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Compared to the ancients, we moderns less moralize our personal lives, but more moralize the bigger world around us. Wars and politics, for example, are more moralized to us. In particular, we tend to be eager to interpret big-scale trends in moral terms, and often do so if enough trend context factors can support such an interpretation. These moral interpretations often change how we respond to big tends, which often enhances these trends.

For example, when gas prices rise, many are tempted to explain this as due to a rise in the selfishness of oil executives. Which can make them push for price controls and regulations that over time tend to cause higher gas prices. Similarly, rising costs of housing are often attributed to greedy landlords and developers, resulting in price controls and regulations that make it less attractive to build or rent housing, and so higher housing prices.

On the other side, for trends like rises in school and medical spending, more attention to kids, less corporal punishment of kids, and delayed marriages, it is possible to frame them as due to increasing clarity, resolve, or knowledge re virtues and moral truths. Even if initially caused by other contextual factors, such moral interpretations can induce people to more admire those who do such things, and to do more of them themselves. Which extends those trends.

This process add a multiplier effect to the efforts of cultural activists seeking to induce moral changes. Once they can cause any visible trend, using most any available means, the world many respond to that trend via an interpretation of changed morals, when then adds force to the change trend.

Compared to the ancients, the modern world does more of this because we are more eager to moralize big trends, and we have a lot more faster big changes in context.

(This post is an attempt to simplify and generalize my last post.)

Mosasaurs are terrifying enough based on their fossils alone. The Cretaceous marine reptile family encompassed some of the undisputed apex predators of Earth’s ancient oceans (and possibly even some rivers). Species like Mosasaurus hoffmanii easily reached nearly 50-feet long, while weighing as much as 20,000 pounds—and there are many more mosasaurs just like them.

So what could possibly make them any scarier? Some of the ancient aquatic hunters employed speedy, “slam-start” sneak attacks to take down their prey. This new theory is detailed in a recent study for the journal Current Biology, and draws on anatomical fossil record reconstructions supplemented by the physiology of similar present-day predators like the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis).

“Physics is physics,” Kiersten Formoso, an evolutionary paleontologist at Rutgers University, said in a recent profile.

Formoso and her colleagues focused on four types of mosasaurs, including the especially massive Tylosaurus. The nearly 10-ton carnivore that existed about 92 to 66 million years ago and grew to almost 45-feet long. Based on its overall anatomy and some basic physics principles, Formoso says Tylosaurus likely ambushed its prey. To accomplish this, the mosasaur relied on a single, immensely powerful sweep of the tail to launch it as fast as 15 miles per hour towards an unsuspecting target.

Tylosaurus and its close relatives belong to one of two primary branches in the mosasaur family tree that are separated by different tail anatomies. Their particular group featured tails with a longer, more flexible portion that provided further sweeping action. Formoso compared these “slam-start” attacks from predators like Tylosaurus and Platecarpus to a swimmer using their legs and feet to launch off a pool wall.

“It’s the tail itself pushing off the water,” she explained.

Of the four species Formoso examined, Mosasaurus and Plotosaurus probably preferred maintaining a comparatively steady speed in the open ocean, while Platecarpus and Tylosaurus often relied on slam-start ambushes in shallower water.

“That doesn’t mean Plotosaurus was slow,” clarified Formoso. “Its tail was [more] built for sustained, tuna-like swimming rather than sudden bursts.”

The team’s theory is further supported by existing knowledge of mosasaur fossil compositions, along with their tooth wear and estimated bite forces. Their data and tools are now available for free online so other researchers can examine other extinct marine species. But whoever those creatures might be, they likely weren’t nearly as imposing as the ocean’s largest—and sometimes sneaky—predators.

“At the same time dinosaurs like T. rex were ruling the land, mosasaurs were ruling the seas,” said Formoso.

The post 20,000-pound mosasaurs ambushed prey with sneak attacks appeared first on Popular Science.

Successfully sending Artemis II astronauts on their historic lunar flyby earlier this year required some of the latest and most precise technologies, but not everything in this mission needed the same intense equipment. As crewmates gazed through Orion’s capsule window at the moon’s eclipse of the sun on April 6, 2026, three of the travelers needed a way to easily sketch some of their preliminary observations. They took turns writing their notes on a shared tablet PC—and NASA has recently highlighted their work with a screenshot of their efforts.

Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen had a lengthy list of tasks during their 10-day, 700,000-mile roundtrip. One of the most visually dramatic jobs involved carefully assessing lunar activity while passing across the moon’s dark side from a distance of about 46,000 miles away. The roughly hour-long observation period provided astronauts with an unprecedented opportunity to record meteorite activity.

A visualization of a dark Moon eclipsing the Sun is marked with handwritten notes in this April 6, 2026, screenshot from an Artemis II crew member’s tablet. Credit: NASA

The tablet screenshot includes notes taken by Wisemen (in blue), Hansen (in red), and Glover (in green) during the moon’s eclipse of the sun. The crew collectively spotted at least five faint flashes of light caused by impacts. According to Wiseman, the first three impacts occurred within about 10 minutes into their observations, while another two happened later during the flyby. Impacts two and four were likely also corroborated by Hansen and Glover.

Since the moon does not have an atmosphere like Earth’s, the lunar surface is regularly bombarded by space rocks. Most of them are comparatively small, but they will still pose a problem for future crewed trips to the surface,especially those stationed in a planned permanent lunar base. The data gathered by Artemis II on April 6 will help NASA better understand these dynamics, and plan for the safest environments possible for their astronauts.

