Extensive power outages and satellite blackouts that affect air travel and the internet are some of the potential consequences of massive solar storms. These storms are believed to be caused by the release of enormous amounts of stored magnetic energy due to changes in the magnetic field of the sun’s outer atmosphere — something that until now has eluded scientists’ direct measurement. Researchers believe this recent discovery could lead to better “space weather” forecasts in the future.

“We are becoming increasingly dependent on space-based systems that are sensitive to space weather...

In a pilot study of people living with HIV or high levels of cholesterol, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers found that a six-week course of a cholesterol-lowering medication improved the function of the coronary arteries that provide oxygen to the heart.

The drug used in the study, a PCSK9 inhibitor, lowers the activity of PCSK9, a protein involved in cholesterol metabolism. These levels are higher in people with HIV and in those with high cholesterol. Currently, people with HIV receive antiretroviral medications and rarely die from the virus itself...

Engineers create centimeter-sized robots capable of more than ever before. Origami principles can unlock the potential of the smallest robots, enhancing speed, agility and control in machines no more than a centimeter in size.

University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated that behavioral rules underpinning the Japanese art of folding can expand the capabilities of these machines, creating potential for greater use in fields as diverse as medical equipment and infrastructure sensing.

“We’ve come up with a new way to design, fabricate and actuat...

An international team of astronomers has discovered the remnant of an ancient collection of stars that was torn apart by our own galaxy, the Milky Way, more than two billion years ago.

The extraordinary discovery of this shredded ‘globular cluster’ is surprising, as the stars in this galactic archaeological find have much lower quantities of heavier elements than in other such clusters...