China’s giant space telescope will have a 300 times wider view than Hubble

Unlike NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the Xuntian will be close enough to Earth for maintenance. James Webb is roughly 1.5 million kilometers from Earth at Lagrange Point 2, while CSST will orbit near China's space station, meaning it will be relatively easy to service.

The Xuntian module's 2.5-billion-pixel camera will have a similar resolution to Hubble, but it will have a field of view 300 times greater. It will be able to survey roughly 40 percent of the sky over its roughly 10 years of operations.

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The Deadliest Virus on Earth

In the 1970s thousands of Chickenheads rained from the sky in Europe, making foxes and other wildlife confused and very happy. Why? They were filled with a vaccine to fight the deadliest virus known to humanity – since the 1930s a rabies epidemic had been sweeping across wildlife populations in Europe and humans wanted to finally get rid of the virus once and for all.

Rabies is named after Lyssa, the ancient Greek spirit of mad rage, and has been haunting us for at least 4000 years. It can turn animals into angry beasts and humans into zombies that fear water. But what makes Lyssa fascinating is not just how bizarre and deadly its infection is, but also how incredibly good it is at avoiding our defenses.

Video (Kurzgesagt)
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Russia Is Leaving The International Space Station, in a Dramatic End of an Era

Moscow said Tuesday it was leaving the International Space Station "after 2024" amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt of Russian-crewed flights.

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Elevated tween screen time linked to disruptive behavior disorders

Tweens who spend more time on screens have a higher likelihood of developing disruptive behavior disorders

Social media use was most likely to be linked to conduct disorder, while other forms of screen use—such as watching videos and television, playing video games, and texting—were more likely to be associated with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).

Conduct disorder is characterized by violating others' basic rights or societal rules with actions such as bullying, vandalism and stealing, while ODD is marked by a pattern of angry or irritable mood, argumentative or defiant behavior, and vindictiveness.

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NASA’s Artemis I mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Aug. 29, 2022.

Artemis I will be the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.

During this flight, the spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a four to six-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.

Video (NASA)
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Artificial Intelligence Discovers Alternative Physics

A new Columbia University AI program observed physical phenomena and uncovered relevant variables—a necessary precursor to any physics theory. But the variables it discovered were unexpected.

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Google's DeepMind has predicted the structure of almost every protein known to science

DeepMind says its AlphaFold tool has successfully predicted the structure of nearly all proteins known to science. From today, the Alphabet-owned AI lab is offering its database of over 200 million proteins to anyone for free.

The expanded database could act as an important resource for scientists, helping them to better understand diseases. It could also speed innovation in drug discovery and biology. 

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Today Is 'Overshoot Day', And That's Not a Good Thing

Humankind marks a dubious milestone Thursday, the day by which humanity has consumed all Earth can sustainably produce for this year, with NGOs warning the rest of 2022 will be lived in resource deficit.

The date – dubbed "Earth Overshoot Day" – marks a tipping point when people have used up "all that ecosystems can regenerate in one year", according to the Global Footprint Network and WWF.

"From January 1 to July 28, humanity has used as much from nature as the planet can renew in the entire year. That's why July 28 is Earth Overshoot Day," said Mathis Wackernagel, president of the Global Footprint Network.

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Strange Moon Pits Could Have Temperatures Comfortable Enough For Humans to Live In

The temperature on the Moon can vary from boiling to freezing depending on whether it's night or day, but scientists think there might well be sheltered pits and caves where the temperature is quite reasonable – no matter what time it is.

In such spots, the temperature hovers around 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit), according to new calculations. They could be the perfect locations for establishing base camps to explore the rest of the lunar surface.

They might also offer some protection against small meteorites and even the harmful solar radiation coming from the Sun. With a comfortable base, future Moon settlers could focus on other endeavors – like growing food or carrying out research.

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Progress toward a stem cell–based therapy for blindness

What if, in people with blinding retinal disorders, one could simply introduce into the retina healthy photoreceptor cells derived in a dish from stem cells, and restore sight?

It's a tantalizingly straightforward strategy to curing blindness, yet the approach has been met with a number of scientific roadblocks, including introduced cells dying rapidly or failing to integrate with the retina.

A new study, published in Stem Cell Reports, overcomes these challenges and marks significant progress toward a cell-based therapy.

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Scientists May Have Found a Key Shift Between The Brains of Humans And Neanderthals

Scientists experimenting on mice have found evidence that key parts of the modern human brain take more time to develop than those of our long extinct cousin, the Neanderthal.

Like the hare and the tortoise, slow and steady is the winner here. The extra time is caused by protein differences that also appear to reduce chromosome errors, ultimately resulting in a healthier, more robust population.

The study's results imply that this step in the development of our neocortex (the wrinkled outer layer responsible for higher order thinking) plays a role in protecting us from disease, a feature Neanderthals appear to be missing.

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Zebrafish Can Repair a Damaged Heart, And a New Study Reveals How

Zebrafish are marvelous creatures. Not only are they completely see-through, but they can also grow new organs. We already knew these translucent little fish could regenerate retinal tissue in their eyes – now new research shows how zebrafish can revive heart tissue after injury.

"We wanted to find out how this little fish does that, and if we could learn from it,"

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Children who lack sleep may experience detrimental impact on brain and cognitive development that persists over time.

Research finds getting less than nine hours of sleep nightly associated with cognitive difficulties, mental problems, and less gray matter in certain brain regions

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Chinese booster rocket makes uncontrolled return to Earth

Objects generate immense amounts of heat and friction when they enter the atmosphere, which can cause them to burn up and disintegrate. But larger ones such as the Long March-5B may not be destroyed entirely.

In 2020, debris from another Chinese rocket fell on villages in the Ivory Coast, causing structural damage but no injuries or deaths.

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Pinpointing consciousness in animal brains using a mouse 'brain map'

Science may be one step closer to understanding where consciousness resides in the brain. A new study shows the importance of certain types of neural connections in identifying consciousness.

"Where in the brain consciousness resides has been one of the biggest questions in science," said Associate Professor Masafumi Oizumi, corresponding author and head of the lab conducting the study. "Although we have not reached a conclusive answer, much empirical evidence has been accumulated in the course of searching for the minimal mechanisms sufficient for conscious experience, or the neural correlates of consciousness."

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We Must Start Preparing Now For How Climate Change Might End Civilization, Says Report

Speculating over humanity's demise is a sport we humans have enjoyed since forever. We build religions on our eschatological hopes, weave fiction out of our dystopian fears, and even write songs about the end of the world as we know it.

So it's surprising that in the midst of an escalating global climate crisis, one that impacts everything from the health of individuals to the sustainability of entire ecosystems and their resources, potential global catastrophes are so underexplored.

A report published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues it's high time we start taking worst-case scenarios seriously and come up with a solid game plan on what happens if – or indeed, when – our current way of life collapses.

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Turn the lights up 💡

Check out the Cartwheel Galaxy as seen by NASAHubble in visible light and Webb in infrared. Complimentary views from complementary telescopes!

Download both images in full-resolution:
Hubble: https://bit.ly/3zjWjvO
Webb: https://bit.ly/3oV7lmd
Source: @NASAWebb