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Annie Jacobsen: Everything I learned about nuclear war shocked me

What would happen next after a nuclear missile strike?

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Life

Monkeys can learn to tap to the beat of the Backstreet Boys

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Health

Extreme exercise may help you live longer without stressing your heart

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A slice through the largest 3D map of our universe to date

Space

Invisible ‘dark radiation’ may explain a big problem with dark energy

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Mathematics

Game theory shows we can never learn perfectly from our mistakes

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An image of Mars

Space

Mars is blasting plasma out of its atmosphere into space

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This enchanting spiral galaxy can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear). Star-studded NGC 3972 lies about 65 million light-years away from Earth, meaning that the light that we see now left it 65 million years ago, just when the dinosaurs became extinct. NGC 3972 has had its fair share of dramatic events. In 2011 astronomers observed the explosion of a Type Ia supernova in the galaxy (not visible in this image). These dazzling objects all peak at the same brightness, and are brilliant enough to be seen over large distances. NGC 3972 also contains many pulsating stars called Cepheid variables. These stars change their brightness at a rate matched closely to their intrinsic luminosity, making them ideal cosmic lighthouses for measuring accurate distances to relatively nearby galaxies. Astronomers search for Cepheid variables in nearby galaxies that also contain a Type Ia supernova so they can compare the true brightness of both types of stars. That brightness information is used to calibrate the luminosity of Type Ia supernovae in far-flung galaxies so that astronomers can calculate the galaxies' distances from Earth. Once astronomers know accurate distances to galaxies near and far, they can determine and refine the expansion rate of the universe. This image was taken in 2015 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, as part of a project to improve the precision of the Hubble constant ? a figure that describes the expansion rate of the universe. Text: European Space Agency

Space

Has the biggest problem in cosmology finally been solved?

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Mind

How to reconnect with long-lost friends, according to science

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Technology

DeepMind is experimenting with a nearly indestructible robot hand

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Physics

Being in two places at once could make a quantum battery charge faster

The quantum principle of superposition – the idea of particles being in multiple places at once – could help make quantum batteries that charge within minutes

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Earth

Why criticisms of the proposed Anthropocene epoch miss the point

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Environment

Why carbon offsetting your flight isn’t the answer

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Health

It’s time to clean up ‘forever chemicals’ and companies should pay

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Environment

Global capacity to directly suck CO2 from air has just quadrupled

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