Apr 17th, 2026 - Quantum computers are supposed to be the most powerful machines ever built. Getting them to run has been the hard part. Before one can run a useful calculation, a team of specialists has to spend days manually tuning the system. Even after that, the machine keeps making mistakes faster than existing software can catch them. Banks running complex risk models and drug companies testing new molecules have been waiting on the same problem for years. Nvidia thinks it has a fix. In a Tuesday (April 14) news release , the artificial intelligence company announced its launch of Ising, the world's ... [Read More]

Apr 17th, 2026 - Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, April 17 New Moon occurs at 7:52 A.M. EDT. Spring is often called galaxy season and with no Moon in tonight's sky, it's a perfect time to view some distant neighbors. Tonight, we're targeting M104, the famous Sombrero Galaxy, which lies near the border of Virgo and Corvus. It's readily visible in any small scope.  Wait until a few hours after sunset, as the region rises higher in the east. Around 11 P.M. local daylight time, M104 is more than 10° high in the south. You can find it by sliding 11° due west (to the ... [Read More]

Apr 16th, 2026 - Built during the 2nd century, the circular building found in northern Sinai may have been dedicated to the god Pelusius A temple discovered in northern Sinai, Egypt, offers an exceptional window on to "civilised interaction" between Egypt and the rest of the ancient world, the country's antiquities council has said. An Egyptian archaeological team discovered the complex after six years of excavation at Tell el-Farama, the site of ancient Pelusium. The temple's remains comprise a large circular basin, approximately 35m in diameter, which would have been attached to a branch of the Pelusiac ... [Read More]

Apr 16th, 2026 - Scientists who analysed nearly 16,000 ancient remains suggest red hair and fair skin is favoured for vitamin D production People with red hair who have put up with teasing or "fiery" stereotypes may be pleased to learn that they appear to be winners from an evolutionary perspective. A large genetics study has revealed that, in Europe, the gene for red hair has been actively selected for more than 10,000 years. The study did not aim to uncover the reasons for the trend, but focused on the broader question of whether human evolution has plateaued since the advent of agriculture. By analysing ... [Read More]

Apr 16th, 2026 - History from countries and communities across the globe, including the world's major wars. The stories behind the faiths, food, entertainment and holidays that shape our world. 's tomb in 1922, a series of deaths surrounding those involved with the excavation fueled rumors of a mummy's curse. tombs that were inscribed with warnings to those who disturbed their burial sites. Journalists—who did not have direct access to —seized on the idea, spinning tales of supernatural retribution. Within a decade, the legend had taken on a life of its own, immortalized on screen with Boris ... [Read More]

Apr 16th, 2026 - The gravitational constant, dubbed big G, determines the strength of the attraction between two masses anywhere in the universe. Scientists have been trying to measure big G for over 225 years, but the exact value has eluded them. A NIST researcher has unveiled the results of a 10-year quest to measure the constant. The time had come to open the envelope, but Stephan Schlamminger, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), wasn't sure he wanted to know the secret number that lay inside. For the past 10 years, Schlamminger had spent most of his working hours ... [Read More]

Apr 15th, 2026 - Researchers find increase in whale deaths in the bay, largely because of collisions with vessels on busy shipping route Gray whales have historically been a rare sight in the San Francisco Bay. They trek from the warm lagoons of Mexico's Baja California more than 10,000 miles (16,000km) north to the Arctic region to feast on shrimp-like animals during the summers, seldom stopping in the busy shipping corridor for prolonged periods. But in recent years, that story has changed in a dire way. A new study, published this week in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, has found that gray whales ... [Read More]

Apr 15th, 2026 - An asteroid the size of three football fields will pass near Earth in three years, giving scientists a rare chance to study a colossal space rock from close range. Named Apophis — after the ancient Egyptian deity known as the "god of chaos" — the asteroid is expected to zoom past the planet on April 13, 2029, according to NASA . It will come within about 20,000 miles of Earth's surface, which is closer than many orbiting satellites, the agency said. The highest satellites typically orbit around 22,000 miles above the equator. Scientists consider Apophis to be "a potentially ... [Read More]