The most interesting scientific discoveries and breakthroughs this week
Click here to watch Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket make a historic landing. Source: Blue Origin
1. Blue Origin closes in on SpaceX with historic New Glenn landing: Jeff Bezos’ space venture has successfully landed the reusable booster for its New Glenn rocket on an ocean barge for the first time. While SpaceX has completed this maneuver over 500 times, this marks a major win for Blue Origin as it races to close the gap on the former’s dominance in the space industry. You can watch the historic landing here.
2. Scientists catch supernova in the act for the first time: Researchers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope have captured the earliest stages of a supernova explosion, catching a massive star in its death throes just hours after material first burst through its surface. The rare observation is already ruling out some existing theories about how these cosmic explosions work at their core.
3. Hypersonic breakthrough could make one-hour global flights a reality: Scientists claim they’ve validated a 70-year-old hypothesis that could crack Mach 10 travel. The team discovered that turbulence at Mach 6 behaves surprisingly similarly to slower airflow. The finding means that designing planes that fly 10x the speed of sound becomes computationally feasible, potentially enabling one-hour flights anywhere on Earth.
4. Scientists extract 39,000-year-old RNA from frozen mammoth: Researchers have recovered the oldest RNA ever found from a woolly mammoth preserved in permafrost. Unlike DNA, RNA captures real-time cellular activity, offering an unprecedented peek into Ice Age biology. The discovery suggests RNA could survive longer under the right conditions, sparking new possibilities for studying ancient organisms.
via Superhuman