An enormous comet – approximately 130 kilometres across, more than twice the width of Rhode Island – is heading our way at 35,000 kilometres per hour from the edge of the solar system. Fortunately, it will never get closer than 1 billion miles from the Sun, which is slightly farther from Earth than Saturn; that will be in 2031.
Comets, among the oldest objects in the solar system, are icy bodies that were unceremoniously tossed out...
San Francisco police officers were faced with a new challenge after stopping an autonomous vehicle with no one inside.
Officers approached the car, operated by Cruise, because it had been driving without headlights.
In the incident, captured on film, an officer remarks that there "ain't nobody in it," before the car moves to what Cruise said was a safer location.
The company said the headlights issue was a result of human error.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61080666
The U.S. inflation rate hit a fresh 40-year high in the year to March after fuel and food prices soared during the first full month of the Ukraine war.
Consumer prices surged by 8.5% – the largest annual gain since December 1981 – following a double-digit rise in energy prices, the BBC reports.
Last month, President Joe Biden banned all imports of oil and gas from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, U.S....
France President Emmanuel Macron is firing up his campaign for re-election, directly taking on far-right rival Marine Le Pen in France's presidential run-off.
He made his first trip to a Le Pen stronghold at Denain, one of France's poorest towns in the industrial north.
Macron won the first round of the election, but opinion polls suggest the second round will be a close race on April 24.
"Make no mistake: nothing is decided," he told supporters after the...
Psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms, helps to "open up" depressed people's brains, even after use, enabling brain regions to talk more freely to one another.
These are the findings of a new analysis of brain scans from close to 60 people receiving treatment for depression, led by Imperial College London's Centre for Psychedelic Research. The team behind the study believes it may have untangled how psilocybin exerts its therapeutic effects on the brain.
Psilocybin is one of a number...
Nissan is working with NASA on a new type of battery for electric vehicles that promises to charge quicker and be lighter yet safe, the Japanese automaker said Friday.
The all-solid-state battery will replace the lithium-ion battery now in use for a 2028 product launch and a pilot plant launch in 2024, according to Nissan.
The all-solid-state battery is stable enough to be used in pacemakers. When finished, it will be about half the size of...
Canada has approved a US$12-billion offshore oil project proposed by Norway’s Equinor ASA, a big win for an industry that has grappled with slumping investment and tougher climate policy, reports Bloomberg News.
It’s a politically risky move for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that complicates his efforts to hit aggressive emission targets for the oil and gas sector and could potentially alienate the pro-environment bloc within the governing Liberal Party. Yet Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has...
3D printers may soon get better at producing intricate metal and plastic parts, thanks to new software developed at the University of Michigan that reduces harmful heat buildup in laser powder bed fusion printers.
Called SmartScan, the software demonstrated a 41% improvement in heat distribution and a 47% reduction in deformations in a recent study.
It's also likely to speed the manufacturing process in two ways; reducing the need for printers to slow down to help...
A U.S. federal jury has acquitted two men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan's governor and failed to reach a verdict for two other defendants, the BBC reports.
Adam Fox, 38, Daniel Harris, 24, Brandon Caserta, 33, and Barry Croft, 46, each faced a kidnapping conspiracy charge.
Harris and Caserta were found not guilty, and the charges against Fox and Croft ended in mistrial.
The government had argued they targeted Gretchen Whitmer, 50, in a 2020 plot.
Jurors began...
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday called for increased oversight of cryptocurrencies, after President Joe Biden last month green-lit work on creating a digital American dollar, reports Tech Xplore.
Digital currencies such as bitcoin and ethereum have seen explosive growth in recent years, even as American officials have expressed concerns over whether the assets are properly regulated, or could be used for criminal activity.
In a speech at American University in Washington, Yellen said better regulations...
