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A young Venus had water for 2B years, habitable for longer than Mars
Venus hosts brutal conditions today, but the planet may have once been more hospitable to life.
Topics /
Science & Space
The most popular blog posts about science & space on Hacker News. 374 posts.
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Researchers identify new type of superconductor
The history of superconducting materials has been a tale of two types: s-wave and d-wave. Now, Cornell researchers have discovered a possible third type: g-wave.
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Faster Than Light in Our Model of Physics: Some Preliminary Thoughts
Stephen Wolfram uses his fundamental physics model to analyze how to go faster than light as an engineering problem & discusses the structure of space & nature of time for the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Program keynote address.
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Initial Covid-19 infection rate may be 80 times greater than originally reported
A new study from Penn State tracked excess influenza-like illness data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to estimate that the number of early COVID-19 cases in the U.S. may have been more than 80 times greater and doubled nearly twice as fast as originally believed.
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How to spin your scientific research out of a university and into a startup
This is advice for people who have done scientific research at a university and are considering starting a company to commercialize it. At YC, we’ve funded more than 75 companies in this situation. We also recently went on a Bio Tour [https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-bio-tour-2020/] where we went around to research…
338
An un-edited view of Saturn
Something that is kind of annoying about NASA photos is that they end up so touched up, and so many liberties taken with them that they become creatures of their own.
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Synthetic red blood cells mimic natural ones, and have new abilities
American Chemical Society: Chemistry for Life.
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New report on the cellular effects of a calorie-restricted diet in rats
Founded by polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk, the Salk Institute is an independent, nonprofit organization. We drive foundational, risk-taking research that addresses society’s most pressing challenges, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and agricultural resilience.
341
Scale is a fantastic book on the hidden order of complex systems
A deep dive summary into on of the most interesting books I read this year.
342
What the Dunning-Kruger effect is and isn’t (2010)
If you regularly read cognitive science or psychology blogs (or even just the lowly New York Times!), you’ve probably heard of something called the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger e…
343
How much do rockets pollute?
Some might find it ironic that an organization like NASA, who studies our atmosphere, is ok with rockets polluting it so much. Or isn’t it weird that Elon Musk, the same person who is pushing sustainable energy with Tesla also has a rocket company that runs on fossil fuels? So today we are going to do a deep dive into…
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Face Masks: Much More Than You Wanted to Know
There’s been recent controversy about the use of face masks for protection against coronavirus. Mainstream sources, including the CDC and most of the media say masks are likely useless and no…
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Nature's Decline Unprecedented; Species Extinction Rates Accelerating (2019)
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals - Time for Global Action for People and Planet
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COMMENTARY: Masks-for-all for COVID-19 not based on sound data
Dr. Brosseau is a national expert on respiratory protection and infectious diseases and professor (retired), University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Sietsema is also an expert on respiratory protection and an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
348
Lab-made? CoV2 genealogy through the lens of gain-of-function research
Virologists have created dozens of chimeric coronaviruses in the lab over the past 20 years.
349
Who has contributed most to global CO2 emissions?
Our impact on climate change is not just about emissions that occur today. How much we emitted in the past also matters.
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Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture
More than three-quarters of global agricultural land is used for livestock, despite meat and dairy making up a much smaller share of the world's protein and calories.
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Air pollution
Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year. WHO data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants. WHO is working with countries to monitor air pollution and improve air quality.
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Pfizer and BioNTech Conclude Phase 3 Study of COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate, Meeting All Primary Efficacy Endpoints
Primary efficacy analysis demonstrates BNT162b2 to be 95% effective against COVID-19 beginning 28 days after the first dose; 170 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were evaluated, with 162 observed in the placebo group versus 8 in the vaccine group Efficacy was consistent across age, gender, race and ethnicity demographics…
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Masking lack of evidence with politics
The increasing polarised and politicised views 1 on whether to wear masks in public during the current COVID-19 crisis hides a bitter truth on the state of contemporary research and the value we pose on clinical evidence to guide our decisions.
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Breakdown of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions by sector
How much do electricity, transport, and land use contribute to different greenhouse gas emissions?
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COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the world. Explore global data and research to understand its impact, spread, and global response.
356
Book Review: Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind
I. Julian Jaynes’ The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind is a brilliant book, with only two minor flaws. First, that it purports to explains the origin of consciou…
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Global Covid-19 Case Fatality Rates
This page is updated regularly as new information emerges. It sets out the current Case Fatality Rate (CFR) estimates, the country-specific issues affecting the CFR, and provides a current best estimate of the CFR, and more importantly, the Infection Fatality Rate (IFR).
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What share of global CO₂ emissions come from aviation?
Aviation accounts for 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions. But it has contributed around 4% to global warming to date.
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Long COVID: Lasting effects of COVID-19
COVID-19 can have lasting symptoms that affect many parts of the body. Learn more about the symptoms and effects of long COVID.
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Testing
Explore data on COVID-19 testing across the world.