Technology
Satellite Cell Towers Will Beam 4G to Your Phone
Billions of people live in areas that lack mobile coverage. Two companies are racing to build satellite networks that will provide...
Spit Kits, Sperm Donors, and the End of Family Secrets
At-home DNA testing is more accessible than ever. In *The Lost Family,* Libby Copeland learns how genetic revelations are upending...
How UFO Sightings Became an American Obsession
In 1947, a pilot spotted a fleet of “saucer-like” aircrafts speeding across the sky. It was only a matter of time until paranoia set...
Think Flash Floods Are Bad? Buckle Up for Flash Droughts
A typical drought is a slow-motion catastrophe. But scientists are trying to figure out a phenomenon called a flash drought, which...
A New Study Challenges the Reliability of Court Psych Exams
A team of lawyers and psychologists reviewed 364 exams used in the legal system, finding a third of them don't pass muster with forensic...
Plane Contrails Have a Surprising Effect on Global Warming
The wispy ice clouds formed by jet exhaust help trap heat near the Earth's surface. But small changes in altitude can dampen the effect,...
Science Has a New Way to Gauge the Universe's Expansion...
Cosmologists want to know how fast the universe is growing, but their data doesn't match predictions. Wendy Freedman thinks red giant...
Space Photos of the Week: Venus Is the Spacecraft-Killer
One of NASA's proposed missions would send a spacecraft to Venus on a suicide mission in order to study its atmosphere.
Think Ride Sharing Is Good for the Planet? Not So Fast
Despite hopes that ride hailing would ease traffic and reduce carbon emissions, a new study finds that it's actually driving them...
Did a Woman Get Coronavirus Twice? Scientists Are Skeptical
News reports claim that a Japanese patient was reinfected with Covid-19. But there are other possibilities, like a bad test or a flare-up...
