Science - 1 Trend Top

The night-sky image so incredible the NZ man behind it has been accused of using AI

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 02:45:38 +0200

Brendan Larsen spent hours taking hundreds of photographs of the sky over a mountain in New Zealand

A photograph showing thousands of satellites cross-hatching the night sky over New Zealand appeared so extraordinary the astrophotographer who captured it is fighting accusations it was created by AI.

To create his spectacular image – now viewed millions of times online – Brendan Larsen spent two hours in September snapping hundreds of photographs of the night sky over Mount Taranaki in the North Island.

Nasa astronaut casts midterms vote from space – video

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 00:35:16 +0200

Anil Menon has voted in the US midterm elections by casting an electronic ballot from the International Space Station. He said he filled out the ballot on his station computer and sent it to election officials in Harris county, Texas. In a social media post, he said all three US crew members onboard also had the chance to vote.

US midterm elections 2026 live

Nov. 2: Earthquake measuring 2.2 struck region near Westley, CA

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:10:29 +0200

STANISLAUS COUNTY, CA - A preliminary 2.2 magnitude quake occurred close to Westley on Monday around midnight, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

A tremor shook the area at 12:44 a.m. The earthquake's epicenter was about 16 miles west-southwest of Westley and occurred at a depth of 2 miles.

Did you feel it?

Those who felt the quake are encouraged to report it via the USGS Felt Report form.

Tremors last week

Six quakes of magnitude 2.5 or higher have been registered in the region over the last week. The strongest, a 2.9 magnitude quake, rattled the same area on Oct. 31.

The five largest nearby earthquakes in the last week:

2.9, west-southwest of Westley on Oct. 31
2.7, southwest of Ridgemark on Oct. 29
2.6, east of Seven Trees on Oct. 27
2.6, southwest of Ridgemark on Oct. 28
2.5, southeast of Aromas on Oct. 26

What to know about earthquakes

Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake, the U. S. Geological Survey says. It replaces the old Richter scale. Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech. Earthquakes below 2.5 magnitude are seldom felt by most people.

Earthquakes' sudden, rapid shaking can cause fires, tsunamis, landslides or avalanches. They can happen anywhere, but are most common in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Puerto Rico and Washington, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year. 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 of them cause damage.

What to do during an earthquake

If an earthquake strikes, it's best to protect yourself right away. Here are tips from experts:

If you're in a car: Pull over and stop. Set your parking brake.

If you're in bed: Turn face-down and cover your head with a pillow.

If you're outdoors: Stay away from buildings. Don't go inside.

If you're inside: Stay and don't run outdoors. Stay away from doorways.

The best way to protect yourself during an earthquake is to drop, cover and hold on, officials say. "Wherever you are, drop down to your hands and knees and hold onto something sturdy," officials say. "If you're using a wheelchair or walker with a seat, make sure your wheels are locked and remain seated until the shaking stops." Be sure to cover your head and neck with your arms, and crawl under a sturdy table if possible. If no shelter is available, crawl to an interior wall away from windows. Once under a table, officials say you should hold on with one hand and be ready to move with it.

"There can be serious hazards after an earthquake, such as damage to the building, leaking gas and water lines, or downed power lines," officials say. "Expect aftershocks to follow the main shock of an earthquake. Be ready to Drop, Cover, and Hold On if you feel an aftershock."

Source: The U.S. Geological Survey

This article was generated by the CA Earthquake Bot, software that analyzes structured information, such as data, and applies it to articles based on templates created by journalists in the newsroom. No human journalist was harmed in this experiment. You can report errors or bugs to mcclatchybot@mcclatchy.com.

This story was originally published November 2, 2026 at 12:49 AM.

How a scientist went from hero to traitor in a US water crisis – podcast

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 10:15:07 +0200

When the water in Flint, Michigan, became contaminated with dangerous levels of lead, Dr Siddhartha Roy, then a third year PhD student, was part of the team of scientists who publicly contradicted state and federal claims that it was safe. He became a local hero until a new piece of research challenged the idea that children in Flint had been left permanently brain damaged by the crisis. His adherence to the evidence, no matter who it offended, has earned him the 2026 Maddox prize, which recognises individuals who stand up for science and evidence, despite challenges or hostility. He tells Ian Sample how he reflects on his experience in Flint, and why he lost friends as a result of his work there

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

NASA’s Voyager 1 Conserves Power, Resolves Brief Communications Pause

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 06:15:58 +0200

NASA’s Voyager team is celebrating two recent developments with the Voyager 1 spacecraft: In September, they successfully completed a months-long effort to stretch the spacecraft’s diminishing power supply. Then, on Oct. 20, an unexpected loss of communication with the spacecraft resolved itself after 48 hours, before the team sent commands to the spacecraft to troubleshoot the issue.

