Biden Moves to Rejoin Paris Climate Agreement

Paris Accord Hours after being sworn in as the president of the United States, Joe Biden signed an executive order that will move the country to rejoin the Paris climate agreement — a strident reversal of America’s environmental policy over the past four years. “A cry for survival comes from the planet itself,” Biden said during his inaugural address...

5h

Unlock Your Personal Health Secrets With a Health Intelligence Test From Viome

Every year around this time people resolve to grab the proverbial bull by the horns when it comes to their health, only to realize a month or so later that they don’t actually know how to do it. Simply eating a bunch of “clean” foods you read about on some health blog is not going to get you where you want to go. What you really need for your health...

5h

Airport Jetpack Sighting May Have Actually Been Person-Shaped Drone

Unidentified Flying Object In September, several pilots in the airspace near Los Angeles International Airport spotted something odd: what appeared to be “a guy in a jetpack,” as one  bewildered pilot told LA’s tower, flying around 3,000 feet. Several months later, and after investigation by local law enforcement, the FAA and the FBI, it’s still unclear...

6h

Professional Gamer Retires After Career-Ending Injury to Thumb

Career-Ending Injury No matter where you stand on the “can video games be sports?” debate, it can’t be denied that professional gaming has become a competitive commercial space, with many of the same things that make other sports so captivating like charismatic pros, major sponsorship deals, and massive events. But now, a more unfortunate overlap...

7h

In Video, NASA Head Bridenstine Gives Emotional Goodbye

See You With Donald Trump out of the White House, Jim Bridenstine’s tenure as NASA Administrator is over. Bridenstine’s time as NASA head included remarkable progress toward crewed exploration of the Moon and Mars, the culmination of long-brewing partnerships with other space agencies and private companies including SpaceX — and, perhaps most importantly,...

8h

Expert: We Could Vaccinate Everyone on Earth and Not Eliminate the Coronavirus

Even after vaccinating everyone on Earth against the coronavirus, COVID-19 could continue to spread. That’s because scientists aren’t yet sure whether the vaccines currently being deployed actually stop disease transmission or if they merely prevent symptomatic disease, Trinity College Dublin immunologist and biochemist Kingston Mills told New Scientist....

9h

SpaceX Bought Two Huge Oil Rigs to Use as Floating Launchpads

Deimos and Phobos Public records dug up by reporters for NASASpaceflight show that SpaceX bought two deepwater oil rigs last summer in order to convert them into floating launchpads. The Elon Musk-led space company renamed the prospective launchpads to Deimos and Phobos, a nod to Mars’ two moons. If everything goes according to plan, the launchpads...

10h

On ISS, Americans Give Food to Russians After Delayed Shipment

Stone Soup Russian cosmonauts at the International Space Station found themselves in a pickle after a launch carrying their next food shipment was delayed by two months. Thankfully, it seems that the NASA crewmembers stationed there had enough to go around, so the two countries are now sharing rations, according to the Russian state-operated news...

10h

New Gene Therapy Reverses Aging in Mice

A team of Chinese scientists have developed a gene therapy that they say reverses some aspects of aging — and extend lifespans — in mice, Reuters reports. While plenty more research still needs to be done, the research sheds light on the underlying processes involved in aging, and reveals a twinkle of hope for a therapy that turns back the biological...

11h

Scientists Fire Volcanic Rocks at Rooftops to Prove Volcanoes Are Dangerous

Bombs Away! A team of scientists in New Zealand are taking a very hands-on approach to volcano safety: blasting rooftops with volcanic rocks to see which are left standing. Thankfully, their fiery target practice doesn’t involve anyone’s actual home, but rather the University of Canterbury team is firing volcanic ballistics at mock roofing, according...

12h