Why Earth has a stubborn cold spot that’s cooling
Earth is relentlessly heating. So it's strange that there's a persistent "cold blob" in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The cold blob (aka "warming hole") is like a glaring...
NASA pays out $51 million to small businesses with big ideas – TechCrunch
NASA has announced its latest batch of small business grants, providing more than 300 businesses a total of $51 million in crucial early-stage funding. These “phase I” projects receive up...
NASA sets path for up to six more Artemis moon exploration missions with SLS booster order – TechCrunch
NASA has laid the groundwork for an order of up to six additional SLS solid core booster rockets, from supplier Northrop Grumman, the agency announced this week. The six additional...
Just wear the $%#@ing mask
Coronavirus in Context is a weekly newsletter where we bring you facts that matter about the COVID-19 pandemic and the technology trying to stop its spread. You can subscribe here. Hola pandemic pals,...
CMU researchers develop a an automatic politeness engine for text-based communications – TechCrunch
If you’re a typically terse communicator who could probably benefit from a little more civility in your everyday communications, a new Carnegie Mellon University research project could be the answer....
Why we should explore Venus before Mars
There are some encouraging signs. Russia is working on its first Venus probe since 1983, the long-delayed and (to English ears) unfortunately-named Venera-D. Its goal is to study Venus’ greenhouse...
How aliens could use black holes to power an intergalactic civilization
Remember when I warned everyone that humans would probably destroy all life in the universe like construction workers killing ant colonies to make way for a never-ending series of cosmic...
Fat bear cam champ returns in 2020 with a major transformation
She's back. And majorly transformed. The 2019 Fat Bear Week champion, bear 435 "Holly," returned to Katmai National Park and Preserve's Brooks River a few days ago, hundreds of pounds...
Space exploration is expensive, but it’s worth the price
I am one of the few African-American aerospace engineers who helped design the Apollo spaceships that took men to the Moon. My great-grandfather was a slave in Claiborne, Alabama, who...
These Jupiter-sized planets are light as cotton candy
Astronomers once believed that most solar systems would be much like our own, with small rocky planets near their sun, accompanied by gas giants orbiting the star at greater distances....