On a wooded hilltop in eastern Ohio, a massive sandstone boulder bears more than a hundred ancient tracks whose origins remain uncertain. Known as the Barnesville Petroglyph, the site has drawn archaeologists, local residents, and even conspiracy theories for generations. Despite decades of attention, its creators and purpose are still debated. The rock, often called
A brand new image captured by one of Earth’s biggest astronomical observatories shows the centre of our Galaxy in detail never seen before. The new image of the middle of the Milky Way was captured using an array of telescopes located in the Chilean desert, under some of the darkest skies in the world. NASA,
Cell division is fundamental to life, yet scientists have struggled to fully explain how it works in the earliest stages of embryonic development, especially in egg laying animals. Researchers from the Brugués group at the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (PoL) at TUD Dresden University of Technology have now identified a previously unknown mechanism
Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Astronomers using the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa have discovered a powerful microwave laser beam firing off in the distant reaches of the cosmos. The high-energy emission, known as a maser — and more colloquially, a “space laser”
The use of the word “quantum” has become rather hackneyed. There are quantum computers, quantum sensors, and even quantum refrigerators; the list is endless. I mean, what’s next—quantum washing machines? If all the quantum spam has left you exhausted, Paul Davies’s new book, Quantum 2.0: The Weird Physics Driving a New Revolution in Technology, might
Han Zeng stood in a quarry in Hunan province and looked at mudstone that had lain undisturbed for more than half a billion years. The paleontologist from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology was standing on a piece of ground that had once been deep ocean, at the edge of a continental shelf. Between
For decades, astronomers have known that the universe is expanding. To determine how fast it is growing today, scientists calculate a value called the Hubble constant. Multiple independent techniques are used to measure it, and because they rely on the same underlying physics, they should produce matching results. Instead, measurements based on observations of the
Two NASA spacecraft have detected different signals that point to possible lightning on Mars. One clue comes from orbit, the other from the planet’s surface, together strengthening the case that electrical discharges flicker through the Red Planet’s dusty skies. Lightning has already been observed on Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. Mars, by contrast, has remained ambiguous
The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covering between 5.5 and 7 million km2 (estimates vary). It is home to a huge number of animal species – 400 mammals, 1,300 birds and 3,000 fish – as well as at least 40,000 plant species. Jaguars, sloths and harpy eagles can all be found in the
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. I have always loved the idea of going to outer space. I grew up reading Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick. There is something unique and wonderful about the idea that humans could free