The French army's École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr used Boston Dynamics' Spot robot in a two-day combat training exercise, where it reportedly ran out of power and had to be carried. Boston Dynamics initially said it was unaware of the specific exercise, then clarified it knew the French military was testing Spot, raising questions about oversight of military robot deployments.
An international team led by Rutgers associate professor Blakesley Burkhart discovered Eos, a crescent-shaped molecular hydrogen cloud about 300 light-years away at the edge of the Local Bubble, using far-ultraviolet spectroscopy. The finding, detailed in a paper to be published in Nature Astronomy, offers a new way to directly measure how molecular clouds form and dissociate, with implications for understanding star and planet formation.
Northrop Grumman has released a photo of the Manta Ray, a full-size uncrewed underwater vehicle prototype developed under a 2020 DARPA contract. The autonomous glider can operate long-range without human logistics, but its exact military purpose remains undisclosed.
Boston-based NVBOTS has developed a 3D printing method that uses up to 21 metals in a single job, positioning it as an alternative to traditional casting for small stainless-steel and titanium parts. The technology remains in development and can currently produce only small components.
Scientists reported the discovery of 300,000-year-old Homo sapiens remains in Morocco on Wednesday. The fossils push back the earliest known human date by 105,000 years and suggest our species evolved across Africa rather than in a single East African cradle.
Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and University College London have developed a new theory of molecular evolution that applies statistical mechanics to protein evolution. The model predicts evolutionary rates based on biochemical properties, with population genetics factors dropping out of the final equations.
A new study in Geophysical Research Letters suggests increased snowfall in East Antarctica may reduce ice melt and potentially slow sea level rise. However, scientists not involved in the research caution that snowfall can also accelerate ice loss, leaving the net effect uncertain.
A team of 10 drilling personnel and roughly 17 tons of gear reached Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier on Monday, according to The New York Times, which embedded with the expedition. They aim to install instruments in ocean water half a mile below the ice to collect temperature data, but must leave by Feb. 7 when their ship departs.
A study in Science Advances finds six of nine planetary boundaries—including climate change and biosphere integrity—have been breached, placing Earth outside the safe operating space for humanity. The ozone layer remains within healthy limits, showing that collective action can reverse damage.
Physicists at Barcelona's Institute of Photonic Sciences have built a virus-sized glass bead that floats in a vacuum chamber on a focused infrared laser beam and can measure masses as small as a single molecule. The team says the device could also detect high-frequency gravitational waves and, potentially, dark matter, though that remains unproven.