An undiscovered population of ancient black holes may be lurking throughout the universe. These bottomless cosmic pits would have a lot in common with more familiar black holes; in some cases, the two may be indistinguishable. But unlike their kin, these undiscovered black holes wouldn’t have formed from a massive star collapsing in on itself,…
U.S. dementia cases may rise to 1 million per year by 2060
The year is 2015. “Mad scientist” Doc Brown has just brought wide-eyed teenager Marty McFly to the future in style: aboard a flying DeLorean. Although the time travelers are out of place, their mode of transportation is not. Cars zip by in the sky. We’re now 10 years past the future envisioned in Back to…
Citations S.A. Shah et al. Use of artificial intelligence–based detection of diabetic retinopathy in the US. JAMA Ophthalmology. Vol. 142, December 2024, p. 1171. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2024.4493. R. Amin et al. Immune digital twin blueprint: a comprehensive mechanistic model of the human immune system. bioRxiv. July 31, 2024. doi:10.1101/2020.03.11.988238. J.W. Kim et al. Surgical robot transformer (SRT):…
Supercell thunderstorms are known for their devastatingly gnarly tornadoes, but exactly how the twisters form is poorly understood. A new study suggests that scientists could glean hints with a little help from the cosmos. Muons, subatomic particles that are like heavy versions of electrons, could reveal the atmospheric pressure within a thunderstorm and resulting tornado,…
Unusually dry conditions and hurricane-force seasonal winds are fueling multiple fast-moving and destructive wildfires in Los Angeles County. Gusts that reached over 145 kilometers per hour (90 miles per hour) quickly drove the blazes into urban areas, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate from their homes and killing at least two people as of…
The demise of most of Australia’s kangaroo species by 40,000 years ago may have had less to do with climate-caused dietary pressures and more to do with human hunters. Dental analyses of ancient kangaroos reveal they weren’t such picky eaters as once thought, researchers report in the Jan. 10 Science. Instead, when it came to…
Recovery from PTSD comes with key changes in the brain’s memory system, a new study finds. These differences were found in the brains of 19 people who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris — and then recovered over the following years. The results, published January 8 in Science Advances, point…