Author: The Conversation

Over the past decade, a new form of scepticism about human activities in space has emerged. It seems to be based exclusively in the Western world and centred around the idea that increasingly ambitious space plans will damage humanity and neglect the Earth. In China, things are different, but this will likely change eventually. Our best data, a survey published in 2020 by Lincoln Hines, shows remarkably high levels of support for space programmes in China. This is in spite of the costs, the occasional debris falling from the sky and memory of the deadly Xichang Disaster in 1996 when a Long March 3B…

Artificial intelligence is going to transform how we date. The question is: will it be for better or worse? It’s already causing some real problems, especially related to “romance scams” and other fraud. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Used in the right way, AI can actually make dating better. It can help write profiles and find matches, provide dating advice and coaching and, if all else fails, become a date companion. I have spent the last few years studying the impact of technology, and especially AI, on our romantic lives. And I think this is an exciting time to be single…

When astronomers turn our radio telescopes out towards space, we sometimes detect sporadic bursts of radio waves originating from across the vast expanse of the universe. We call them “radio transients”: some erupt only once, never to be seen again, and others flicker on and off in predictable patterns. We think most radio transients come from rotating neutron stars known as pulsars, which emit regular flashes of radio waves, like cosmic lighthouses. Typically, these neutron stars spin at incredible speeds, taking mere seconds or even a fraction of a second to complete each rotation. Recently, we discovered a radio transient…

During her chemistry Nobel Prize lecture in 2018, Frances Arnold said, “Today we can for all practical purposes read, write and edit any sequence of DNA, but we cannot compose it.” That isn’t true anymore. Since then, science and technology have progressed so much that artificial intelligence has learned to compose DNA, and with genetically modified bacteria, scientists are on their way to designing and making bespoke proteins. The goal is that with AI’s designing talents and gene editing’s engineering abilities, scientists can modify bacteria to act as mini-factories producing new proteins that can reduce greenhouse gases, digest plastics or act as…

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft launched on the morning of June 5, 2024, sending astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams into space. Following a delay of several years, this was the third launch attempt made over the past month after issues with both the spacecraft and ground system. Though the spacecraft still needs to dock with the International Space Station and return the astronauts home, this successful launch marks a major step for both Boeing and NASA. Part of NASA’s commercial crew program, this long-delayed mission represents the vehicle’s first crewed launch. Its success will give NASA – and in the future, space tourists – more options…

An advanced algorithm that has been developed by Google DeepMind has gone some way to cracking one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in biology. AlphaFold aims to predict the 3D structures of proteins from the “instruction code” in their building blocks. The latest upgrade has recently been released. The latest upgrade has recently been released. Proteins are essential parts of living organisms and take part in virtually every process in cells. But their shapes are often complex, and they are difficult to visualise. So being able to predict their 3D structures offers windows into the processes inside living things, including humans. This provides…

Research shows that many of our contemporary problems, such as the rising prevalence of mental health issues, are emerging from rapid technological advancement and modernisation. A theory that can help explain why we respond poorly to modern conditions, despite the choices, safety and other benefits they bring, is evolutionary mismatch. Mismatch happens when an evolved adaptation, either physical or psychological, becomes misaligned with the environment. Take moths and some species of nocturnal flies, for example. Because they have to navigate in the dark, they evolved to use the moon for direction. However, due to the invention of artificial lighting, many moths and flies are drawn…

Modern life relies on electricity and electrical devices, from cars and buses to phones and laptops, to the electrical systems in homes. Behind many of these devices is a type of energy storage device, the supercapacitor. My team of engineers is working on making these supercapacitors even better at storing energy by studying how they store energy at the nanoscale. Supercapacitors, like batteries, are energy storage devices. They charge faster than batteries, often in a few seconds to a minute, but generally store less energy. They’re used in devices that require storing or supplying a burst of energy over a short span…

We all experience loss and grief. Imagine, though, that you don’t need to say goodbye to your loved ones. That you can recreate them virtually so you can have conversations and find out how they’re feeling. For Kim Kardashian’s fortieth birthday, her then-husband, Kanye West, gave her a hologram of her dead father, Robert Kardashian. Reportedly, Kim Kardashian reacted with disbelief and joy to the virtual appearance of her father at her birthday party. Being able to see a long-dead, much-missed loved one, moving and talking again might offer comfort to those left behind. After all, resurrecting a deceased loved one…

Over 100 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell asked the readers of National Geographic to do something bold and fresh – “to found a new science.” He pointed out that sciences based on the measurements of sound and light already existed. But there was no science of odour. Bell asked his readers to “measure a smell.” Today, smartphones in most people’s pockets provide impressive built-in capabilities based on the sciences of sound and light: voice assistants, facial recognition and photo enhancement. The science of odour does not offer anything comparable. But that situation is changing, as advances in machine olfaction, also…