Like a dropped match in dry brush, Ashli Babbitt’s name reverberates throughout arguments, igniting passions instantly. She was a company owner, a Trump supporter, a veteran, and on January 6, 2021, she took part in one of the most contentious events in American political history. The lingering question: was she armed? No, the response has been affirmed time and again. The controversy surrounding her death hasn’t diminished, though, despite the fact that she was unarmed. Babbitt headed toward the Speaker’s Lobby with the throng during the Capitol breach. She is seen on camera trying to climb through a smashed door…
Author: errica
Viral DNA is probably not what you would think is responsible for your current state of health. But hidden deep within the human genome, remnants of an old virus are subtly influencing how our systems fight against illness. These pieces, which scientists refer to as Human Endogenous Retroviruses, or HERVs for short, have long been disregarded yet are now demonstrating an extraordinary ability to protect us. They were like lost whispers that were passed down from ancestor to ancestor, entering our DNA thousands or perhaps millions of years ago. They were initially only remnants of the illnesses that afflicted early…
During a late-night wildfire monitoring briefing a few years ago, an engineer discreetly acknowledged that the fire line had frequently already changed by the time response teams received satellite pictures. Across borders and agencies, that irritation turned into a pivotal moment. The idea that researchers started posing was surprisingly straightforward: what if satellites didn’t wait to be informed of what was important? Satellites have gradually transitioned from passive collectors to active players during the last ten years, thanks in large part to onboard processing power that can evaluate photos while in orbit. These systems now filter information instantly, choosing what…
Farmers have been discreetly changing the rules over the last ten years. Sensors, AI-powered monitoring, and minuscule nutrients are helping them produce bountiful harvests with a fraction of the fertilizers that were once thought to be essential. Droplets of nutrient-rich mist and whisper-thin streams of data are now used to do what once took truckloads of chemical inputs. Kale grows upwards without ever coming into contact with dirt inside one urban greenhouse in Helsinki’s outskirts. While sensors that monitor leaf growth, root color, and hydration levels control fertilizer delivery, LEDs simulate sunlight in 18-hour cycles. The results are very evident:…
The plane took off with hardly a sound. Just a clear ascent into the sky, no fuel burn, no jet boom. And without requiring a single battery change, it touched down 250.64 kilometers later. This was a turning point for many in the aviation industry, not merely a piece of data. Prosperity 4 from AutoFlight didn’t aim to be ostentatious. There was no need for it. Its vertical takeoff, cruise, and landing all happened with amazing regularity, demonstrating that electric aviation is about staying in the air with purpose rather than merely taking off. More and more, this goal focuses…
How much of our world is still unknown struck me when I first viewed ESA’s radar picture of the Amazon basin. It was a lack of resources, not a lack of interest. That’s changing—quite quickly. With an almost unreal intimacy, satellites such as NASA’s GEDI and ICESat-2 and ESA’s Biomass have started to unveil the living, breathing architecture of Earth’s forests. Through the use of sophisticated P-band radar and laser-based lidar equipment, these satellites are doing more than just taking pictures of canopies; they are also removing them. Although there has been a noticeable improvement in the last ten years…
I came over a study that remained with me a few years ago when looking through an old academic journal in a library basement. Following steelworkers in a densely populated region, it examined the effects of short-term exposure to contaminated air on their DNA. The solution was instantaneous rather than a continuous drip of decline or cumulative damage. Three days later, their bodies’ genetic instructions were already changing. Mutations—the kind we’ve historically linked to nuclear accidents or years of smoking—were not the issue here. These modifications were far more subtle and resembled software updates. Without changing the fundamental code, the…
On the surface, a microwave meal or protein bar appears to be a convenient way to get through a hectic day. However, after reading the most recent results from The Lancet’s thorough analysis of ultra-processed meals, that convenience seems more like a gradual diversion into long-term health decline than a quick fix. Because of their taste, price, and shelf life, these ready-to-eat foods have infiltrated most people’s diets during the past few years, yet we are rarely informed of the profound impact they have on our internal systems. Through a review of more than 100 international studies, researchers discovered that…
The prototype doesn’t appear to be a device ready to permanently alter flight at first inspection. Then, however, something subtle occurs. Its wings flex without any motors or hinges, causing the edges to ripple very little. It adapts, reacting with grace rather than mass or loudness. It’s the kind of change that sticks with you after you’ve seen it. Researchers are discreetly developing aircraft that can change their shape in midair in engineering labs, a development that previously believed limited to science fiction. Sleek planes with retractable flaps are not all that these are. These are memory-equipped aircraft with structures…
Few predicted that the chemical signature found in Earth’s oceans would be so eerily identical when astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to survey the skies. However, it is precisely what came out of the hazy atmosphere of the planet K2-18b, which is orbiting a faint star in the constellation Leo. This far-off exoplanet, which is 124 light-years away, has just emerged as a strong new contender in the hunt for extraterrestrial life. Scientists discovered dimethyl sulfide, or DMS for short, using sophisticated infrared spectroscopy. This molecule is known to be created naturally on Earth only by living things,…