Aedan O'Brien

You’ve probably seen images of scientists peering down a microscope, looking at objects invisible to the naked eye. Indeed, microscopes are indispensable to our understanding of life.   They are just as indispensable to biotechnology and medicine, for instance in our response to diseases such as COVID-19. However, the best light microscopes have hit a

The conclusion of a classified US intelligence report on the existence of alien UFOs is… inconclusive, US media reported Friday. US military and intelligence found no evidence that seemingly highly advanced unidentified flying objects sighted by military pilots were alien spacecraft, the report concludes, according to The New York Times and other media briefed on

China has achieved a new milestone in humanity’s experiments to harness the power of the stars. On Friday, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ fusion machine reached 120 million degrees Celsius (216 million degrees Fahrenheit) and clung onto this for 101 seconds.   The last time EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak or HT-7U) held onto a

An online game developed by a team of social psychologists could be a useful tool in the fight against misinformation, helping internet users spot misinformation and call it out for what it is: manipulative.   Misinformation – often spread by automated bots, but also unsuspecting people – worms its way into our heads by appealing to

We have developed and tested a secure new computer processor that thwarts hackers by randomly changing its underlying structure, thus making it virtually impossible to hack. Last summer, 525 security researchers spent three months trying to hack our Morpheus processor as well as others. All attempts against Morpheus failed.   This study was part of a

When you think of micro- or nanotechnology, you likely think of small electronics like your phone, a tiny robot or a microchip. But COVID-19 tests – which have proven to be central to controlling the pandemic – are also a form of miniaturized technology. Many COVID-19 tests can give results within hours without the need

Australia, one of the world-leaders in household rooftop solar panel uptake, has once again broken its own record for the number of solar panels installed in a year. In 2020, installations were up nearly 30 percent from the year before, according to an analysis from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.   The data, compiled by

The United States’ offshore wind industry is tiny, with just seven wind turbines operating off Rhode Island and Virginia. The few attempts to build large-scale wind farms like Europe’s have run into long delays, but that may be about to change.   On 11 May 2021, the US government issued the final federal approval for

If you’re struggling to handle the long line of tabs open in your browser right now, you’re not alone. A small new study has found many people who browse the internet experience tab overload, saving articles to read later, leaving tasks as reminders, or burrowing down an internet hole until the stack of open web

In our efforts to rein in our overwhelming burden upon Earth’s living biosphere, every little thing adds up. Even the shape of pasta (of all things!) can make a difference in our consumption of resources.   Which is why scientists have now created flat-packed pasta that’s more efficient to package and transport, but can then

Scientists have gotten one step closer to a quantum internet by creating the world’s first multinode quantum network.  Researchers at the QuTech research center in the Netherlands created the system, which is made up of three quantum nodes entangled by the spooky laws of quantum mechanics that govern subatomic particles. It is the first time that more than two

The online world is continuously expanding – always aggregating more services, more users, and more activity. Last year, the number of websites registered on the “.com” domain surpassed 150,000,000.   However, more than a quarter of a century since its first commercial use, the growth of the online world is now slowing down in some

Perovskite has a lot going for it in our search for a cheap, efficient way to harvest solar energy. With a dusting of organic molecules, these crystalline structures have been able to convert more than a quarter of the light falling onto them into electricity.   Theoretically, perovskite crystals made with the right mix of

Algorithms can help us with everything, from choosing what music to listen to next to finding the cheapest flight online. Now, new research reveals one of the tipping points that tend to make us trust a computer’s judgment rather than a human’s.   The findings offer an interesting insight into how ready we’ve become to

A new formula for white paint has given us the whitest white yet. It reflects a jaw-dropping 98.1 percent of all light that hits it, remaining significantly cooler than the ambient temperature, even when sitting in full sunlight.   If used to coat buildings, its inventors say, the paint could help in the fight against

A series of newly surfaced images and videos of unidentified flying objects filmed by the US Navy have now been confirmed as authentic by the Pentagon. While many in the public generally refer to such mysterious sightings as UFOs, the more modern term used in defense circles is ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena‘ (UAPs) – and they’re

Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk released a video showing how his company Neuralink – a brain-computer-interface company – had advanced its technology to the point that the chip could allow a monkey to play video games with its mind.   Neuralink could transition from operating on monkeys to human trials within the year, if the startup

We encounter artificial intelligence (AI) every day. AI describes computer systems that are able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. When you search something on the internet, the top results you see are decided by AI.   Any recommendations you get from your favorite shopping or streaming websites will also be based on an AI