In early September, engineers successfully turned off three devices on the Voyager 1 spacecraft and substituted them with three lower-power alternatives. Nicknamed the “Big Bang,” the energy-saving effort was completed about six weeks after the mission team performed the same swap on Voyager 2. The Big Bang will enable Voyager 1’s remaining science instruments to operate longer than previously anticipated.

The Voyagers get their power from radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which convert heat from decaying plutonium into electricity. With the plutonium supply continually depleting, both probes lose about 4 watts of power each year. Almost a half-century since Voyager launched, the spacecraft power margins have grown thin, requiring the team to conserve energy by shutting off nonessential devices and systems.

The Big Bang was unique because it required the swaps to occur simultaneously. The six devices help keep the spacecraft warm enough to operate in the frigid expanse of space, and only by swapping all three could the team both reduce the amount of power Voyager 1 uses and ensure that heat is properly distributed on the spacecraft.

In recent years, the dwindling power supply has forced the team to turn off two science instruments. The mission launched in 1977 with 10 dedicated science instruments, some of which were turned off after the spacecraft’s planetary encounters. Some instruments were left on to study the outer region of the heliosphere, a bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun. Now, the Voyagers are traveling through interstellar space, the area outside the heliosphere, and are the only spacecraft to ever study this region directly. Without performing the Big Bang, the mission would have needed to turn off another instrument on Voyager 1 as early as summer 2027.

Brief signal loss

But between now and summer 2027, the team is at the ready for more surprises like the one they recently encountered when they briefly lost contact with Voyager 1 on Oct. 18 and 19. NASA’s Deep Space Network — large antennas at three facilities around the globe used to communicate with spacecraft at the Moon and beyond — was unable to detect a radio signal from the probe, which is 16 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, during two scheduled communications attempts, 24 hours apart. The spacecraft’s signal reappeared 24 hours later, on Oct. 20, and the team has maintained communication with it since then.

Engineers still are investigating what caused the communication loss. The team has so far determined that one group of thrusters went offline and their backups turned on. Such a swap is programmed to occur automatically if the spacecraft computers detect something amiss with the active thrusters. This automatic response is known as fault protection and directs the spacecraft to put itself in a safe, or stable, configuration and pause normal operations, giving engineers time to diagnose the issue and take action.

“This is the first time we’ve seen the spacecraft do something like this, but we are also at a point in the mission where we have to expect the unexpected,” said Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We’re relieved to be back in contact with Voyager 1 and are eager to understand what happened.”

Historic milestone

As the investigation continues, Voyager 1 is speeding at 38,000 mph (61,155 kph) toward a major milestone: On Nov. 18, the spacecraft that has traveled farther than any other human-made object will be 16.09 billion miles (25.89 billion kilometers) from Earth — the equivalent of one light-day, or the distance that light can travel in one day. That means that the radio waves used to communicate with the probe take 24 hours to reach it, and the radio waves carrying the spacecraft’s return message take another 24 hours.

“If you want to say ‘hello’ to Voyager, you send your message and then you go home and you wait two days before you finally get a response,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL.

The spacecraft will not detect any change in its environment when it passes one light-day, nor will anything change aboard the spacecraft. The milestone’s significance is in its demonstration of the vastness of the universe and the endurance of humanity’s most distant explorer.

For more information about NASA’s Voyager mission, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager

-end-

NASA Science Editorial Team

October 29, 2026 1:30PM

Archaeologists are using chemistry to learn more about mummies

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 01:55:27 +0200

Ancient Egyptian mummy remains were once marketed as medicine. Research finds at least some of these products came from real human remains and that mummy materials keep bodies preserved for millennia.

We all need sleep. Even spiders

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 01:45:06 +0200

New research suggests that spiders reach an active REM-like sleep state, similar to humans.

Do the Shetland Isles need Cold War-style military protection?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:50:40 +0200

Calls are being made for the defence of the Shetland Isles to be strengthened after increased sightings of Russian trawlers off the coast of Scotland.

‘It’s really, really unusual’: tender bond between male donkey and bull baffles scientists

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 19:05:13 +0200

Patroclo and Achille’s interspecies affair sheds new light on social and sexual relations between animals, scientists say

In ancient myth, Achilles and Patroclus were two Greek heroes of the Trojan war whose intense bond was believed by some to have turned into a sexual relationship.

