65 articles from THURSDAY 26.12.2019

Europe's Mars lander passes parachute test

Previous problems appear to have been ironed out in craft’s essential landing equipmentGround tests designed to validate the deployment of the parachutes that will be used on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars lander next year have started well at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. ESA’s ExoMars 2020 mission consists of the UK-built Rosalind Franklin rover,...

Fiji braces for Cyclone Sarai

Tropical Cyclone Sarai was brewing off the coast of Fiji Friday, threatening the plans of thousands of tourists who flock to the South Pacific island nation over the Christmas-New Year holiday period.

NASA satellite tracks tropical storm Phanfone into the South China Sea

Tropical Storm Phanfone brought typhoon-force winds and heavy rains across sections of the Philippines on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Phanfone is known as Ursula in the Philippines. Now the storm has moved into the South China Sea and NASA's Terra satellite captured an image of the tropical cyclone.

'Ring of fire' solar eclipse seen on Boxing Day – video

People gathered across parts of Asia and the Middle East to watch a rare annular solar eclipse, also known as a ring of fire. The phenomenon, when the moon covers the centre of the sun, giving the appearance of a shining ring, was first visible above Saudi Arabia, travelling towards southern India, over northern Sri Lanka and ending up above the Pacific OceanRare ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse...

The Guardian view on car culture: change is coming | Editorial

Over the holiday period the Guardian’s leader column examines the challenges of the future by fathoming out the present. Today we look at the changing shape of car cultureLewis Hamilton’s recent declaration of support for climate action attracted derision as well as plaudits. “I like fuel. Can I say that? I don’t like electric stuff,” was the deliberately provocative response from a...

Finally, machine learning interprets gene regulation clearly

In this age of "big data," artificial intelligence (AI) has become a valuable ally for scientists. Machine learning algorithms, for instance, are helping biologists make sense of the dizzying number of molecular signals that control how genes function. But as new algorithms are developed to analyze even more data, they also become more complex and more difficult to interpret. Quantitative...

Paving the way for spintronic RAMs: A deeper look into a powerful spin phenomenon

Scientists explore a new material combination that sets the stage for magnetic random access memories, which rely on spin -- an intrinsic property of electrons -- and could outperform current storage devices. Their breakthrough presents a novel strategy to exploit spin-related phenomena in topological materials, which could spur several advances in the field of spin electronics. Moreover, this...

How I changed my mind about the biology of race | Philip Ball

Angela Saini’s book Superior showed me our misconceptions about race and science arise from a habit of the mindIt has been common for several years now to assert that science shows the concept of race has no biological basis, and that we must see it instead as a social construct. That case was argued, for example, by Kenan Malik in his 2008 book Strange Fruit, and it is presented, too, in Angela...

Brain-like functions emerging in a metallic nanowire network

An international joint research team succeeded in fabricating a neuromorphic network composed of numerous metallic nanowires. Using this network, the team was able to generate electrical characteristics similar to those associated with higher order brain functions unique to humans, such as memorization, learning, forgetting, becoming alert and returning to calm. The team then clarified the...

In leap for quantum computing, silicon quantum bits establish a long-distance relationship

In an important step forward in the quest to build a quantum computer using silicon-based hardware, researchers have succeeded in making possible the exchange of information between two qubits located relatively far apart -- about the length of a grain of rice, which is a considerable distance on a computer chip. Connecting two silicon qubits across this distance makes possible new and more...

Seeing the new Star Wars? Be careful what you wish for

How much you enjoy the new Star Wars movie will depend a lot on your expectations going in, a new study suggests. Researchers surveyed 441 people before and after they saw the last episode in the popular franchise, Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi, released in 2017. They wanted to see how audiences' expectations affected their actual enjoyment of the movie.