Artemis II’s astronauts safely returned to Earth during a splashdown off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 p.m. EDT on April 11. If all goes as planned, Artemis III’s crew will launch on their mission no earlier than June 2027.

The post NASA shares Artemis II astronauts’ handwritten mission notes appeared first on Popular Science.

Just over 40 years ago, what began as a routine safety test at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (or Chornobyl in Ukranian) in Soviet Ukraine spiraled into one of the most recognizable disasters of the 20th century. The reactor exploded and burned, spewing chunks of nuclear debris into the sky. Among that toxic litter were countless tiny “hot particles,” fragments of nuclear fuel smaller than the width of a human hair (somewhere between 8 and 50 micrometers across). Those particles are called hot because they’re highly radioactive, and still are four decades later. Today, scientists entering the areas of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone where the hot particles are located are required to wear a full protective suit.

But after decades of study, scientists still know surprisingly little about what their particles are made of at the molecular level. A team of researchers from Germany recently set out to change that by analyzing six particles collected from two sites in the Exclusion Zone using synchrotron X-ray diffraction. Surprisingly, they discovered the particles remained far more chemically stable than they had expected. Their crystal structures were largely intact, suggesting they changed little since forming during the disaster and its aftermath.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The findings were recently published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. 

What are Chernobyl’s hot particles?

The hot particles thrown out of the Chernobyl plant fall into three general categories. The first is fuel that remains chemically and physically similar to the reactor’s original uranium dioxide. The second type consists of fuel that melted during the explosion and fused to its zirconium-alloy protective casing. The third type is fire-damaged fuel. 

As the reactor’s graphite burned for 10 days after the explosion, the intense heat oxidized some of the fuel into other uranium compounds. 

Particles, crystals…and dogs

For this particular study, the team sourced their six samples from two areas in the exclusion zone, and all three hot particle categories were represented. Two came from asphalt in Pripyat, roughly 2 miles from the reactor, while the other four came from farm soil samples in Kopachi, about 3 miles away. 

With the samples selected, the researchers isolated individual particles pulled from the soil, mounted each type to a tiny tungsten electrode, and then sent them to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. There, a team analyzed the particles using intense X-rays produced by a synchrotron, a circular particle accelerator. The researchers rotated each particle in an X-ray beam, measuring it from roughly 2,000 different angles. Watching how the x-rays bounced off all that material revealed how its atoms were arranged, showing which compounds each particle was made of and, most importantly for this study, how intact its crystal structure remained.

Hot particle from the 1986 reactor accident: The nuclear fuel particle is partially fused with zirconium oxide. Image: Laura Stalmann.

They expected to see particles that had been broken down by years of exposure to the elements. Instead, the crystal structures were still largely intact. That surprising finding suggests the particles are far more chemically stable than previously assumed, holding their radioactive contents locked inside their crystal structures. 

Though some of the particles showed more oxidation (of a loss of electrons when they interact with other chemicals) than others, two showed virtually none at all. Importantly, two of the particles pulled from the same soil near Kopachi included both a sample heavily oxidized and one that was largely untouched. The authors suggest that if weathering from the environment were the cause of the oxidation, then both particles sitting side by side should look similar. Instead, they say the oxidation likely happened during the disaster itself, when the reactor fire baked some of the fuel for days.

That timeline is potentially good news for the areas around the power plant. If the particles are indeed holding onto that radioactive material and not oxidizing, that could mean less harmful material is making its way into the soil and, in turn, the surrounding ecosystem. Still, the researchers quickly caveat any broad claims. These were just six samples, after all. Making any wider claim about the soil in the region generally would require more research.

Though it’s still too early to say with any certainty, that lack of leaching dangerous material into the environment could partly help explain why the exclusion zone has become home to an ever-growing neighborhood of furry mammals in recent years. In fact, the area’s lack of humans has made it a thriving ecosystem for foxes, bears, and bison. It’s a modern, albeit a little unorthodox, example of rewilding. Of course, even in this new frontier, the consequences of a nuclear disaster aren’t totally absent. A recent study of roaming dogs living in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, many believed to be descendants of dogs left by their owners during the 1986 evacuation, show distinct genetic differences from dogs in an area just 10 miles away.

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The post Chernobyl particles look remarkably similar to explosion day in 1986 appeared first on Popular Science.

A 2,000-year-old marble sculpture slated for auction later this month is more than a well-preserved piece of artistic history. From its original vantage point inside an ancient temple in present-day Croatia, the depiction of an emperor’s decorative chestplate reminded the recently conquered residents that the age of the Roman empire had arrived.

The intricately detailed bust dates back to the Julio-Claudian era (27 BCE–68 CE), and was crafted from highly coveted marble mined from the Aegean island of Paros. While only the torso remains intact today, the fragment is appropriate given its larger context. Government officials intended sculptures like these to be a permanent temple fixture, so their limbs and heads were regularly updated to depict the current reigning emperor. The monument was more than a way to depict Rome’s ultimate authority—it embodied the very concept of imperial authority.

Reinforcing Roman rule in a conquered town like Salona was vital during this era. The Julio-Claudian period saw Rome’s first five emperors consolidating power and expanding their territory. Erecting these monumental odes ensured the conquered saw visual reminders of the empire’s strength every day.

“The Romans at this period in time were asking, ‘How does this convey power? How do you legitimize a new imperial structure? What iconography do you land on to convey these things?’” Alexandra Olsman, an antiquities specialist on sculpture and works of art at Sotheby’s, explained in an accompanying video.

