Cosmos Magazine
The Science of Everything: Daily digital and quarterly print magazine covering the best global science and inspiring curiosity.
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What you might have missed: zapping moon dust, finding snipers and signing…
Here are some highlights from a week in science.
Inside the mind of a robot, or a fungus, or a mutant
A new book explores links between states of mind and science fiction. Andrew Masterson reports.
First fungus pushed back half a billion years
New find in the Arctic updates fossil record significantly. Nick Carne reports.
NASA calls citizen scientists to help with asteroid landing
Mission controllers hope many eyes will make OSIRIS-Rex touchdown safer. Andrew Masterson reports.
Dinner on the half-shell: chimpanzees eat tortoises
Adults smash open the reptiles, then share the spoils. Nick Carne reports.
Ice, ice, maybe: water physics thrown into doubt
An attempt to produce a disordered form of ice is a surprise failure, raising awkward questions. Phil Dooley reports.
Xenon gas dramatically improves head injury recovery in mice
Extraordinary results raise hope for better brain injury treatment in humans. Paul Biegler reports.
TESS finds comets around ‘celebrity’ star
NASA planet-spotting mission detects its first smaller bodies. Andrew Masterson reports.
Tech twist lets soldiers identify sniper positions in half a second
Radical revamp of WW1 research uses mobile phone to detect shooter distance and direction. Richard A Lovett reports.
Climate change profoundly alters plankton populations
Sediment core data reveals big changes over the past 170 years. Nick Carne reports.
Bird species, a French delicacy, being eaten to death
Eating ortolans is a French tradition, but the practice, although banned, is pushing the species to extinction. Natalie Parletta reports.
Science fiction to blame for robots’ bad reputation
Computer vision and neural networks have been treated poorly by story-tellers, according to a leading roboticist. Andrew Masterson reports.
Rethink mouse experiment protocols, researchers say
Embracing rather than rejecting variability in lab mice could improve test outcomes. Paul Biegler reports.
Pluto has an insulated underground ocean
Research suggests subsurface sea has been around billions of years. Richard A Lovett reports.
Yeasts lose DNA-repair genes, and thrive
Some species have lost genes that protect against mutation, but have suffered no ill effect. Anna Kosmynina reports.
Host in the machine: immune system changes human behaviour when Toxo invades
Rabies spreads by making dogs aggressive. Toxoplasma gondii parasites are a bit more subtle. Microbiologist Bill Sullivan from Indiana University in the US explains.
Silicon surges as quantum tech favourite
A material central to traditional computing might just prove central to next-gen machines, too. Alan Duffy reports.
Coal burning blamed for monsoon weakening
Asian rain system deceasing despite global warming driving theoretical increase. Richard A Lovett reports.
Horns of plenty: concerns raised about electric car alert systems
EV engine might be silent, but an EV traffic jam could be deafening. Richard A Lovett reports.
Zapping moon dust produces water
Experiment suggests source for lunar liquid – and a possible resource for colonisers. Richard A Lovett reports.
Science History: Einstein’s mathematician
Emmy Noether overcame sexism and antisemitism to become a towering mathematician – and Einstein’s friend. Jeff Glorfeld reports.
If humanity had to move the Earth, could we do it?
Shifting the planet into a different orbit is possible at least in theory. Space systems engineer Matteo Ceriotti explains.
Parasitic fish could help treat human brain disease
Molecules produced by lampreys can do an end-run around defensive barrier. Andrew Masterson reports.