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China has successfully launched its sample return mission to the Moon as part of the country's Chang'e-5 mission at 3:31 pm Eastern time.
Future Society

It's the first mission of its kind since the mid 1970s.

A team of researchers have created a sensor that can function for an entire year with a single tiny jumpstart of power by using quantum tunneling.
Quantum Physics

A tiny jumpstart of energy allows it to run for an entire year.

A new CDC report confirms what ought to be common knowledge: widespread mask-wearing helps slow down the spread of the coronavirus.
Viruses

"This adds to the growing body of evidence that says large, widespread masking helps to slow the spread of COVID."

In order to prevent a Day Zero drought in Cape Town, South Africa, scientists suggest reflecting sunlight away from Earth with stratospheric particles.
Climate Change

To avoid a catastrophic drought, they suggest geoengineering.

China is about to launch an ambitious mission to the Moon in an attempt to retrieve the first lunar samples and bring them back to Earth since the 1970s.
Off-World

The rocket is already on the pad.

Greenhouse gas emissions dipped during the coronavirus pandemic, but not enough to have a serious or lasting effect on global climate change.
Viruses

"The lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph."

UK's Oxford University and AstraZeneca have announced their COVID-19 vaccine is up to 90 percent effective according to preliminary study results.
Viruses

This one is way cheaper to produce — at just $4 per dose.

"Santa is exempt from this because Santa, of all the good qualities, has a lot of good innate immunity," infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said.
Developments

"The good news is that mask compliance there is pretty good, and the elves are committed to social distancing."

In order to teach AI how to use words with specific intentions rather than babbling, scientists made an AI agent play a fantasy role-playing game.
Artificial Intelligence

The goal is to get AI to use words for an actual purpose.

After a citizen scientist saw what looked like beams of darkness coming out of a black hole, scientists think it's similar to light piercing through clouds.
Science & Energy

Scientists took a closer look at Hubble images of a supermassive black hole — and saw what appeared to be long beams of darkness streaming out.

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory are testing if we can harness the heat of the Sun to travel to interstellar space.
NASA

"What this is showing is that solar thermal propulsion is not just a fantasy."

Astronomers found evidence of a "fossil galaxy" buried deep inside the Milky Way. It seems our galaxy gobbled up one of its neighbors 10 billion years ago.
Science & Energy

Long ago, our galaxy gobbled up and absorbed another one.

Tesla Crashes at 100 MPH, Sending Flaming Batteries Into Multiple Homes
Tesla

The local fire and police departments now have to track down hundreds of battery cells.

To Our Readers: On the Future of Futurism
Future Society

You're about to see some changes around here. We hope you'll hang around to see them.

AI legal expert Frank Pasquale says that Asimov's laws of robotics are outdated, and he has some ideas for new ones to supplement them.
Robots and Machines

Are the Three Laws of Robotics due for an update?

The Vatican is investigating why Pope Francis' official Instagram account accidentally liked a Brazilian model's revealing picture.
Future Society

Oops.

On Thursday, the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. climbed higher than it had since May, while also setting records for new cases and hospitalizations.
Developments

COVID killed 1,791 in the U.S. on Thursday.

Japanese aerospace agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi explained during a press conference from aboard the space station that "Dragon is the best."
SpaceX

"The Dragon is the best, short answer."

In a recent report, NASA admitted that landing the first astronauts on the Moon since the Apollo era in 2024 might be a bit of a stretch.
Moon

Getting astronauts back to the Moon is going to be expensive.

Lil Nas X got his hands on a genuine SpaceX astronaut helmet for a recent "Space Odyssey"-themed photoshoot, and Elon Musk personally approved the loan.
SpaceX

Elon Musk approved the loan himself.