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Phys.org / Parachutes: A vital part of Artemis II's trip home
As the Orion spacecraft hurtles home, friction caused by reentry into Earth's atmosphere will drastically decrease its speed from a potential 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 kilometers per hour).
Phys.org / From Jurassic Park to dreams of AI doom, pop culture shapes science more than we like to admit
The relationship between science and pop culture often looks like a one-way street: scientific discoveries inspire films, television and novels, particularly in science fiction. But the relationship really goes both ways, ...
Phys.org / JAXA plans to bring back pristine early solar system samples from a comet
Japan's space agency, JAXA, has been knocking it out of the park with small-body exploration missions for decades. They had historic successes with both Hayabusa and Hayabusa2, and they are going to visit the Martian moons ...
Phys.org / Plant-inspired water membrane filters CO₂ with constant selectivity and adjustable permeance
Gas separation membranes are vital for carbon capture, biogas upgrading, and hydrogen purification, all of which require the separation of carbon dioxide from gases like nitrogen, methane and hydrogen. However, the membranes ...
Tech Xplore / New AI video tool removes objects without breaking the laws of physics
When movie and TV directors want to tinker with their footage in post-production, they have an array of tools at their disposal to perfect a scene if it wasn't shot exactly how they liked. That includes removing objects like ...
Phys.org / Ancient Romans were obsessed with a plant said to be a contraception and an aphrodisiac. Then one day, it went extinct
Roman leader Julius Caesar is said to have kept a stock of it in the treasury. Ancient writer Pliny the Elder says Rome's Emperor Nero owned the last stalk of it. And some have suggested rampant extramarital sex in elite ...
Phys.org / SNIPE bacterial defense system shreds phage DNA before infection can begin
What if the Trojan horse had been pulled to pieces, revealing the ruse and fending off the invasion, just as it entered the gates of Troy? That's an apt description of a newly characterized bacterial defense system that chops ...
Phys.org / Worsening ocean heat waves are 'supercharging' hurricane damage, study finds
Marine heat waves are supercharging damage caused by hurricanes and tropical cyclones across the globe, a new study found.
Phys.org / AI can design and run thousands of lab experiments without human hands. Humanity isn't ready
Artificial intelligence is rapidly learning to autonomously design and run biological experiments, but the systems intended to govern those capabilities are struggling to keep pace.
Phys.org / Camera-tagged Adélie penguins caught eating sea snails in East Antarctica
There are many poorly understood links in the food web, often referred to as trophic relationships. Out in East Antarctica, a previously unconfirmed link between sea snails and Adélie penguins might reveal more than meets ...
Phys.org / Meet Orpheus—A hopper mission built to hunt for life in Martian volcanoes
We've spent decades scratching the surface of Mars trying to uncover life there. But we've been searching a barren wasteland bombarded by radiation and bathed in toxic perchlorates. The entire time, it's likely that it's ...
Phys.org / The oldest breath: A 300-million-year-old mummy reveals the origins of how amniotes breathe
Every breath you take is an ancient inheritance. The rise and fall of your chest, the intercostal muscles pulling your ribs outward, the rush of air into your lungs—this mechanism is so familiar it barely registers as remarkable. ...