In modern science, they are a bull, Achille, and a donkey, Patroclo, whose tender interspecies affair has helped to shed new light on social and sexual interactions between animals.

A job that changed me: I ran observatory tours as a student. An eight-year-old’s question taught me two important lessons

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 16:20:18 +0200

I thought the explanation I’d given about black holes was family-friendly; but after what she had said, I had to rethink my examples

Read more in the a job that changed me series

In the first year of my science degree, I was fortunate to land a job as an astronomy guide at the Sydney Observatory. In my role, I would lead tour groups of about 20 people. We’d look at stars and planets through telescopes. If the skies were filled from horizon to horizon with clouds, we’d explore more of the universe through a 3D theatre. And to peer beyond what our telescopes could see, we’d pile inside the cosy planetarium, seeing what the light pollution of Sydney and clouds would often obstruct from our view.

My favourite object to show in the planetarium was the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. Before revealing the image, I’d explain how the Hubble space telescope had stared at a piece of sky the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length for 11 days, collecting enough light to look into the farthest corners of the universe. Then I’d zoom in on that tiny piece of sky, revealing the gorgeous image. At least one person would audibly gasp at the reveal.

As cancer treatments become more effective, we must ask: what is life like for the people who receive them? | Ranjana Srivastava

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 16:20:18 +0200

Many treatments are now extending lives, but the measure of progress should not end with a scan or a survival curve

Two decades ago, a dear friend called me in a trembling voice. Was there hope for his young nephew, whose cancer had spread to the brain? Sadly, “no”, I said. But today, for such patients, there are options that were unimaginable back then.

Recently, researchers at the European Society For Medical Oncology presented the latest chapter results from a randomised controlled trial of a bespoke cancer vaccine for patients with high-risk melanoma. The trial involved 1,137 patients whose melanoma had been surgically removed but remained at high recurrence risk. They received either pembrolizumab, an established immunotherapy, or pembrolizumab combined with an experimental mRNA vaccine, designed to help the immune system recognise and attack targets unique to the patient’s tumour.

Oceanographer explains the record-breaking king tides happening on both coasts

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 11:50:16 +0200

NPR's A Martinez speaks with oceanographer Alec Bogdanoff to explain record-breaking king tides and how they're affecting local communities.

Starwatch: Catch the striking trifecta of Venus, the moon and Spica at break of dawn

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 08:10:51 +0200

The brilliant planet is about to join the waning crescent moon and the brightest star in the Virgo constellation

Early risers have a beautiful sight to look forward to this week as brilliant Venus joins the waning crescent moon and the star Spica in the morning sky.

The chart shows the view looking east-south-east from London at 0600 GMT on 7 November. Venus will be the easiest object to identify, shining brilliantly. Next to it will be Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo, the virgin, situated about 250 light years from Earth.

The Guardian view on listening to people with learning disabilities: a matter of life and death | Editorial

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 19:45:52 +0200

The Covid pandemic shed an unforgiving light on health and social care inequalities. The lessons have yet to be absorbed

The fear that so many felt as the death toll rose during the Covid pandemic was magnified for Fiona Walker. “I know from experience they wouldn’t have valued my life,” she says, in a new report on the treatment of people with learning disabilities during the crisis.

The 1.5 million people in the UK with learning disabilities, and their families, had reason for concern. Death rates in England were four to six times higher than average for people with learning disabilities. As is now well established, the pandemic did not create inequalities; it exposed and intensified them. People with learning disabilities die on average 19.5 years earlier than people without, and deaths are almost twice as likely to be classed as avoidable.

The UK’s legal cannabis market is booming – so why can’t this talented artist get any to treat his epilepsy? | Kojo Koram

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 14:40:47 +0200

Companies have rushed to supply the drug as a wellness treatment, but patients with serious illnesses aren’t able to get NHS prescriptions

In 2022, a prodigiously talented young artist named Louis Petit was preparing to return to the UK, having been effectively exiled in the Netherlands as a teenager so he could access the medical cannabis he needed to control his epilepsy. Six years earlier, Louis, then 12, had been diagnosed with a rare form of the neurological disease when medical cannabis was still illegal in the UK.

But in Rotterdam, where it was legal, doctors helped him discover that a medical cannabis oil called Bedrolite, in combination with the right mix of anti-epileptic treatment, could slow and eventually stop his seizures. This was something his neurologists in the UK had previously considered impossible.

Dr Kojo Koram is professor of law and political economy at Loughborough University and the author of The Next Fix: The Winners and Losers in the Future of Drugs