Science

By Gizmodo

Science
A Passing Comet Will Be Visible to the Naked Eye This Weekend
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
The year’s brightest comet will make its closest approach with Earth over the weekend—and, if you’re in the right spot, you should be able to see it …
Science
Report: Johnson & Johnson Knew About Asbestos in Its Baby Powder Products for Decades
Gizmodo - Ed Cara
An explosive new report by Reuters released Friday may upturn the narrative surrounding the potential cancer risks of talcum powder. According to the …
Science
China’s Social Ranking System Will Now Target Rule-Breaking Scientists
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
To tackle widespread scientific misconduct, the Chinese government has expanded its controversial social credit system to include infractions made by …
Science
Maybe Don't Eat Glitter, FDA Says
Gizmodo - Ed Cara
This holiday season, the Food and Drug Administration has issued an important, somehow not obvious piece of advice to the public: Please don’t eat or …
Qubits
This Could Be the Best Quantum Computer Yet
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
A startup based in Maryland has released and tested an impressive new quantum computer that demonstrates the power of an occasionally overlooked …
Geek
Martian Satellite Spots NASA’s InSight Lander From Space
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
The precise location of NASA’s InSight lander within Elysium Planitia is now known, thanks to images captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The …
Quantum Computing
It's Time to Plan for How Quantum Computing Could Go Wrong, Say Entrepreneurs and Physicists
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
Quantum computers that can crack our strongest encryption methods might be decades away—but a group of entrepreneurs and researchers think we better …
Virgin Galactic
Historic Virgin Galactic Flight Reminds Us That ‘Space’ Is Just a Concept, Man
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
Earlier today, Virgin Galactic sent its SpaceShipTwo commercial aircraft into space, a historic first for the private company. But at a maximum …
Science
The New Bad Tick Is Going to Take Over Half the United States, Study Finds
Gizmodo - Ed Cara
A disease-carrying, newly invasive tick to the United States, the Asian longhorned tick, is poised to spread across much of North America, suggests a …
Science
Two Stalagmites Found in Chinese Cave Are a 'Holy Grail' for Accurate Radiocarbon Dating
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
Since its inception in the 1950s, radiocarbon dating has proven indispensable to archaeologists and climate scientists, who rely on the technique to …
Geek
Scientists Virtually Reconstruct Magnificent Pre-Incan Temple
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
The 1,500-year-old Pumapunku temple in western Bolivia is considered a crowning achievement of Andean architecture, yet no one knows what the …
Environment
Deep Earth Is Teeming with Mysterious Life
Gizmodo - Brian Kahn
It may seem fantastical, but there is a living world deep, deep beneath our feet. Go below the soil, beyond the bedrock, and you’ll find a hot, …
Environment
Antarctic Scientists Are About to Drill Into One of the Most Isolated Lakes on Earth
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
Buried beneath 4,000 feet of Antarctic ice lies Lake Mercer, a subglacial body of water that formed thousands of years ago and has been long …
Science
Eye Worms, Octopuses on MDMA, and More: The Strangest Science Stories of 2018
Gizmodo - Ed Cara
Year In ReviewWe look back at the best, worst, and most significant moments of the year, and look forward to next year. Truly, 2018 has been a year …
Geek
NASA’s InSight Lander Strikes a Confident Pose for Its First Martian Selfie
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
In the very first selfie taken by InSight, the NASA probe looks ready and rarin’ to go. This wonderful mosaic, which consists of 11 individual photos, …
Science
Young Warrior in Gruesome Iron Age Grave Was ‘Killed’ Again After Death
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
He was somewhere between the age of 17 and 25 when he died, apparently of natural causes. But for reasons that are unclear, this warrior’s body was …
Geek
Physicists Create Incredible 'Quark Soup' Droplets That Expand Like Little Big Bangs
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
The universe began with a bang—and things immediately got weird. Stars and galaxies didn’t form right away. Scientists think that matter was initially …
Science
Watch Russian Cosmonauts Inspect Mysterious ISS Hole in 'Unprecedented' Spacewalk
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
Russian cosmonauts are preparing to inspect a mysterious hole on the exterior of a damaged Soyuz capsule, a complex spacewalk that could take upwards …
Science
NASA Spacecraft Spots Signal of Water on Asteroid Bennu
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has already detected evidence of water on its target, the asteroid Bennu, just a week after arriving. The OSIRIS-REx …
Geek
It's Official: Voyager 2 Has Entered Interstellar Space
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
A human-made object has entered the space between the stars for the second time in history, scientists report. NASA will announce the details live at …
Geek
Squid Expert on Apple's Tortured Squid Emoji: It's Like 'Having a Butt on Your Forehead'
Gizmodo - Catie Keck
In what now seems to be an egregious oversight on the part of Apple, the scientific community this week flagged an anatomically incorrect squid emoji …
Science
‘Cute Aggression’ Study Explores Why We Want to Squeeze Cute Babies and Animals
Gizmodo - Catie Keck
You’ve probably heard the term “cute aggression” thrown around over the years. It describes the odd but seemingly common compulsion to smoosh, bite, …
Mental Disorders
Childhood Antibiotics Could Raise Risk of Mental Illness, Study Finds
Gizmodo - Ed Cara
For all the good that antibiotics do, relying on them too much can have pretty drastic drawbacks. In particular, their overuse can help create …
Environment
Can You Spot What's Special About This Photo of the Crescent Moon?
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
Astronomer Steven Bellavia at Brookhaven National Labs caught a neat picture of the crescent Moon this past Monday, which he passed along for Gizmodo …
Science
Chinese Spacecraft Launches on Mission to the Far Side of the Moon
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
China launched its Chang’e 4 lander and rover today (December 8, 2:22 a.m. local time) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, as part of a mission …
Google Street View
These Birders Flock to Google Street View to Spot Birds Around the World
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
I noticed something in the distance while clicking along rural U.S. Route 59 in Minnesota, 80 miles southeast of Fargo, North Dakota. Two grainy …
Molecular Biology
Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills Woman Who Filled Her Neti Pot With Tap Water
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
A 68-year-old Seattle woman who died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba used regular tap water to rinse her sinuses, according to new …
Science
How NASA's Mission to Bennu Will Keep Earth Safe from Asteroids
Gizmodo - Ryan F. Mandelbaum
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission won’t just take pretty pictures of the asteroid Bennu—it will also help scientists learn whether the rock will one day …
Geek
New Images from Mars Show NASA’s InSight Landed on an Absolutely Glorious Spot
Gizmodo - George Dvorsky
It’s been 11 days since InSight made its picture-perfect landing on Mars. Vivid new photos taken from the landing site are finally giving mission …