Every detail carved onto the cuirass ties back to this concept. Its centerpiece depicts the sun god, Sol, riding his four-horse chariot known as a quadriga over the sea to announce the dawn of a new day. According to Olsman, the intentional choice of subject matter declares the victory of order over chaos. Beneath Sol are two images of the goddess Victoria on either side of a tropaeum—a visualization of defeated armies’ abandoned shields, weaponry, and even a conquered enemy’s head. Finally, the smaller images of ram and feline faces on overlapping leather straps represent strength and wards against evil.

“This is Rome becoming Rome in a sculpture,” Olsman added.

The sculpture is scheduled for auction on October 21.

The post 2,000-year-old marble torso symbolizes the dawn of ancient Rome appeared first on Popular Science.

A rare Eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) is recovering after being found struggling in the surf on a Maine beach. Earlier this week, the Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine, shared new footage of the winged mammal chowing down on a hearty plate of mealworms—a good sign for her recovery.

“She was very lethargic upon admission, and is now feisty and active,” Kristen Lamb, the Center for Wildlife’s Executive Director tells Popular Science. “She has been eating well, and responding to treatment including fluid therapy, temperature regulation and a specific bat habitat that allows her to mimic natural behaviors and reduces stress.”

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Mealworms are the larval form of the yellow mealworm beetle and a common bat food. To keep these mealworm meals close to what a bat would be eating in the wild, the team even supplements what the worms themselves eat. This way, the nutrients inside of bugs resembles the contents of wild insects versus store-bought mealworms.  

Eastern red bats like this one are one of eight bat species found in and around southern Maine. They are considered tree bats because they act more solitary and roost in trees among the foliage instead of in large communal groups or in caves like most bat species. 

“They are camouflaged as they hang curled up in the furry membranes of their tails, suspended by usually one foot upside down, giving the appearance of a curled leaf or pine cone moving in the breeze,” says Lamb.

Red bats are also a species that eats “on the wing.” This means that they must be handfed or learn how to eat and drink from a dish if under human care. In the wild, they can grab insects from the air while flying, and glide and dip down to drink water while still flying.

Bats also have high metabolisms, and specific nutritional, temperature and humidity requirements. This isn’t because they are picky. These factors all help them roost. 

“[Bats] hang upside down by their back feet, which their circulatory systems are adapted for versus ours which would result in a pounding headache!,” Lamb explains. “Clinic staff must have knowledge of this, along with their anatomy, physiology, sensitivity to medication and handling techniques in order to successfully treat them.”

Though humans generally think of bats more during spooky season, bats like these are a critical part of the ecosystem all year and directly tied to our health. They gobble up mosquitoes that can carry West Nile Virus or EEE, providing a natural and free form of pest control. 

The team is hopeful that this little red bat can make a quick recovery and be released back into the wild, but also want to be sure she’s okay.

“Red bats are migrating right now and we don’t want her to miss her window,” Lamb says. “At the same time, she is recovering from the shock of being submerged in the cold Atlantic and if we release her before she can do everything healthy red bats can do in the wild, she would succumb to predators, the elements, or starvation shortly after release.”

The Center for Wildlife treats up to 2,500 injured and orphaned wild animals from a 100-mile radius per year. The center operates without federal funding and donations can be made through their website. 

The post Rare red bat rescued in Maine gobbles up mealworms appeared first on Popular Science.

Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands are home to an incredible array of wildlife. Amid landscapes of black lava fields, scattered prickly pear cacti, lush highlands, and green mangrove fringes, you’ll spot lumbering land iguanas in striking shades of yellow, orange, and red, comical blue-footed boobies, and some of the pinkest flamingos around. But it turns out that these magnificent creatures aren’t born with their vibrant hues. They actually have to work for them! 

To find out why some wildlife changes color according to their diets, and what these various tones and tints mean for survival, Popular Science turned to Jorge Alex Gutierrez Guerrero, an expedition leader on the Galapagos Islands’ Yacht Isabela II. Guerrero says it all comes down to naturally occurring pigments that play a major role in an animal’s immune system. They can even change the color of your skin!

What are carotenoids? 

The colorful displays of Galapagos wildlife, including the bright cyan feet of blue-footed boobies and the impressive red throat pouch of magnificent frigatebirds that they inflate during courtship, are a direct result of their diet. Specifically, they result from the digestion of nature’s own punchy dyes known as carotenoids. 

“Basically, carotenoids are natural pigments produced by plants, algae, and phytoplankton,” says Gutierrez. These organic chemical compounds play a vital role in nature. They help capture light for photosynthesis, which is how plants use sunlight to make their own food. They act as powerful antioxidants that can protect cells from damage. And they provide the vibrant colors that many animals, birds, and fish need to survive. 

For instance, flamingos gradually lose their red pigmentation when their diet lacks carotenoids. According to Gutierrez, this is a perfect example of the “direct relationship between dietary carotenoids and coloration.” 

Frigatebird with its inflated bright red pouch on the Genovesa island in the Galapagos. Image: @ Didier Marti / Getty Images Didier Marti How Galapagos animals get their colors

Wildlife in the Galapagos gets carotenoids primarily through their diets, since these are pigments that they can’t produce naturally. The archipelago’s land iguanas eat cactus flowers and leaves to obtain carotenoids, while blue-footed boobies consume fresh fish like sardines and anchovies to acquire them. Pink flamingos get their fill of carotenoids through algae and brine shrimp. 

