On a bleak stretch of the Colorado Desert in Southern California, a compact four-wheeled rover recently trundled 16 miles (26 kilometers) with minimal intervention from the team of engineers trailing it. Called ERNEST (Exploration Rover for Navigating Extreme Sloped Terrain), this prototype is being used by NASA to advance both robotic autonomy and the ability to traverse challenging landscapes.
Bumblebees see the world differently under stress, processing visual information more sharply and making quicker decisions, new research from Newcastle University reveals.
In the quest to create a robust supply chain of rare earth elements necessary for the clean energy revolution and everyday modern conveniences, North America has enough deposits of sufficient quality to begin looking in its own backyard, according to a University of Michigan study published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling.
In recent years, marine heat waves have been taking an ever-greater toll on the world's oceans and their ecosystems. Amplified by increasing global warming, these events are occurring more frequently and lasting longer. The Arctic is not spared from this trend, as it is warming faster than any other region on our planet. However, due to local processes and conditions, marine heat waves in the Arctic differ fundamentally from those in nonpolar oceans. A recent study led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, summarizes how these events have developed over recent decades and what science knows about the driving forces behind them.
Three decades ago, researchers working atop the Llullaillaco volcano, located on the border between Argentina and Chile, discovered exceptionally well-preserved remains. The find included the mummified bodies of three children along with associated artifacts. The site became known as the Capacocha burial, which was linked to the Inca ritual by the same name, which involved sacrificing children and young women.
With the release of "Disclosure Day," Steven Spielberg's new film about aliens, a question as old as science fiction itself resurfaces: If aliens were to arrive on Earth, would they come to conquer us, to study us ... or perhaps to eat?
Many of the problems facing the more than 134,000 households living in temporary accommodation in England today—including more than 176,000 children—are part of a pattern of failure stretching back nearly 200 years, according to a major new report.
Malaria is one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases. Because it is transmitted by mosquitoes, malaria is extremely sensitive to environmental conditions like rainfall and temperature that affect mosquito survival and activity. Understanding the climate patterns that influence these conditions is critical for improving malaria forecasting and supporting prevention efforts.
