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The Full Moon Changes How People Sleep Without Us Ever Realising, Says Study

In modern times, a great deal of research has focused on the way that artificial light sources mess up our sleep and health, due to the unnatural effects of illumination after the Sun goes down. But just how unnatural is night-time light anyway? After all, humans have always been exposed to variable levels of light at night, due to reflections of sunlight from the waxing and waning Moon – and

The White Dots in This Image Are Not Stars or Galaxies. They’re Black Holes

The image above may look like a fairly normal picture of the night sky, but what you're looking at is a lot more special than just glittering stars. Each of those white dots is an active supermassive black hole. And each of those black holes is devouring material at the heart of a galaxy millions of light-years away - that's how they could be pinpointed at all. Totalling 25,000 such dots, as

Physicists Propose a ‘Force Field’ to Protect Sensitive Quantum Computers From Noise

Creating a quantum computer requires an ability to stroke the edges of reality with the quietest of touches. Too much 'noise' and the delicate state of the system collapses, leaving you with a very expensive paperweight. One way to reduce the risk of this occurring is to build in checks and balances that help to shield the blurred state of reality at the core of quantum computers - and now scie

Earth’s Magnetic Field Flipped 42,000 Years Ago. The Consequences Were Dramatic

A global period of upheaval 42,000 years ago was the result of a reversal in Earth's magnetic field, new research has found. According to radiocarbon preserved in ancient tree rings, several centuries' worth of climate breakdown, mass extinctions, and even changes in human behaviour can be directly linked to the last time Earth's magnetic field changed its polarity. he research team has name

Quantum Theory May Twist Cause And Effect Into Loops, With Effect Causing The Cause

Causality is one of those difficult scientific topics that can easily stray into the realm of philosophy. Science's relationship with the concept started out simply enough: an event causes another event later in time. That had been the standard understanding of the scientific community up until quantum mechanics was introduced. Then, with the introduction of the famous "spooky action at a

‘Defining Moment’ as Hope Probe Transmits Its Breathtaking First Image of Mars

The United Arab Emirates Space Agency on Sunday released its first photo of Mars, taken by its Hope Probe. "The transmission of the Hope Probe's first image of Mars is a defining moment in our history and marks the UAE joining advanced nations involved in space exploration," Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Twitter. The transmission of the Hope Probe's first image of Mars is a defi

The Best Milky Way Photographers of the Year Show the Beauty of Our Galaxy

“Deadvlei” by Stefan Liebermann. Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. The trees in Deadvlei have been dead for over 500 years. Located in Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia, these saplings grew after local rivers flooded because of severe rainfalls, but died after the sand dunes shifted to section off the river. High above and far in the distance, the band of our Milky Way galaxy forms an

Traces of a Mysterious Particle Predicted Decades Ago May Have Been Detected

Evidence of a long-sought hypothetical particle could have been hiding in plain (X-ray) sight all this time. The X-ray emission coming off a collection of neutron stars known as the Magnificent Seven is so excessive that it could be coming from axions, a long-predicted kind of particle, forged in the dense cores of these dead objects, scientists have demonstrated. If their findings are confi

Humans Have Left Some Cat Breeds With Grimaces Forever Stuck on Their Faces

It's no accident that cats are adorable: We've selectively bred them across generations for maximum cuteness. But that breeding has a downside: It's left some of our feline friends with permanent frowny faces that cannot show emotions. In particular, new research published in December in the journal Frontiers of Veterinary Science suggests that selective breeding for the "brachycephalic," or fl

In 1110, The Moon Vanished From The Sky. We May Finally Know Why

Almost a millennium ago, a major upheaval occurred in Earth's atmosphere: a giant cloud of sulphur-rich particles flowed throughout the stratosphere, turning skies dark for months or even years, before ultimately falling down to Earth. We know this event happened because researchers have drilled and analysed ice cores - samples taken from deep within ice sheets or glaciers, which have trapped s