Once the wildlife digests and metabolizes these natural pigments, the colors of carotenoids, which primarily produce shades of red, orange, and yellow, begin to show in everything from skin and shells to feet and feathers. In many cases, the more brilliant the shades, the healthier the creature. While carotenoids don’t naturally create the color blue, the archipelago’s iconic blue-footed boobies get their turquoise feet from a mix of yellow carotenoid pigments and the collagen structure of their skin. 

How other animals get their vibrant hues

Examples of the power of carotenoids even exist in our own backyards. 

The sunny yellow coloring of an American goldfinch is a direct result of its carotenoid-rich diet of summer weeds and sunflowers, while northern cardinals get their brilliant red hue through carotenoid-heavy foods such as honeysuckle, hackberries, and seeds.

Why do animals need carotenoids? 

Carotenoids aren’t a core nutritional necessity. However, they are an important source of vitamin A, a key component in reproductive health, good vision, and a strong immune system. 

While the bulk of birds and animals get carotenoids through their diets, a few rare invertebrates, like spider mites and gall gnats, can create their own carotenoids. They do so through a rare genetic accident, likely caused by a virus or parasite. An ancestor of the spider mite and an ancestor of the gall gnat had close encounters with ancient fungi, causing a horizontal gene transfer. Essentially, horizontal gene transfer is the transmission of DNA between different organisms—and, in this case, species.

Every animal processes these pigments slightly differently. For some animals, carotenoids completely change the color of their features. Others simply absorb carotenoids without changing color at all. 

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But all animals use carotenoids to fight off disease, such as boosting immune cells to destroy any harmful bacteria. Only healthy wildlife can spare excess carotenoids for bright skin, beaks, or feathers. So the more vibrantly hued birds, reptiles, and fish are, the healthier their immune system. They have enough carotenoids to spare for flashy colors.

For instance, blue-footed boobies with electric, turquoise-blue feet tend to be healthiest. In fact, boobies that go without food for a couple of days can end up with dull-colored feet. When animals get sick, they also lose their hue. First, their bodies divert carotenoids away from exterior features, like skin and feathers, and use them for fighting illness. Second, absorbing nutrients such as carotenoids becomes more difficult. Without carotenoids, an animal’s bright pigments will quickly fade. 

Bright colors also come in handy during mating rituals 

Carotenoids also play vital roles in mating rituals. When it comes to blue-footed boobies, “It’s very important for a female to find a male with the brightest blue feet, because she is choosing the best provider” for her offspring, says Gutierrez. 

It’s a feature that these marine birds show off frequently in their oh-so-quirky mating dance, which includes an elaborate high-step strut. The bluer the feet, the more attractive males appear to their female counterparts. 

Male blue-footed boobies do an elaborate mating dance for the ladies to show off their bright blue feet. Maybe there’s a reason Elvis sings about his blue suede shoes? Video: The Blue Footed Boobies Mating Dance | Wild Love, Nat Geo Animals

What’s more, a famous 2006 scientific study on blue-footed boobies showed that females lay smaller eggs for males with duller feet. Basically, a female will put in less reproductive investment if her male isn’t up to par. 

Why are animals in the Galapagos so colorful? 

“Carotenoids are prominent all over the world,” says Gutierrez. “But they’re especially visible among wildlife in the Galapagos, because it’s a limited environment where the ecosystems are well-marked.” What Gutierrez means is that the archipelago is so geographically isolated and far from the coast of Ecuador, many species—like marine iguanas—have nowhere else to go. Even within the Galapagos, a large percentage of wildlife stick closely to their specific islands. 

Another reason the animals here are so colorful? Because an overall lack of predators has allowed the wildlife to evolve without needing dull or camouflage coats to protect them. 

Most of the archipelago’s carotenoids come from the ocean, or in the case of land iguanas and yellow-beaked Darwin’s finches, through cactus nectar and pollen. 

Further afield, the iconic pink-orange flesh of Pacific Northwest salmon is a direct result of their carotenoid-rich diet—in their case, chowing down on krill and small shrimp. Roseate spoonbills, found across the mangrove swamps, mudflats, and wetlands of the U.S. Gulf Coast, get their rosy pink sheen from dining on crustaceans, crabs, and crayfish. 

Can carotenoids make people change colors?

As to whether eating carotenoid-rich foods will change a person’s skin color, it’s definitely possible. 

The best known example comes from consuming carrots. These vegetables are loaded with a red-orange carotenoid called beta-carotene, which our bodies convert into vitamin A. 

But when we consume more beta-carotene than we need, the excess pigment starts circulating in our bloodstream and leads to a yellow or orange glow. “It’s mostly visible in your palms,” says Gutierrez. 

Still, he says, don’t worry if you have a penchant for sardines and anchovies—the main diet of blue-footed boobies. Since humans process and metabolize these compounds differently, “you’re not going to turn blue, too.”

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Why are some animals so colorful? Blame this pigment. appeared first on Popular Science.

Imagine taking a big group of elites from the year 1700, giving them the tech, wealth, and economic options of today, also teaching them new facts that we have learned since then, but without putting them in contact with the people of today. If they held their values constant, and only adapted their behavior to these ways to achieve constant values, they would change many of their behaviors to adapt to this new context. However, it seems to me that their behaviors would be quite different from those of people today with the same facts, tech, wealth, and economic options. That (big) difference shows how our values have in effect changed since 1700.

