As Nasa’s Artemis II Moon mission ends, a new adventure for humanity beckons

The Artemis II mission to the Moon is a voyage unlike any other in more than half a century. As the first crewed lunar flight since 1972, Artemis II marks the beginning of a new chapter in our relationship with the Moon. Nasa’s goal is to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon. As […]

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Five tips to make your memory work more effectively

ImageFlow/Shutterstock As a researcher investigating how electric brain stimulation can improve people’s powers of recollection, I’m often asked how memory works – and what we can do to use it more effectively. Happily, decades of research have given us some clear answers to both questions. Memory essentially operates in three stages, with different brain regions […]

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We Need You: Our Privacy Cannot Afford a Clean Extension of Section 702

We go through this every couple of years: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which of Americans’ communications with foreign persons overseas is up for renewal. As always, Congress can reauthorize it with or without changes, or just let it expire. We know, we know, it’s a pain to have to do this every […]

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Five warning signs that rivers are polluted – even when they look clean

Howard Pimborough/Shutterstock After months of relentlessly miserable weather for most of the UK, spring brings renewed enthusiasm for spending time outdoors hiking, wild swimming, paddling or on walks. Millions of people visit lakes and riversides every year. Yet with constant, and sadly necessary, reminders about sewage and water pollution, it’s not surprising that people are […]

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Embryo fossil found in South Africa is world’s oldest proof that mammal ancestors laid eggs

Artist's impression of _Lystrosaurus_ embryo. Artist: Sophie Vrard, CC BY Between 280 and 200 million years ago, a group of animals evolved which would eventually give rise to mammals, including humans: the therapsids. They were first described more than 150 years ago, based on fossils from South Africa. Since then, many more fossils have been […]

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Yikes, Encryption’s Y2K Moment is Coming Years Early

Google moved up its estimated deadline for quantum preparedness in cryptography to 2029—only 33 months from now. That’s earlier than previous deadlines, and they proposed the new post-quantum migration deadline because of two new papers that comprise a big jump in the state of the technology. It’s ahead of schedule, but not altogether unexpected. Cryptographers […]

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How Nasa’s Artemis II mission rediscovered the majesty and mystery of the Moon

Nasa named this image of the Moon 'edge of darkness' because it shows the terminator (top of the image) – the boundary between day and night. Nasa On April 10, Artemis II – humanity’s first mission to the Moon in more than half a century – will draw to a close when the Orion capsule […]

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Massive Data Breach Reported at Chinese State-Run Supercomputing Facility

BEIJING – Investigations are reportedly underway following allegations of a monumental data breach targeting one of China’s premier state-run supercomputing centers. Preliminary reports suggest that a lone threat actor successfully exfiltrated a vast trove of sensitive information, including highly classified defense documents and technical schematics for advanced missile systems. If the scale of the theft […]

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