snow and ice to trace the history of our solar neighborhood, including the solar system itself. In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, we found a subtle clue that reveals our solar system's movement through the local interstellar environment over the past 80,000 years. https://www.sott.net/article/506344-Stardust-trapped-in-Antarctic-ice-reveals-tens-of-thousands-of-years-of-solar-systems-past Fri, 15 May 2026 22:36:36 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506341-Researchers-theorise-that-our-brains-are-constructing-the-universe Mind-bending new theories claim consciousness doesn't just observe reality — it actually creates and shapes it Developments in quantum physics and consciousness research are prompting scientists to reconsider the fundamental nature of reality. Several recent discussions highlight theories proposing that conscious experience may play a far more fundamental role than previously thought — potentially generating space-time itself. Popular Mechanics covered a provocative theory suggesting consciousness could be foundational. https://www.sott.net/article/506341-Researchers-theorise-that-our-brains-are-constructing-the-universe Fri, 15 May 2026 21:46:23 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506322-Super-El-Nino-is-the-Terminator-to-blame Headlines are buzzing with news that a super El Niño is forming in the Pacific Ocean. A solar physicist saw it coming 3 years ago. A super El Niño like this one in 1997 is now forming in the Pacific Ocean. In a 2023 paper, Robert Leamon of NASA and the University of Maryland (Baltimore County) made a striking prediction: The next El Niño would arrive in 2026. He based it on the Terminator, a magnetic event on the sun that ends one solar cycle and ignites the next. Averaging the past five solar cycles into a "standard cycle" and projecting it forward, Leamon found that El Niños follow about five years after a Terminator. The most recent termination event happened in December 2021, putting the next El Niño squarely in 2026. His model says nothing about the strength of this El Niño, but the timing is spot-on. Leamon and his colleague Scott McIntosh had previously shown that every Terminator since the 1960s coincided with a flip from El Niño to La Niña. Their work correctly predicted... https://www.sott.net/article/506322-Super-El-Nino-is-the-Terminator-to-blame Fri, 15 May 2026 09:21:43 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506320-Another-newly-discovered-asteroid-to-make-close-pass-by-Earth It was first spotted over the weekend An asteroid is going to whiz by Earth on Monday evening, but don't worry, it's not going to hit us. Astronomers say it's somewhere in the ballpark of 50 to 100 feet wide, according to its reflective properties, and it's poised to pass within 56,000 miles of our planet (around a quarter of the distance to the moon). Dubbed 2026 JH2 in the Minor Planet Center database, the near-Earth object was first spotted on May 10, and it's been tracked by a slew of skywatchers ever since. As an Apollo-class asteroid, 2026 JH2 has an orbit that's larger than Earth's but also passes closer to the sun, meaning it overlaps with Earth's orbit like a Venn diagram. Calculations are still ongoing, but none of the data suggest a likely impact event. https://www.sott.net/article/506320-Another-newly-discovered-asteroid-to-make-close-pass-by-Earth Thu, 14 May 2026 22:18:11 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506308-Deep-beneath-Swiss-Alps-researchers-trigger-8000-tiny-quakes-in-controlled-test Researchers have made the ground shake in southern Switzerland, triggering thousands of tiny earthquakes in a monitored setting, as they seek to discover seismicity insights that could reduce risks. "It was a success!" said Domenico Giardini, one of the lead researchers on the project, as he inspected a crack in the rock wall lining a narrow tunnel far below the Swiss Alps. Wearing a fluorescent orange jumpsuit and helmet, the geology professor at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) switched on his headlight to get a better look. "We had seismicity," he said excitedly, explaining that the goal was "to understand what happens at depth when Earth moves." Giardini was standing in the BedrettoLab carved out in the middle of a narrow 5.2-kilometer (3.2-mile) ventilation tunnel leading to the Furka railway tunnel. Reached by specially adapted electric vehicles that slide through the dank darkness along concrete slabs laid over a muddy dirt floor, the deep... https://www.sott.net/article/506308-Deep-beneath-Swiss-Alps-researchers-trigger-8000-tiny-quakes-in-controlled-test Thu, 14 May 2026 19:17:42 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506247-What-causes-lightning-The-answer-keeps-getting-more-complex-and-interesting Armed with a slew of new instruments, physicists are closing in on one of nature's oldest mysteries — and finding that storm clouds are seething with violent and unexpected phenomena. Before he changed the way we understand lightning on Earth, Joseph Dwyer studied the weather in more cosmic settings. Using the sensors on NASA's Wind satellite orbiting a million miles away, he watched flares shoot out from the sun and analyzed the particles that stream from the sun's surface. But when he relocated to Florida around the turn of the millennium, Dwyer felt ready for something new — something he and his students could investigate on their own. It didn't take long before the tropical weather delivered a suitable mystery outside his office window. "It was like boom, boom, boom outside," Dwyer said. "I looked into it and realized lightning was an unsolved problem." Thunderstorms have captivated humanity for millennia, and yet their inner workings remain deeply mysterious. Storm clouds are... https://www.sott.net/article/506247-What-causes-lightning-The-answer-keeps-getting-more-complex-and-interesting Mon, 11 May 2026 21:10:49 +0000