I’ve been puzzling over what could have caused such huge fast value changes. I had been attributing much of it to cultural activism, but on reflection we’ve seen many apparent value changes in areas that seem to have little activism. For example, few seem to have advocated for the switch from cornerstone to capstone marriage. What else could cause such big change?

Consider three related facts. First, we tend to copy the behaviors and attitudes of elites, i.e., people we admire, and also to give them the benefit of doubts re their motives. Second, our book The Elephant in the Brain argues that most of us are quite badly informed on our motives re many key areas of life. Third, decades of psychology has found that we tend to neglect context in favor of intrinsic personal attributes when explaining behavior. Some have called this our “fundamental attribution error”. Values are important examples of personal attributes.

These facts tempt me to consider the following hypothesis: when elites change behaviors associated with virtue, observers tend to neglect context explanations of those changes in favor of value explanations. That is, observers, including the elites themselves, tend to attribute changed elite virtue behaviors to their more strongly or clearly expressing certain values. And perhaps even to their having discovered new related moral truths. This clearer elite demonstration and endorsement of those values induces observers to want to also more strongly and clearly express them.

For example, imagine that due to increasing wealth, falling family size, and stronger educational competition, elite parents switched to spending more time with their kids, a behavior widely seen as virtuous. Observers will interpret this as stronger clearer signals that spending time with kids is widely accepted as virtuous. Such observers will then be induced to spend more time with kids, which will make them feel and seem more virtuous. And that will confirm to those elite parents the strong and accepted virtue of spending time with kids.

This process amplifies the initial change in elite parental attention, pushing toward a larger overall change in parental attention, attributed to a new moral revelation: past parents were morally bad in neglecting their kids. Thank goodness new parents now see the moral truth that good parents are constantly with their kids.

The same process could happen re the switch from cornerstone to capstone marriage. Elites’ initially delayed marriage due to longer educational paths, but then the new models of elite marriage changed the shared image of the ideal marriage as one of mature people who know themselves well choosing others who match them well. And then the more that respected elites do this, the more it confirms for all that this is what virtuous people do. Bad people, in contrast, get married too young.

If this process has been common through history, it would have amplified most any ways that elites seem to more value some things. But when such changes were small, their amplifications would also have been small. Maybe what is distinct about the modern era is just how common are large changes in behavior due to big changes in the contexts of tech, wealth, social interaction scales, etc.

SpaceX is doing the IMPOSSIBLE in the last few months of this year. It will change EVERYTHING. They have a new most important product and it IS not the reusable Starship or AI in Space. Monetizing the data centers at the rate SpaceX is doing is making them the fastest growing company in the world ...

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Timekeeping has officially entered its nuclear age. Two independent teams, one in Vienna, Austria and another in Beijing, China have built working thorium-229 nuclear clock prototypes. Rather than track changes in an atom’s electrons the way that current atomic clocks do, these nuclear versions use a laser that’s tuned to the frequency where a thorium nucleus flips between two energy states for potentially even more accurate time keeping. Scientists believe this new approach could one day make the clocks far more reliable than any existing atomic timekeeper. 

To put that in perspective, current atomic clocks can  keep time with an uncertainty of 1 second every 300 million years. Scientists predict that more advanced nuclear clocks could move that metric into the billions of years. That could open the door to probing some of the universe’s hardest-to-measure phenomena, like notoriously elusive dark matter. The Chinese clock and Austrian clock were detailed in a pair of studies published this week in the journal Nature.

“The great advantage of the new nuclear clock in Vienna is that, if you use atomic nuclei rather than atoms, much higher precision is possible in principle,” Thorsten Schumm, a study co-author and professor at the Vienna University of Technology, said in a statement.

The thorium crystal and the laser beam. Image: TU Wien.
How nuclear clocks work 

The world’s network of atomic clocks is already mind-bogglingly accurate. They also underpin a slew of modern necessities, from GPS to internet communication. Atomic clocks work by tuning a laser to the exact frequency of light that makes an atom’s electron jump between two levels. 

Nuclear clocks, as the name suggests, go even deeper. They target jumps inside of an atom’s nucleus.  Lasers focus on vibrations from a single nucleus rather than the whole atom. For those who weren’t paying all that much attention in chemistry class, a nucleus is tens of thousands of times smaller than the atom surrounding  it.

Luca Toscani de Col (top right) working on the nuclear clock in the Vienna lab. Image: Matthias Heisler, TU Wien.

Keeping time in a nuclear clock requires keeping the laser tuned to the nucleus as it switches between states. This process is sometimes colloquially referred to as “squishing” the nucleus. Squishing atomic nuclei usually requires an enormous amount of energy. However, the isotope Thorium-229, is a rare exception, which is why both teams at Vienna University of Technology and Tsinghua University in Beijing built their clocks around it.

“The basic idea is simple: you have a laser and you have thorium,”  Schumm added. “The laser changes the energy state of the thorium nuclei, and the thorium nuclei are used to stabilize the frequency of the laser.”

Nuclear is still catching up to atomic 

These two prototype clocks are many years in the making. The thorium crystal used for both was grown separately, but around the same time. So far, testing reportedly shows the version in China is about six times as stable than the clock  in Vienna. The Vienna prototype, meanwhile, is reportedly the first nuclear clock that stabilizes itself the way atomic clocks do. Schumm recently told the South China Morning Post this parallel development has led to a  “fierce but friendly global competition.” 

Nuclear clocks may eventually far surpass their atomic forebears, but they aren’t there yet. Researchers estimate the new prototype may drift by about one second every 30 million years. That’s roughly 10 times worse than the cesium clocks that currently define the official second.

