Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email The death toll from flash floods in northern Afghanistan has risen to 315 with over 1,600 people injured, Taliban officials said on Sunday. The number of dead from the floods caused by heavy rains is … Read more
Like many good ideas in science, it started with a walk in the woods. During a stroll through the Berlin Botanic Garden in 2019, HHMI Janelia Research Campus Group Leader Jan Funke and some of his scientific colleagues started chatting about a familiar topic: how to get more information out of insect connectomes. These wiring … Read more
More solar storms are expected to pummel the planet. Auroras lit up skies across swaths of the planet for the second night in a row on Saturday, after already dazzling Earthlings from the United States to Tasmania to the Bahamas the day before. A powerful solar storm—which could continue into Sunday—has triggered spectacular celestial shows usually … Read more
The first recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant has died about two months later, with the hospital that performed the surgery saying it did not have any indication the transplant was the cause. Richard “Rick” Slayman had the transplant at Massachusetts general hospital in March at the age of 62. Surgeons said they … Read more
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Switzerland act Nemo hit out at Eurovision organisers moments after winning the annual song contest. Nemo impressed the jury and the public with their performance of “The Code” … Read more
Imagine a slime-like robot that can seamlessly change its shape to squeeze through narrow spaces, which could be deployed inside the human body to remove an unwanted item. While such a robot does not yet exist outside a laboratory, researchers are working to develop reconfigurable soft robots for applications in health care, wearable devices, and … Read more
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope highlights the spiral galaxy UGC 9684. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick The celestial object showcased in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is the spiral galaxy UGC 9684, which lies around 240 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Boötes. This image shows an … Read more
The question At 36, I find myself in a stable phase of life, contrasting my earlier years of nomadic renting and dead-end jobs as an artist, a passion I’ve abandoned. My dog is my sole source of joy, yet even that pleasure feels dulled lately. I struggle to feel real or connected, lacking focus and … Read more
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Our sun is the best-observed star in the entire universe. We see its light every day. For centuries, scientists have tracked the dark spots dappling its radiant face, while in recent decades, telescopes in space and on Earth have scrutinized sunbeams in wavelengths spanning the … Read more
(NEXSTAR) — On Friday night, the most significant G5 geomagnetic storm since 2003 hit Earth — causing several coronal mass ejections, or CMEs — and allowing many across the U.S. to see northern lights where they usually can’t. But just what does all this mean? To start with, as explained by the weather team at … Read more
