Computing
Should Apple iPhone X Trust Facial Recognition for Security?
New FaceID biometrics will unlock the smartphone and provide access to Apple Pay and other apps
Stories by Jesse Emspak
Space & Physics
Closest Supermassive Black Hole Tests Einstein’s Relativity
New observations of stars orbiting the Milky Way’s central giant black hole confirm Einstein’s theory yet again
Space & Physics
No Endor in Sight: Habitable Exomoons May Be Rare
The possible discovery of a giant extrasolar moon suggests our own may be an anomaly
Space & Physics
Super-Earths May Explain Curious Gaps in Planet-Forming Disks
New study suggests the middleweight worlds can create delicate ring-like features around other stars
Technology
World's Most Powerful Particle Collider Taps AI to Expose Hack Attacks
Machine learning is crucial to staying ahead of hackers trying to break into at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider’s (LHC) massive worldwide computing grid
Space & Physics
Quirky Quarks Could Reveal Details of the Big Bang
Scientists flag unexpected behavior by “charm” quarks produced at Brookhaven National Laboratory
Policy
Detection of Ghostly Particles Could Unmask Illicit Nuclear Weapons
Weapons-grade fuel in a nuclear reactor emits a steady rate of telltale antineutrinos that could be detected by a newly designed portable device
Space & Physics
Dawn Spies More Signs of Ice-Spewing Volcanoes on Ceres
Geologically young deposits in a crater on the dwarf planet's surface were formed by brine erupting from below
Space & Physics
Physicists Catch Antimatter and Matter Misbehaving
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider reveal subtle distinctions in how matter and antimatter decay
Space & Physics
Midsize Black Hole Found Hiding in Globular Cluster
The discovery brings the number of known "intermediate-mass" black holes to about a dozen
Space & Physics
Traces of Oxygen on the Moon Come from Earth's Plants
Earth's biosphere has bathed the lunar surface for billions of years
Space & Physics
Pluto's Moon Charon Had Its Own, Icy Plate Tectonics
Surface cracks look like seafloor-spreading zones or rift valleys on Earth
Computing
How a Machine Learns Prejudice
Artificial intelligence picks up bias from human creators—not from hard, cold logic
Space & Physics
Physicists Twist Light, Send 'Hello World' Message Between Islands
It may be possible to "twist" light waves, cram in more information than ever before, and send the signal over a practical distance
Space & Physics
NASA Probe Snaps Stunning New Images of Dwarf Planet Ceres
Scientists think bright spots may be briny material bubbling up into a crater
Policy
Are the Nobel Prizes Missing Female Scientists?
The prize is biased toward men of European descent, and European and American researchers in general, a bias that is part of a larger problem of excluding women and minorities for consideration...
Space & Physics
Was There Ever Life on Mars?
Harsh radiation, thin air and frigid temperatures on the Red Planet likely forced any extant microbes into subterranean refuges long ago
Fitness
Fortifying Spirits: When a (Glass of) Punch Is Good for the Kidneys
Alcohol intake boosts the risk of liver, breast and colon cancers—but seems to reduce it for kidney cancer
Computing
Computers Can Sense Sarcasm? Yeah, Right
But they may soon. Researchers have written a program that detects smart-asses on social media and the Web
EARTH
Early Earth's Atmosphere Was Surprisingly Thin
Bubbles in 2.7-billion-year-old lava fields suggest Earth's ancient air was half as thick as today's
