Tick bites causing highest rate of ER visits in a decade: CDC
During the second week of April, 71 out of every 100,000 emergency room visits were for tick bites, according to the agency.
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Tracking Medicare news, policy, and coverage changes.
Fusion power may not be sci-fi. Just ask the people who sunk $5B into it.
Fusion energy has been “20 years away” for decades, but has the science finally caught up? Private investment in fusion companies surged from $10 billion to $15 billion in just months, and the money is coming from places you wouldn’t expect. Watch as Rebecca Bellan and guest host Tim De Chant sit down with Rachel Slaybaugh, general partner at DCVC on this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. The trio breaks […]
Read full article →Quantum computers keep losing data. This breakthrough finally tracks it
Quantum computers struggle with a major flaw: their information vanishes unpredictably. Scientists have now created a new method that can measure this loss over 100 times faster than before. By tracking changes in near real time, researchers can finally see what’s going wrong inside these systems. This could be a big step toward making quantum computers stable and practical.
Read full article →Scientists discover the “Goldilocks” secret behind life on Earth
Earth may have won a cosmic chemistry lottery. Researchers found that during the planet’s earliest formation, oxygen had to be in an extremely narrow “Goldilocks zone” for two life-essential elements, phosphorus and nitrogen, to stay where life could use them. Too much or too little oxygen, and those ingredients could be lost or trapped deep inside the planet. This could reshape the search for life by showing that water alone is not enough.
Read full article →This “forbidden” exoplanet has an atmosphere scientists can’t explain
A strange “forbidden” planet spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope is turning planetary science on its head. TOI-5205 b, a Jupiter-sized world orbiting a small, cool star, has an atmosphere surprisingly poor in heavy elements—even less enriched than its own star, which defies current theories of how giant planets form.
Read full article →This new chip survives 1300°F (700°C) and could change AI forever
A team of engineers has created a breakthrough memory device that keeps working at temperatures hotter than molten lava, shattering one of electronics’ biggest limits. Built from an unusual stack of ultra-durable materials, the tiny component can store data and perform calculations even at 700°C (1300°F), far beyond what today’s chips can handle. The discovery was partly accidental, but it revealed a powerful new mechanism that prevents heat-induced failure at the atomic level.
Read full article →Scientists find quantum computers forget most of their work
Quantum circuits are supposed to gain power as they grow longer, but noise changes the picture. A new study finds that earlier steps in these circuits gradually lose their impact, with only the final layers really mattering. As a result, deep quantum circuits behave more like shallow ones. This limits what current quantum computers can realistically achieve.
Read full article →Scientists trap light in a layer 1,000x thinner than hair
Researchers have created a nanoscale structure that traps infrared light in a layer just 40 nanometers thick—over 1,000 times thinner than a human hair. By using a unique material with exceptional light-bending properties, they can confine and intensify light far beyond previous limits. This setup also dramatically boosts light conversion effects, turning infrared into visible blue light. The advance could pave the way for smaller, faster photonic technologies.
Read full article →AI breakthrough cuts energy use by 100x while boosting accuracy
AI is consuming staggering amounts of energy—already over 10% of U.S. electricity—and the demand is only accelerating. Now, researchers have unveiled a radically more efficient approach that could slash AI energy use by up to 100× while actually improving accuracy. By combining neural networks with human-like symbolic reasoning, their system helps robots think more logically instead of relying on brute-force trial and error.
Read full article →Scientists may finally detect hidden ripples in spacetime
Scientists have taken a major step toward probing one of physics’ biggest mysteries—how gravity and quantum mechanics fit together—by creating the first unified way to detect tiny “ripples” in spacetime itself. These subtle fluctuations, long predicted but poorly defined, are now organized into clear categories with specific signals that real-world instruments can search for. The breakthrough means powerful tools like LIGO and even small tabletop experiments could start testing competing theories of quantum gravity much sooner than expected.
Read full article →Mars dust storms are sparking electricity and rewriting the planet’s chemistry
Mars may look like a quiet, dusty world, but it’s actually buzzing with hidden electrical activity. Powerful dust storms and swirling dust devils generate static electricity strong enough to spark faint glowing discharges across the planet, triggering chemical reactions that reshape its surface and atmosphere. Scientists have now shown that these tiny lightning-like events can create a surprising mix of chemicals—including chlorine compounds and carbonates—and even leave behind distinct isotopic “fingerprints.”
Read full article →Truckloads of food are being wasted because computers won’t approve them
Modern food systems may look stable on the surface, but they are increasingly dependent on digital systems that can quietly become a major point of failure. Today, food must be “recognized” by databases and automated platforms to be transported, sold, or even released, meaning that if systems go down, food can effectively become unusable—even when it’s physically available.
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