Technology

Is there life on planets outside our solar system? How did stars and galaxies form in the earliest years of the universe? How do black holes shape galaxies? Scientists are expected to explore those and other fundamental questions about the universe when they peer deep into the night sky using a new telescope planned for […]

You’re reading In Her Words, where women rule the headlines. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Let me know what you think at dearmaya@nytimes.com. “Our science can only benefit the whole of society if it’s done by the whole of society.” — Dr. Jessica Wade, a physicist who adds biographies of

Iranians feeling the squeeze from U.S. sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy are increasingly turning to such digital currencies as Bitcoin to make money, prompting alarm in and out of the country. In Iran, some government officials worry that the energy-hungry process of “mining” Bitcoin is abusing Iran‘s system of subsidized electricity; in the

Greek authorities say they have identified a suspect accused of the brutal killing and rape of American scientist Suzanne Eaton. In a statement Thursday, police identified the man as 27-year-old Yiannis Paraskakis, from the port of Chania on the island of Crete. Police have published photographs of the suspect. Paraskakis has been charged with the

The Latest on protests of a telescope on Hawaii mountain (all times local): 11:10 a.m. A protest against construction of a Hawaii telescope has entered its fourth day as activists block a roadway to the top of a mountain considered sacred by some Native Hawaiians. The action Thursday comes a day after 33 people were

Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson said Thursday his spaceship has just a few more test flights before he jumps on board for the first tourist trip. The British billionaire celebrated his 69th birthday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center during 50th anniversary festivities for humanity’s first moon landing. His guests were 100 other aspiring astronauts who have

A former National Security Agency contractor awaits sentencing in Baltimore’s federal court for storing two decades’ worth of classified documents at his Maryland home. Harold Martin’s plea agreement calls for a nine-year prison sentence, but U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett isn’t bound by the deal’s terms when he sentences Martin on Friday. Martin’s sentencing will

Lodestone, a naturally-occurring iron oxide, was the first persistently magnetic material known to humans. The Han Chinese used it for divining boards 2,200 years ago; ancient Greeks puzzled over why iron was attracted to it; and, Arab merchants placed it in bowls of water to watch the magnet point the way to Mecca. In modern

Microsoft on Thursday reported quarterly profit of $13.2 billion, powered in large part by a steadily growing cloud computing business that the company says now accounts for almost a third of its total revenue. CEO Satya Nadella even said in a call with investors that “our commercial cloud business is the largest in the world,”

In a laboratory at the Stanford University School of Medicine, the mice are seeing things. And it’s not because they’ve been given drugs. With new laser technology, scientists have triggered specific hallucinations in mice by switching on a few neurons with beams of light. The researchers reported the results on Thursday in the journal Science.