Still, researchers expect that stronger, more efficient lasers and better thorium crystals will make each new generation of nuclear clocks ever more accurate, until they eventually surpass atomic clocks altogether. Who manages to get their first remains to be determined. 

The post The world’s first nuclear clocks start ticking appeared first on Popular Science.

She’s bubblegum pink with a permanent little smile. She sports a pretty flower on her head sports a black tattoo on one of her eight arms. But don’t let this dumbo octopus’ adorable exterior fool you. Miss Abyss is here on serious business. 

“Miss Abyss is a dumbo octopus from the deep-sea, and she is on a journey all across the country looking for allies to support her to help defend the deep-sea,” Angelo Villagomez, a research fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), tells Popular Science. 

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While Miss Abyss herself is an octopus illustrated by CAP research associate Jasia Smith, dumbo octopuses (genus Grimpoteuthis) are very real cephalopods. They live on the ocean floor, and many species can be found at extreme depths of 9,800 to 13,000 feet and are only about 8 inches tall. 

CAP’s’ Miss Abyss campaign is using the dumbo octopus to raise awareness about protecting public waters from deep-sea mining using the Flat Stanley method. Based on the children’s book Flat Stanley, children are are asked to take pictures of a paper doll in places near where they live for a popular school project. For Miss Abyss, supporters are asked to print out a picture of her and then take a photo or video of her in a place that represents their state or home and share it on social media. Supporters are also encouraged to sign CAP’s petition.

“One of the most popular things in the United States is our public lands and our public waters,” Villagomez says. “We’re creating a fun and engaging way for people of all ages to be creative and basically showcase their support.”

While Miss Abyss attempts to travel to all 50 states, real dumbo octopuses can be found in some of the deepest parts of the ocean. Image: Center for American Progress/Miss Abyss via Instagram. What is deep-sea mining?

Deep-sea mining is the extraction of mineral resources including manganese, nickel, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements from the ocean floor. Proponents of future deep-sea mining say that these and other minerals could help speed up the development of clean energy technologies. The global demand for nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements needed for digitization and decarbonization may double by 2040 to meet carbon emissions goals. Some also see the deep-sea as a safer alternative to mining on land. 

But the process could cause destruction to a critical ecosystem that we still do not know much about. As of April, only 28.7 percent of the global seafloor has been mapped. A 2025 report commissioned by the National Ocean Protection Coalition found that in the next 15 years, the economic, environmental, and technical challenges associated with deep-sea mining would make its profitability or commercial success highly unlikely. Waste discharge from deep-sea mining could also reduce food availability for the species that live there.

On November 12, 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced a Request for Information and Interest (RFI) for leasing land off the Northern Mariana islands for mining. While the comment period ended on January 12, organizations from Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and their national partners collected over 60,000 petitions, letters, and comments opposing the plans to allow deep sea mining near the Mariana Trench.

On August 17, BOEM announced a Proposed Leasing Notice (PLN) and a 60-day comment period that outlines the terms and conditions of the potential sale. The date for the lease sale is currently set for December 16, 2026.

“Some of the least disturbed coral reef ecosystems on the planet are on these isolated Pacific islands in the U.S. Pacific territories,” says Villagomez. “I think part of the human spirit is knowing that there are places that are unexplored, that there are things on our Earth that are still yet to be discovered.”

As a result, roughly 31 million acres near American Samoa and 69 million acres near the Mariana Islands’ outer continental shelves could go up for auction. The U.S. federal government has also proposed lease sales to advance deep-sea mining near Alaska and Virginia. 

“We’re not talking about a small [mine on land] where it’s one open pit,” says Villagomez. “It’s as far as the eye can see in every direction.”

Environmental and indigenous rights

In addition to the environmental risks, deep-sea mining also presents an Indigenous sovereignty issue. The ocean is a sacred part of the identity, spirituality and traditions of the Chamorro and Refaluwasch people of the Marianas, and other communities of American Samoa.

“I am Indigenous Chamorro, born in Guam, but my family is from Saipan. I grew up knowing that I lived next to the Mariana Trench,” Villagomez says. “I remember being out fishing with my dad, and he would then tell dad jokes, like ‘Oh you see the mountain there? It’s the tallest mountain in the world because it stretches all the way down to the Mariana Trench.’” 

That was not just a dad joke. At 6.8 miles below sea level, the Mariana Trench is deeper than Mount Everest is tall (5.5 miles).

Mining in the deepest parts of the ocean may not yield minerals companies want. CAP says that the proposed areas in the Marianas do not even have nodule fields of significant commercial value, and alleges that the mining is a pretext for testing prototype equipment for future operations elsewhere.

“This is a really new environmental issue. Up until about a year ago, deep sea mining was science fiction, so the types of people who would be organized on this if it was a public lands issue are not necessarily as organized,” says Villagomez. “So we’re going out there gathering allies, not just pictures of people with Miss Abyss, but also as that collective power to bring to conservation.”

Oh the places she’ll go

Since launching in August, Miss Abyss has already visited about 20 states, gone backstage at a Spin Doctor’s concert, sat beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, and visited the Grand Tetons.

Miss Abyss the dumbo octopus in a neighborhood called DUMBO near the Brooklyn Bridge. Image: Center for American Progress/Miss Abyss via Instagram.

