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Latest story• Dec 2, 2025

Understanding why America’s biggest solar thermal project is coming to an end

California's $2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Power Facility is shutting down after just a decade due to shifting economic realities. While the concentrated solar power plant was built between 2010-2014, photovoltaic solar panel costs plummeted 80% and natural gas became cheaper, making Ivanpah's complex mirror-and-tower system economically unviable. The facility consistently underperformed energy targets, faced...

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A supervolcano caldera in the US could host the world's largest lithium deposit to date

The McDermitt Caldera, an extinct supervolcano on the Nevada-Oregon border, potentially contains 20-40 million metric tons of lithium worth approximately $1.5 trillion, making it the world's largest known lithium deposit....

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First high-resolution 3D map covering all of Earth’s 2.75 billion buildings unveiled

German scientists at the Technical University of Munich have created the world's first comprehensive 3D map containing 2.75 billion buildings, achieving 30 times finer detail than previous global datasets. The GlobalBuildingAtlas...

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NASA seeks a “warm backup” option as key decision on lunar rover nears

NASA will choose one of three companies—Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, or Astrolab—for a $4.6 billion lunar rover contract this month. Officials worry that funding only one provider creates risky single-point failures.

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Video: Record-breaking UK humanoid robot walks 48 hours after final assembly

UK robotics firm Humanoid developed its HMND 01 Alpha bipedal robot from concept to walking prototype in just five months, with the robot achieving stable locomotion within 48 hours of assembly. Using advanced simulation training...

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3D model shows small clans created Easter Island statues

Scientists used drone photography to create a detailed 3D model of Easter Island's moai statue quarry, revealing that small family clans independently carved the famous statues rather than working under centralized leadership....

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Microreactor startup Antares raises $96M for land, sea, and space-based nuclear power

Nuclear startup Antares raised $96 million in Series B funding to develop its R1 microreactor for commercial, defense, and space use. This reflects growing investor interest in nuclear power, with tech giants like Amazon, Google,...

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New erasable serum markers reveal fast, subtle changes in brain gene activity

Rice University bioengineers developed "erasable" serum markers that can be selectively removed from the bloodstream using enzymes, allowing researchers to detect previously unnoticed subtle changes in brain gene activity....

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Scientists develop solar-driven method to make hydrogen peroxide from water and air

Cornell scientists have developed a breakthrough solar-powered method to produce hydrogen peroxide using only sunlight, water, and air, potentially replacing the current fossil-fuel-intensive anthraquinone process. The innovation...

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New method crystallizes carbon dioxide into ‘rock candy,’ lowering capture cost

University of Toronto researchers created a low-cost carbon capture system using polypropylene fibers and potassium hydroxide that crystallizes CO2 into solid formations, potentially reducing capture costs by 40 percent.

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Twisted stacks of 2-D carbon act like a weird type of superconductor

Triple-layered graphene twisted at "magic angles" exhibits unconventional superconductor properties, including energy gaps with nodes like copper-based superconductors. This breakthrough may help develop room-temperature...

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New nanoscale quantum platform operates at room temperature without extreme cooling

Stanford researchers have created a breakthrough nanoscale quantum device that operates at room temperature, eliminating the need for expensive extreme cooling systems. The chip combines molybdenum diselenide with patterned...

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Law of 'maximal randomness' explains how broken objects shatter in the most annoying way possible

A French physicist discovered a mathematical equation explaining why broken objects consistently fragment in predictably messy patterns, from shattered vases to crushed sugar cubes. The equation reveals that fragmenting materials...

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This Chinese company could become the country’s first to land a reusable rocket

LandSpace, a Chinese rocket startup, is preparing to launch its Zhuque-3 rocket tonight from northwestern China, marking the country's first attempt to land and reuse an orbital-class booster. The medium-lift rocket will try to...

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Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is erupting in 'ice volcanoes', new images suggest

Erupting ice volcanoes may be sprouting across the surface of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it rockets through our solar system at 137,000 miles per hour. Spanish astronomers using the Joan Oró Telescope captured the...

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Acoustics experts design custom ‘pink noise’ to solve EV safety problem

Japanese researchers created custom pink noise warning sounds for quiet electric vehicles. Their low-frequency design outperformed other options by cutting through background noise and resembling traditional car sounds.

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US teen creates origami design strong enough to match a ‘taxi carrying 4,000 elephants’

Fourteen-year-old Miles Wu from New York City won a $25,000 science prize after testing 54 variations of Japanese Miura-ori origami folds to discover which design could hold the most weight. His strongest creation could support...

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New brain imaging breakthrough reveals clues to Parkinson’s

Johns Hopkins researchers developed a "zap-and-freeze" method that captures rapid communication between brain cells using electrical stimulation followed by instant freezing. Testing on mouse and human brain tissue revealed...

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Russia accidentally destroys its only working launch pad as astronauts lift off to ISS

Russia's only working launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome sustained significant damage during a November 27 Soyuz rocket launch carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station, after a 22-ton service platform fell into...

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Snake-inspired breakthrough brings 4K thermal vision to ordinary cameras at low cost

Scientists at Beijing Institute of Technology developed a snake-inspired thermal imaging system that enables smartphone cameras to capture 4K infrared images at room temperature without expensive cooling equipment. By integrating...

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Personalized ‘prehabilitation’ helps the body brace for major surgery

Researchers at Stanford University tested personalized prehabilitation programs that prepare patients for major surgery through tailored exercise, nutrition, and cognitive training, comparing them to standard one-size-fits-all...

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Reduce, reuse, recycle: Scientists chart path to a self-sustaining space economy

Space launches are surging toward 300 orbital missions in 2025, releasing massive greenhouse gases and creating unsustainable waste as satellites typically end up in graveyard orbits or burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Scientists...

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Hubble’s Latest View of NGC 1792 Reveals a Spiral Galaxy in Overdrive

Hubble's new image captures NGC 1792, a spiral galaxy creating stars ten times faster than our Milky Way due to gravitational disturbance from nearby galaxy NGC 1808. The cosmic interaction has compressed gas clouds within NGC...

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The Secret Busy Lives of Small Icy Moons

Small icy moons around Saturn and Uranus show intense underground activity from gravitational heating, creating better conditions for life than larger moons by transporting nutrients toward their surfaces.

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