Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer
- Science & Society
A new audio system confuses smart devices that try to eavesdrop
It works by playing soft, calculated sounds to help people protect their privacy from automatic speech-recognition systems.
- Climate
Coastal cities around the world are sinking, satellite data show
Of 99 coastal cities studied, nearly one-third are sinking. This leaves coastal communities increasingly vulnerable to rising seas.
- Earth
A new clock shows how gravity warps time — even over tiny distances
This clock measured how gravity changes the passage of time in different places — even spots just one millimeter apart.
- Animals
Orb-weaving spiders use their webs like external eardrums
Scientists discover that orb-weaving spiders listen with their legs, detecting sound vibrations that travel through their silken webs.
- Physics
A star called ‘Earendel’ could be the most distant ever seen
A thin red arc found in an image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows starlight from nearly 13 billion years ago.
- Archaeology
Muons reveal the inner worlds of pyramids, volcanoes and more
Tracking these subatomic particles can uncover surprising hidden structures.
- Physics
Gravitational waves ‘kicked’ a newborn black hole across space
Two black holes merged into one, and then sped off at around 5 million kilometers (3.1 million miles) per hour.
- Physics
Some of the sun’s iconic coronal loops may be ghostly illusions
Wrinkles in the sun’s outer atmosphere might trick the eye into seeing glowing arches, scientists now report.
- Space
We finally have an image of the black hole at the heart of our galaxy
New observations from the Event Horizon Telescope reveal the chaotic region around the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, in extreme detail.
- Planets
Analyze This: Some 5,000 planets orbit stars other than our sun
A new cache of confirmed exoplanet discoveries marks a milestone in planets found beyond our solar system.
- Science & Society
This sun-powered system delivers energy as it pulls water from the air
The device not only produces electricity but also harvests water for drinking or crops. It could be especially useful in remote and dry parts of the world.
- Materials Science
This new fabric can ‘hear’ sounds or broadcast them
With special fibers that convert tiny vibrations to voltages, a new fabric senses sound. Someday, such fabrics could monitor the body or aid hearing.
