your science briefing for 02.18.2025

A particle that only has mass when moving and only in one direction at that, a new insight into aging, sending humans on a trip to and from Mars alive, and more...

Imagine a tiny subatomic particle that has the tiniest bit of mass. But only if it moves in a certain direction. Otherwise, it’s massless. Sounds ridiculous? Well, someone has to give the universe a memo because that’s exactly what scientists spotted in a very complex, magnetized structure made of layers of carbon sheets. It’s called a a semi-Dirac fermion, and it happens when otherwise massless particles hit a magnetic field, slow down, and the energy they used to move becomes mass… (PSU)

As you age, the DNA in your cells develops mutations. And when you’re exposed to different stressors and environments, your cells can turn certain genes, on, off, or just change how many copies are active, controlling their “volume” in your genome. Turns out the these are not two different processes, but may be very much intertwined, and understanding how could give us more insights into biological aging, help improve our quality of life, and possibly prevent diseases triggered by aging… (LiveScience)

Extra: before you get too excited about the prospect of defeating aging by following a preliminary research study or two, there’s an entire community which serves as a sort of cautionary tale for what happens if you try to bribe the Grim Reaper… (YouTube)

Glass is great. It’s conductive, it can flow like a liquid, it’s transparent, and it’s easy to recycle. Unfortunately, it’s also very brittle, which makes it difficult to use as a coating for buildings, cars, and aircraft, or in electronics. One alternative is a transparent form of aluminum called TAlOx, but it’s expensive and difficult to make. Until now, as a new, cleaner, more energy-efficient process promises to make your electronics and cars a lot stronger and more durable, while also being more environmentally friendly… (Omni)

Space agencies keep dreaming about sending humans to Mars and beyond. There’s a bit of a problem though. Deep space is dangerous, destroying the human body with a mix of radiation, long periods of microgravity, and changes in gut biomes. Now, this is not to say that we’ll never explore the cosmos or are trapped on Earth forever, as the space exploration doomers loudly proclaim. But that won’t happen without some very big changes to what it means to be human, or at least figuring out how to make it past the Moon without shaving decades off astronauts’ life expectancies… (New Yorker)

For years, wealthy, developed nations had become more energy efficient, meeting an already high and steadily rising demand for electricity with smarter electronics as well as renewable sources. Most of the increasing demand is coming from the developing world, as more people are getting access to air conditioning and computers. But now, wealthy nations are once again consuming more, which means the world will have to produce another 3,500 TWh by the end of 2027. Why? Because chatbots need more data centers being built faster than ever before… (The Register)