Miss Abyss has also met oceanographer Dawn Wright. Nicknamed “Deepsea Dawn,” Wright is the first Black American and 27th human to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. In July 2022, she dove the 6.8 miles below sea level to Challenger Deep at the southern end of the trench.

“She’s [Wright] just a great ambassador to the deep-sea herself,” says Villagomez. “So to see Miss Abyss and DeepseaDawn together was great.”

View this post on Instagram

While Miss Abyss travels the globe for support, the team at CAP continues working at the policy level. The courts could intervene and stop the lease sales, but the situation remains fluid and uncertain. In the meantime, Miss Abyss will continue her journey on social media. 

And as for where Villagomez would like to see Miss Abyss continue to pop up? “I would love for her to visit our national parks.”

The post Pink, pretty, and protective. A dumbo octopus is here with a message from the deep-sea. appeared first on Popular Science.

He lived at the same time as Charles Darwin, Queen Victoria, and President Andrew Jackson. He’s a gay icon, who was alive before Thomas Edison patented the lightbulb. At 194 years old, Jonathan the Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea) is the world’s oldest known living giant tortoise and oldest land animal. But what is helping Jonathan stay alive this long? 

Good genes alone are not responsible for Jonathan’s longevity but a lack of genetic wear and tear appears to be a major contributor to his epic lifespan. In a study published today in the journal Science Advances, scientists pinpoint 287 unique gene variants in Jonathan responsible for reducing the usual effects of aging. These variants control some of the body’s key processing, including repairing damaged DNA, reducing inflammation, regulating insulin, and even suppressing cancer. 

Who is Jonathan?

For most of his remarkable life, Jonathan the tortoise has lived on the island of St. Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. He arrived from the Seychelles 144 years ago as a fully-grown adult and was given to the governor of St. Helena, and has lived at the governor’s residence ever since.

Jonathan arrived in St. Helena as a gift to Sir William Grey-Wilson in 1882, who later became governor of the island. This image was taken around that time, with Jonathan on the left. Image: A.L. Innes

The giant tortoises of the Galápagos and Seychelles islands like Jonathan are the last survivors of animals that used to dominate the ecology of many islands around the world.

“There are few creatures that could tell us more about ageing than the giant tortoises of the Galapagos and Seychelles islands,” Justin Gerlach, a study co-author and biologist at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. “Working with a really old giant tortoise is such a privilege: you get a sense of the tortoise being your collaborator, not your study subject.”

Jonathan has been featured on the back of St. Helena’s five-pence coin, is also on a postage stamp, and has gained internet fame. In June, an online hoax claiming that Jonathan had died spread.

Jonathan in front of Plantation House on the island St. Helena. Image: Joe Hollins 2013. Into the epigenome

In this new study, the team also compared Jonathan’s epigenome with those of younger Aldabra giant tortoises. The epigenome is what switches genes on and off. It is a group of chemical compounds that modify the genome and tell it what to do, where to do it, and when to do it. These can then be passed on as cells divide, and to the next generation.

The switches in controlling Jonathan’s DNA repair and metabolism genes were very similar to those found in younger tortoises. This surprised the team since the epigenome usually changes over time. These changes contribute to the aging process and are a major factor when things start to go wrong in older bodies.

“We found that the gene regulators involved in energy production and DNA repair have remained incredibly stable in Jonathan over almost two centuries,” explained Gerlach.

According to the team, this study marks the first time the epigenome of a giant tortoise has been investigated. Studying the genetic mechanisms during mid-life offers insights into extreme lifespans like Jonathan’s.

Jonathan (left) and David (right). The pair live together at Plantation House. Image: Joe Hollins 2019

“Nature has already solved the puzzle of aging in remarkable ways, and Jonathan’s genome provides a blueprint for cellular resilience,” added study co-author Dr. Stephen Clark.

Clark is also the founder of the Kallel Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to understanding aging by studying genetics.  

“Our goal is to take these evolutionary insights and immediately translate them into practical, affordable treatments for everyday people,” Clark added. “Aging is the greatest risk factor for nearly every chronic disease we face, and through the generosity of philanthropic partners, we can democratise access to longevity medicine.”

The post Jonathan the tortoise is 194 years old and thriving. His genes help explain why. appeared first on Popular Science.

For the first time since 2019, Union Pacific’s Living Legend No. 844 will be hitting the rails with Big Boy No. 4014. These historic locomotives will be together for a special holiday tour this November. 

On November 21, the pair of steam locomotives will run during a fundraising tour from Greeley to Denver, Colorado. The trip will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with a donation from Union Pacific’s Community Ties Giving Program. The steam duo will also be on display to the public at Denver’s Union Station. Santa Claus and his elves will even be in the terminal handing out limited-edition gifts. Admission to this event is free and open to the public.

Tickets for the holiday fundraising tour to take a ride in vintage passenger cars pulled by Big Boy and No. 844 go on sale to patrons of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum on October 16. The general public can purchase any remaining tickets on October 19. Families can still visit Denver’s Union Station to view the locomotives free of charge.

Nicknamed the “Living Legend,” No. 844 is a famed high-speed passenger locomotive. It was built in 1944 and the last steam locomotive built for Union Pacific. It hauled some of the company’s most recognizable passenger trains, including the Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Portland Rose, and Challenger. No. 844 is also the last Class I North American steam locomotive and never permanently retired from service. Instead, it was reassigned to freight service in Nebraska from 1957 to 1959, when diesel locomotives took over passenger service duties. Unlike nearly every other steam locomotive of its era, No. 844 escaped the scrap yard in 1960 and Union Pacific retained it for special service.

