This week, we saw the first-ever image of a newborn great white shark; scientists figured out what’s really happening when insects fly around artificial lights; and mathematicians reversed the sprinkler. Click through for our top science stories of the week.
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NASA’s Endeavour orbiter made its way to the top of a 20-story-tall vertical display of the retired Space Shuttle, completing a legendary ready-for-launch stack that makes it look as though it’s ready to soar to the skies once more. - Passant Rabie Read More
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Footage taken off the coast of Santa Barbara has captured something new to science: a living newborn great white shark. The shark’s discovery could help researchers finally learn where white sharks—one of the ocean’s top predators—birth their young. - Isaac Schultz Read More
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For 141 years, physicists like Richard Feynman have puzzled over a question of fluid flow: how would a sprinkler rotate if it were underwater, sucking in the stuff instead of spewing it? Now, a team of researchers has found an answer. - Isaac Schultz Read More
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Humans have used light to trap insects for at least 2,000 years (thanks, Romans). Now, a team of researchers says they know why the animals are apparently drawn to the light—and it’s not a happy tale. - Isaac Schultz Read More
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Lurking inside your reheated fried rice is a dangerous bacterial killer—at least, that’s what you might think after watching one of the latest viral videos shared on TikTok and other social media platforms. There is a grain of truth to this claim, and you should try to properly store your leftovers, but the risks of so-called fried rice syndrome shouldn’t be overblown. - Ed Cara Read More
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A medical treatment given to children in the UK may have led to some developing Alzheimer’s disease decades later, new research out Monday suggests. The study presents evidence that at least five people contracted the neurodegenerative disorder from having received human growth hormones contaminated with rogue amyloid beta protein. The authors point out that Alzheimer’s cannot be caught person-to-person through conventional means, however, and this specific infection risk no longer exists today. - Ed Cara Read More
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Scaly, feathered, toothed, or beaked—long-necked, spike-tailed, tiny, or gargantuan—dinosaurs are a wildly diverse group. But certain dinos stand above the rest, both literally and on the plinth of our imagination. Here’s my definitive ranking of the best dinosaurs; I’ll be mightily impressed if you’ve heard of every creature on this list. - Isaac Schultz Read More
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Eutelsat, a leading satellite operator based in France, is encountering troubling delays in the deployment of its OneWeb satellite constellation that affect its plans to offer global-scale broadband coverage. The disruption to potential revenues is also a...minor factor. - George Dvorsky Read More
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Our mouths and guts are teeming with mysterious somethings that are unknown to science, new research suggests. A team says they’ve discovered distinct virus-like structures hanging out among the bacteria that live in our bodies. The researchers have coined these structures “obelisks,” and they might further redefine what it means to be a living thing. - Ed Cara Read More
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SpaceX’s Starship is poised to be the most coveted launch vehicle in the world once it’s finally up and running, but the Pentagon is hoping to take things a step further by grabbing full control of the megarocket for critically important missions. - George Dvorsky Read More
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Source: Gizmodo