Science

That quantum mechanics is a successful theory is not in dispute. It makes astonishingly accurate predictions about the nature of the world at microscopic scales. What has been in dispute for nearly a century is just what it’s telling us about what exists, what is real. There are myriad interpretations that offer their own take on the question, each requiring us to buy into certain as-yet-unverified claims—hence assumptions—about the nature of reality.

A simple blood test can detect eight different types of cancer. It does this by detecting the various sizes of tumour DNA fragments that flow through the body.

At the moment, most cancer screening tools are limited to specific areas of the body – for example, mammograms for spotting breast cancer and faecal tests for detecting bowel cancer. Whole-body MRI and CT scans can identify tumours throughout the body, but only once they have grown large enough to see.

For a remarkably social species, we’re not particularly effective communicators.

Finding the right words to clearly, efficient transmit our thoughts to another consciousness—even something as simple as driving directions—can be a challenge, especially in-the-moment and under pressure. What if we could do away with words altogether? What if, rather than relying on an intermediary, we could directly transmit our thoughts through a digital, internet-like space into another mind?

If you have ever pulled an all-nighter you know how awful you feel afterwards.

A new study that included researchers from the University of Uppsala shows that there is good reason for this. Just one sleepless night triggers a number of changes in the body.

It is the year 2026. A veteran astronaut, Nicole Mann, leads her crew of four through a hatch from the Orion spacecraft onto a small space station near the Moon. Inside, it smells something like a new car. Outside, all is splendor. Below the station, half of the Moon reflects the sunlight—shimmering, silvery, and silent. The depths of space blacken the other half of the orb. In the distance, a blue and green Earth also basks in the Sun’s glow. Humanity’s cradle and its future among the stars share the vista.

Scientists have found a rapid way of producing magnesite, a mineral which stores carbon dioxide. If this can be developed to an industrial scale, it opens the door to removing CO2 from the atmosphere for long-term storage, thus countering the global warming effect of atmospheric CO2. This work is presented at the Goldschmidt conference in Boston.

 China’s space agency this week shared new details about its upcoming Chang’e-4 mission, which aims to launch two robots to the far side of the moon.

The new mission, named after the mythical moon goddess Chang’e, is the fourth in an ongoing lunar exploration program. China ultimately hopes its technological progress will lead to a crewed lunar landing – the first since NASA’s Apollo program ended in 1972 – and perhaps domination of space around the moon.

Today, there’s little doubt that Mars once had liquid water on its surface at some point in its history. For example, the Curiosity rover has provided evidence pointing to this conclusion by mineralogical studies of sediment samples collected and carried out at Gale Crater. But although contemporary Mars appears inhospitable and dry as a bone, scientists have recently announced that liquid water may be nestled in some pockets beneath the surface of the Red Planet.

Chemistry is a sort of applied physics, with the behavior of electrons and their orbitals dictating a set of rules for which reactions can take place and what products will remain stable. At a very rough level, the basics of these rules are simple enough that experienced chemists can keep them all in their brain and intuit how to fit together pieces in a way that ultimately produces the starting material they want. Unfortunately, there are some parts of the chemical landscape that we don't have much experience with, and strange things sometimes happen when intuition meets a reaction flask.

Physicists in China just broke a new record by achieving quantum entanglement with 18 qubits, surpassing the previous record of 10. This significant breakthrough puts us one big step closer to realizing large-scale quantum computing.

It’s hard to find a stranger, more exotic phenomenon than quantum entanglement — the idea that two entangled particles, or qubits, can influence each other’s state instantly even when they’re light-years apart.