Gecko Robotics is revolutionizing infrastructure with its cutting-edge robotic inspection technologies and comprehensive software solutions. Their robots use advanced ultrasonic inspection to gather extensive data on critical infrastructure, ensuring optimal maintenance and safety. By converting this data into actionable insights, Gecko's software enhances operational efficiency and predictability in industries like defense, manufacturing, oil & gas, power, and maritime. Committed to sustainability and resilience, Gecko Robotics promises a brighter, safer future for global infrastructure, exemplified by their innovative Monarch robot and recognition at the prestigious Sun Valley Conference in Idaho.

The question of life beyond Earth has fascinated scientists for years. Recent discoveries regarding Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, suggests that just maybe this fascination will become reality. Recent findings have encouraged NASA to move forward with the development of the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, or EELS. EELS is a snakelike robot that is being developed with the hopes that it could one day crawl into Enceladus’s crust to find more signs of life.

In early November scientists at NASA discovered a record breaking black hole. The cosmic body in question is the largest and oldest of its kind. Scientists have determined that the black hole formed just 47 million years after the universe formed. Given that the universe is 13.7 billion years old, the black hole is around 13.2 billion years old.

In May 2023, 140 doctors, nurses, and support staff performed the world’s first successful whole-eye transplant. The 21 hour surgery took place in an operating room at New York University Langone, one of the United State’s leading hospitals. The full-eye transplant was complemented with a partial face transplant that included a new nose, lips, and cheeks.

Our world is surrounded by symmetry. Snowflakes and sunflowers exhibit reflectional symmetry around a point. Animals like sharks and starfish are bilaterally the same. It's even hiding in molecular structures like RNA and proteins. Given symmetry’s prevalence in nature, it seems as if life has a preference for symmetry. However, new findings about distinct asymmetry in the universe suggest otherwise.

Though humanity has made significant strides across many fields, the history of our universe still remains an unanswered question. From a young age, we're taught about the Big Bang Theory — the universe started from a mere point that has expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now. However, the key word here is theory. The Big Bang Theory is merely a possible explanation, not a fact. In reality, we haven't answered our questions about the universe's early history.

Inside a lab, scientists can achieve a temperature of absolute zero and analyze how particles move in such a state. Outside of the lab, scientists see trees gathering sunlight and converting the energy to glucose within their leaves. These two phenomena seem unrelated—however, a new study from the University of Chicago suggests that particle motion at low temperatures and photosynthesis may be related.

For the first time ever, scientists at MIT have demonstrated a level of control over a phenomenon known as quantum randomness. If their method is perfected, controlling quantum randomness could lead to a number of scientific breakthroughs in fields like quantum computing and prediction technologies.

What is the LK-99 Superconductor? On August 3rd, 2023, two scientists from South Korea published their discovery of the world’s first practical superconductor. They have called their superconductor LK-99, a strange material that can carry electricity at room temperature with zero resistance. The applications of such a material, including levitating trains and particle accelerators, have sparked the public’s interest.

As society continues its quest for clean energy, many people have deemed solar panels a panacea for our current energy problems. However, in a new breakthrough, researchers have found a way to capture, store, and utilize energy generated by falling rain. The development has led to the conception of rooftop rain panels.

Reproduction is one of the most important mechanisms for survival for all species, and humans are no exception. Infertility, defined as the inability to achieve pregnancy after a year of trying, currently affects 1 in 6 couples globally. Causes could be anything from genetics to lifestyle choices to pollutant exposures. Recently, scientists have created lab-engineered embryos that may be the key to better understanding human development.

One in eighteen people in the United States have an arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat). For adults over forty, one in four could develop an arrhythmia. An irregular heartbeat could last for a brief amount of time and be harmless to a person's health. On the flip side, arrhythmias that persist for a long period of time can increase stroke risk and lead to premature death. Possible treatment options include open heart surgery but more commonly default to pacemaker placement. In fact, almost three million Americans live with pacemakers. However, a new treatment option designed by Northwestern University and the University of Texas at Austin offers a sophisticated alternative to pacemakers.

Artificial intelligence (A.I.) has taken the world by storm recently. Hundreds of news stories have been written in the past week about projects that have used A.I.. A recent opinion piece dissected the effects of A.I. on integrity in academia. A sports journal compiled a list of the top ten basketball players of all time using A.I.. Another media outlet has turned to the technology to provide commentary during their broadcast of Wimbledon. But on Thursday, June 29, the first drug to ever be fully generated by artificial intelligence entered clinical trials with human patients.

As science progresses and changes the world around us, our food changes with it as well. Some of these changes have been beneficial. For example, technology has helped increase crop yield and make fresh produce readily available. An increased understanding of agriculture has allowed us to develop sustainable farming products. Food fortification products have become increasingly common to decrease dietary deficiencies. Yet not all advances have proven to be healthy for the body. Artificial sweeteners, which many turn to as a low-calorie solution, have been proven to be a hazard to the body.

In the United States, more than 131 million people, or 66% of all adults in the United States, use prescription drugs to help heal chronic conditions. Billions of dollars are spent on prescribed drugs, yet we must ask ourselves how effective medication is for any given disease. Researchers at the University of Notre Dame hope to help answer this question. Recently, a new method was discovered to enhance the effectiveness of prescribed drugs.

Our attention, our memories, our mind. These things guide us in every moment of every day, consciously and unconsciously. Cognitive function, the ability to learn, solve problems, and use stored information, is key for development and growth. This is why diseases like dementia and other neurological diseases, which affect cognitive function, are so dangerous. Currently, medications remain the first step in treating neurological diseases.

In recent years, there has been an uptake in food allergies. More specifically, the number of people with food allergies in the United States has doubled in one decade. Currently, about six million children in the United States have an identified food allergy which is about two kids in every classroom.

Memories are at the core of being human. No other organism on Earth can think in the past, present, and future the way we can. However, in April of 2023, a team of scientists at the University of Sydney demonstrated that Nanowire Networks, an innate object, can exhibit short-term and long-term memory like the human brain.

The most basic aspects of humanity like how we walk and how we speak are the result of evolution. Around 6 million years ago, early hominins began to walk on two legs rather than four. The human brain evolved to become larger and more complex, allowing for sophisticated language and tool-making. The way in which humans have evolved explains how we live today. However, the general conception that evolutionary changes occur over millions of years is only sometimes true. Evolution can occur in under a decade which is known as microevolution.