Many of NASA’s most important aerospace breakthroughs that began in the laboratory were ultimately proven in the sky. For decades, experts at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland conducted flight tests — piloting aircraft into targeted environments such as icing clouds and carefully defined atmospheric routes. This approach allowed them to collect measurements directly in flight, providing critical data
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Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Darwin’s theory of
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The day-to-day tasks of scientific research are rarely glamorous. As Trevor Rife worked towards his PhD in genetics, he had to extract DNA from freeze-dried tissue by grinding it in a 96-well plate. The process wasn’t difficult — it involved placing a ceramic bead into each well by hand, then capping the plate and shaking
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Daniel Ferris says that the best exoskeletons are the ones you forget about. When the biomechanical engineer has one on, he notices little more than a slight tugging. But after removing the device, it can seem as if he is suddenly trudging uphill. How a revolutionary technique got people with spinal-cord injuries back on their
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Oil producers in the Middle East have been experiencing disruptions to maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. But this could present a strategic opportunity to rethink how energy infrastructure can be deployed in an increasingly uncertain world. The global transition towards low-carbon energy sources is often framed as a challenge for fossil-fuel-producing nations. Yet
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Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here. Satellite data shows a browning trend across the planet since around the turn of the century. Credit: ezypix/Getty Around 56 million years ago, a sharp rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere led to severe global
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