No. 844 was not scrapped in 1960 like other steam locomotives of its class. Image: Union Pacific.

No. 844 will chug alongside a more famous locomotive, Big Boy No. 4014. Big Boy is currently the world’s largest operating steam locomotive and one of only eight remaining Big Boys in existence and the only one still in operation. These powerful locomotives were constructed during World War II to transport heavy equipment to support the war effort. 

Earlier this year, Big Boy drew millions of spectators during a coast-to-coast journey celebrating the United States’ 250th birthday. The first leg began on March 29. Big Boy then traveled to several states including California, Utah, and New York. 

The steam locomotive celebrated the Fourth of July in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776. Thousands of train enthusiasts braved temperatures of 102 degrees Fahrenheit (with a real-feel of 112 degrees) to catch a glimpse of the 133-foot-long and 1.2-million-pound train.

The post World’s largest steam locomotive returns to the rails for special holiday tour appeared first on Popular Science.

Silver Springs, United States / Maryland, 6th October 2026, CyberNewswire

Torrance, Californina, 6th October 2026, CyberNewswire

New York, New York, 6th October 2026, CyberNewswire

The biggest near-term change in SpaceX’s business is happening already and will be obvious over the next few months. They are completing some of the largest AI data centers on Earth every month. In my latest video, I examine the Macrohard, Macroharder and Minihard buildout—and why a construction cycle measured in months could make conventional ...

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Canada’s largest energy project is now the Churchill Falls–Gull Island package in Labrador. It is nearly $70 billion and the largest clean-energy investment in North American history. This will be about 14,000 MW of clean power across the package. It is the existing Churchill Falls plant plus new hydro and wind, nearly tripling Churchill Falls. ...

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SpaceX Falcon 9 is roughly 15–18 t to LEO in reusable mode and ~23 t expendable, with boosters routinely flying 20+ times and the fleet doing dozens of launches per year. Falcon 9 has had 160-170 launches per year in 2025 and likely in 2026. This is about 2500-3000 tons per year. No other rocket ...

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I’m wondering how well I might organize my cultural drift messages around a few key slogans. Consider the following slogans as placeholders for better worded versions.

1. Adaptation Needs Variation, Selection, & Stability

Humanity’s superpower is cultural evolution. But such Darwinian evolution fails without sufficient variation or selection pressures, or if the context changes too fast. A few centuries ago we were fine; the world had 100Ks of peasant cultures, most facing frequent wars, pandemics, and famines, in an economy that took a millennia to double. But then we merged peasants into a hundred or so national cultures, and then those into just a few world cultures, all of which got so rich, healthy and peaceful that they almost never die. Also, the world economy now doubles every twenty years, fifty times faster than before. So now we are likely in trouble.

Every cultural feature has a min scale at which it can vary. We are doing fine re features that can vary at small scales, but in trouble re features that set game-theoretic equilibria, and so can only vary at large scales. Corporate culture features are small enough, but global features are not. Our actions are nested in goal hierarchies, and our most troubled cultural features correspond to basic goals, near key values and morals, which are hard to vary locally because cultures punish moral deviants.

2. Change Hows, Not Whys

A reasonable response to our evolution failing re our more basic goals would be to become conservative about changing them. Allow changes to means, which can easily vary at small scales, but not to the ends which direct such means. That is, change hows but not whys. Alas, humanity moved the other way. At the dawn of “modernity”, the status jump that STEM (including business) fields had gained from innovating inspired non-STEM fields like art, religion, philosophy, politics, etc. to embrace innovation. Even though they mostly didn’t see enough data to pick adaptive changes.

Since then, our most celebrated heroes have been the cultural activists who cause the greatest changes to values and morals. As a result, we are decaying into maladaption far faster than we otherwise would. The clearest example of such decay is falling fertility; peak world babies/yr was in 2016, and world population will start to fall in ~30yrs, after which STEM innovation rates will grind to a halt.

3. On a Ship In Peril, Steer It Or Leave It

The Amish and Haredim are now doubling in number every twenty years; the Amish have done so for over a century. Christians took over the Roman Empire by doubling every twenty years for three centuries, and these new insular religious subcultures seem similarly on track to replace our main world civilization. If you like what these subcultures stand for, and they let you join or influence them, then you can win. That is like folks on a ship heading for an iceberg, who get off onto lifeboats. The rest of us, in contrast, must try to turn the ship of world culture, or go down with that ship.

4. Survival Is A Package Deal

Thankfully, human extinction seems unlikely. But the world might lose many key features of today’s world culture that were rare in prior cultures. Like democracy, pacifism, gender equality, anti-kid-beating, or open intellectual inquiry. If you want such features to last long into the future, well past your lifetime, you’ll need to mix them into adaptive cultures. As only adaptive cultures last.

5. Let Bets Die In Our Stead

Our civilization may fall so far as to fragment, and restart strong selection via big wars and pandemics. Which could restart adaptive evolution, allowing a new world civilization to rise. But unless we find new ways to drive adaptation besides mass death and fragmentation, our civilizations may keep falling and rising indefinitely.

I see 3 new ways: let capitalism run most all life areas, run small groups by speculative market estimates of future group adaptive success, or run big groups by such price estimates of achieving big goals in conflict with civilization collapse. All three ways rely on strong selection among market traders creating information that lets groups stay adaptive without their death or division. Yes this looks hard, but let’s start to try, maybe first by using such markets to guide corporate cultures away from maladaption.