This week at the Gizmodo science desk, deputy editor George Dvorsky reported on a modification to the famous Drake Equation that produces a rather sobering result about the number of extraterrestrial intelligences in our Galaxy. Health reporter Ed Cara chronicles a mysterious disease from the 1500s that vanished from history, while space reporter Passant Rabie notes the return of the sunspot cluster responsible for those incredible auroras. - George Dvorsky
Astronomer Frank Drake formulated his influential equation in 1961 to estimate the number of civilizations in the Milky Way capable of communicating with us. Our understanding of planetary science has changed a lot since then, leading a team of scientists to propose a pair of important adjustments that produce an answer that could explain the Great Silence. - George Dvorsky Read More
Death and illness have never been strangers to humanity. But for a brief time around the 1500s, there was one particular ailment that was both brutal in its devastation and completely undecipherable to medical practitioners of the time. This malady was known as sweating sickness, and even today, scientists don’t know where it came from, why it seemed to suddenly leave, and whether it could ever return again. - Ed Cara Read More
It’s back! After unleashing the strongest geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years, the notorious sunspot cluster AR3664 is once again visible and still spewing copious amounts of radiation into space. - Passant Rabie Read More
China’s curious spaceplane is at it again, releasing an unidentified object into orbit that could signal the end of its mysterious mission. The U.S. Space Force is currently tracking the mystery object, which the reusable spaceplane appears to have released on May 24 at around 3 p.m. ET, Jonathan McDowell, astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, noted on X. “This object could be a subsatellite deployment, or it could be a piece of hardware ejected prior to end of mission and deorbit (the spaceplane’s first flight did something similar)“ he wrote. “Will be interesting to see if the plane maneuvers or lands soon.” - Passant Rabie Read More
Canada’s wild hogs are apparently poised to invade America’s yard. In new research this month, scientists have found evidence that these invasive wild pigs have a “high potential” to cross over the Canadian border and establish new populations in mostly pig-free parts of the U.S., particularly South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota. - Ed Cara Read More
Tech companies try to keep their interview questions secret, so that prospective employees can’t prepare answers in advance. Applicants reclaim the power by sharing their interview experiences publicly on websites like Glassdoor and CareerCup. As a result, what were intended as forums to help career hopefuls navigate the job market have become like a WikiLeaks for puzzle lovers. This week, I’m declassifying Bezos’s documents and delivering them straight to your browser window, with free shipping, of course. - Jack Murtagh Read More
Two sets of human remains, a variety of paintings, and a handful of childrens’ doodles were recently found in Pompeii, the ancient Roman town that was buried by a volcanic eruption in 79. - Isaac Schultz Read More
An engraved stone slab found under a Coptic building in Abydos, Egypt, is part of the sarcophagus of Ramesses II, according to a team of archaeologists who analyzed the hieroglyphics on its side. - Isaac Schultz Read More
We’re sorry to disappoint Star Trek fans, but the exoplanet often compared to Mr. Spock’s fictional world has turned out to be nothing more than star flickers masquerading as a super-Earth. - Passant Rabie Read More
NASA and Boeing set a new date for the first crewed test flight of the Starliner spacecraft despite an unresolved issue with a gas leak that was discovered earlier this month. - Passant Rabie Read More