Science

Huge stars collapsing or colliding create gamma ray burstsNASA Goddard Space Flight Center/ A. Simonnet, Sonoma State University The most powerful explosion astronomers have ever seen contains a mysterious signal thought impossible to exist. That signal gives us our first detailed look inside a gamma ray burst and suggests that they involve the annihilation of matter and antimatter. Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful blasts of radiation in the universe, and are generated in cosmic explosions and collisions. Physicists suspect that the highest energy GRBs come from stars collapsing and forming a black hole. The black hole then produces a jet of material, moving at close to the speed of light, that pierces through the failing star and sends out blasts of radia...

Switching from a gas stove to an electric induction stove can reduce indoor nitrogen dioxide air pollution, a known health hazard, by more than 50 percent according to new research led by scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia Climate School. Photo: Ivan Radic via wikimedia Commons The study was carried out as part of a pilot project titled “Out of Gas, In with Justice” led by Northern Manhattan-based nonprofit WE ACT for Environmental Justice. The pilot is the first to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of transitioning from gas to induction stoves in affordable housing. It is also the first study to evaluate the effects of residential cooking electrification in a public housing setting in the U.S. This research comes as New York Ci...

A robot dog equipped with a flamethrower could be used to stop weeds growing on farms, potentially offering a replacement for harmful herbicides. Even highly targeted herbicides can cause environmental problems, affecting local wildlife, and “superweeds” are quickly evolving resistance to the most common weed-killers like glyphosate. In search of an alternative solution, Dezhen Song at Texas A&M University and his colleagues have developed a weed control system that uses a brief burst of heat from a propane-powered flamethrower controlled by a robotic arm, attached to a Spot robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics. Rather than incinerate the weeds, the robot is designed to identify and heat up the centre of the plant, which can stop it growing for se...

The 30-metre-deep assembly pit for the tokamak©enrico sacchetti Extreme in scale and ambition, this is ITER, the €20-billion energy project being built in southern France. It is set to pave the way to fusion power, akin to that which fuels the sun. Work started on the world’s biggest fusion experiment in 2006 through an international effort, including the European Union, the US, China and Russia. The first run of the reactor, during which it will create superhot matter known as plasma – a state necessary for nuclear fusion to occur – was scheduled for 2020. This was first pushed back to 2025, and fresh delays have now postponed it to 2035. Meanwhile, exclusive photographs taken by Enrico Sacchetti offer a glimpse into ITER’s construction and potential. One of the Toroi...

Installation view of David Breashears’ Mount Everest, Main Rongbuk Glacier, Tibet, China, 2007. Courtesy of Asia Society In a powerful new iteration of the “Coal + Ice” exhibit, on display at the Asia Society in New York through August 11, the immersive works of over 30 photographers highlight the causes and consequences of climate change through a people-focused lens. The show asks viewers to stare directly and unflinchingly at our changing global landscape and to reflect on how we got here. Through an interactive photographic arc, the exhibit offers a humanistic narrative of the history of climate change, beginning with portraits of coal miners, such as the one by Geng Yunsheng shown below. The exhibit then transitions into images showcasing the disappearing glacial ice across...