Mars is often called the Red Planet, but a recent image captured by NASA’s Perseverance rover from the surface would go some way to contradicting that. Earlier this year, Perseverance snapped a sunset from Mars in which the Sun looks blue, a sight which would never be seen from our own planet. The photograph was taken on the rover’s 842nd day on the planet, and shows a Martian horizon with the sun setting behind causing an eerily cool glow. Because of Mars’ distance from the Sun, it gets less sunlight than we do on Earth. Even at its sunniest, it gets less than half our quota of light from the star. And the planet’s atmosphere, which is weaker than Earth’s, is mainly made up of carbon dioxide, with a small amount of nitrogen and a trace of oxygen. This gaseous mix and weak atmosphere causes the light to scatter in a blue haze across the sky. It’s the same process which gives us our blue sky during the daytime, when the light has less atmosphere to penetrate before it reaches our eyes. On Earth, this changes when the sun dips below the horizon, and the light has more atmosphere to penetrate, filtering our blue and violet wavelengths, leaving only reds and oranges. Meanwhile on Mars, the sunlight interacts with the dust hanging in the atmosphere, scattering red light during the day. At twilight, that red light is filtered away, leaving blues. Atmospheric scientist Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University told Science Alert: "The colours come from the fact that the very fine dust is the right size so that blue light penetrates the atmosphere slightly more efficiently. “When the blue light scatters off the dust, it stays closer to the direction of the Sun than light of other colours does. “The rest of the sky is yellow to orange, as yellow and red light scatter all over the sky instead of being absorbed or staying close to the Sun.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

MrBeast shared a screenshot of a chat where he was invited to view the Titanic wreckage and fans were relieved he refused

By Pat Kane and Nia Williams YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories (Reuters) -Canadian officials ordered the evacuation of the Northwest Territories' capital

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 29, 2023--

"You'll never be successful," Errol Musk in 1989 told his 17-year-old son Elon, who was then preparing to fly from South Africa to Canada to find relatives and a college education.

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 23, 2023--

TL;DR: Until July 13, Prime members can get a three-month subscription to Audible for free.

Microsoft confirmed disruption to its Microsoft 365 apps earlier this month was due to a

Humans in Europe may have mastered fire long before we previously thought. According to a study published in Scientific Reports, humans made the discovery around 245,000 years ago, up to 50,000 years earlier than scientist thought previously. Researchers studied samples from the Valdocarros II, a huge archaeological site found east of Madrid, Spain. Using chemical analysis, they found certain compounds that show things were burnt by fire in "organised" social events, rather than through accidents or wildfires. "We have found definitive evidence of things being burnt and those remains are organised into a pattern, suggesting it's humans who are making and controlling the fire. Either they were using the fire to cook or to defend themselves. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The spatial patterning in the fire tells us that they were encircling something, like a home or sleeping area, a living room or kitchen, or an enclosure for animals," Dr. Clayton Magill, study author and Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, said in a statement. Dr Magill added that this new work helps to fill in the gaps in our understanding of human-controlled fire and human development. "This is important because our species is defined by our use of fire," Dr Magill explained. "Being able to cook food to feed our big brains is one of the things that made us so successful in an evolutionary sense. Fire also brings protection and fosters communication and family connection. And we now have definitive, incontrovertible evidence that humans were starting and stopping fires in Europe about 50,000 years earlier than we suspected." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Scientists have developed a pair of smart gloves that could allow stroke patients with limb weakness to relearn to play the piano. The exoskeleton glove uses artificial intelligence, moving components known as actuators, and touch sensors in a way that could help patients relearn manual tasks after losing or showing a reduced ability to move hands, fingers, or wrists. The researchers said their proof-of-concept gloves “teaches” its wearer to play the piano by “feeling” the difference between right and wrong movements. We found that the glove can learn to distinguish between correct and incorrect piano play Dr Erik Engeberg Dr Erik Engeberg, a professor at Florida Atlantic University’s department of ocean & mechanical engineering, in the US, said: “We found that the glove can learn to distinguish between correct and incorrect piano play. “This means it could be a valuable tool for personalised rehabilitation of people who wish to relearn to play music.” It is estimated that there are 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK today. Stroke is a leading cause of disability, with almost two thirds of survivors leaving hospital with limb weakness, visual problems, and language and communication problems. The glove is designed to assist and enhance their natural hand movements, allowing them to control the flexion and extension of their fingers Dr Erik Engeberg For the study, published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI, a team of engineers designed a pair of exoskeleton gloves that uses actuators to mimic natural hand movements. Each fingertip contains 16 sensors that allows the wearer to feel the objects they touch. Prof Engeberg said: “While wearing the glove, human users have control over the movement of each finger to a significant extent. “The glove is designed to assist and enhance their natural hand movements, allowing them to control the flexion and extension of their fingers. “The glove supplies hand guidance, providing support and amplifying dexterity.” As part of the experiments, the gloves were taught to play the nursery rhyme “Mary had a little lamb” on the piano on its own using pre-programmed movements. When a person wore the gloves to play the piano, it was able to detect where the wearer went wrong in their movements, enabling them to “understand their performance and make improvements”. The economic burden on health and social care in this country demands innovative approaches to treatment and care, which have the potential to reduce the devastating effects of stroke Juliet Bouverie, Stroke Association The researchers said further work is needed to improve the accuracy of the device and make it more adaptable. But they hope that in future, stroke patients and other people with disabilities could use these gloves to regain arm function. Commenting on the work, Juliet Bouverie, chief executive of the Stroke Association said: “It’s an exciting time for technology in stroke research. “We welcome studies which look at creating effective tools for improving recovery after stroke. “The economic burden on health and social care in this country demands innovative approaches to treatment and care, which have the potential to reduce the devastating effects of stroke.” She added: “We hope the results of this research will help build on our current understanding to bring about effective treatments to help rebuild lives after stroke.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live The different types of public EV chargers explained Emergency number back in use after nationwide technical fault Windrush trolls taken down after public criticism

Once upon a time, the PC was the thinking person’s video game platform. There, you’d

Spotify is preparing to launch a new “Supremium” tier, with extra features for a higher price, according to new rumours. The membership will cost $19.99 – twice the current price – and offer a variety of new features. Chief among them is expected to be lossless audio, which is already offered for free on rival Apple Music. But the extra tier will also offer advanced playlist mixing tools that allow people to choose songs by tempo, feel, activity and more. It will have new listening stats, the inclusion of audiobook listening and AI playlist generation tools, according to technology expert Chris Messina, who found mentions of the update within Spotify. Spotify has focused heavily on artificial intelligence tools in recent months. They have included the addition of an AI DJ that not only automatically selects songs but also introduces them, and AI-powered translation that allows people to listen to podcasts in other languages but with realistic-sounding voices. Spotify’s HiFi tier has been in the works for years. The company first announced it at the beginning of 2021, but it has not arrived since, and there have been rumours about it ever since. The new leaks suggest that the upgrade will bring 24-bit lossless audio. That bitrate matches the high-quality offering on other music streaming services, such as Apple Music. A number of streaming services have launched HiFi or lossless tiers in recent months, even as most people listen with Bluetooth headphones that are unable to actually play music at high enough quality. Amazon has a lossless plan that costs $14.99 per month, for instance, and Tidal offers its HiFi plan at $19.99. It is unclear whether Spotify will offer any more revenue to artists from the extra cost of the higher-priced lossless plan. The company has received sustained criticism for the relatively small fees it pays to musicians when their music is streamed. The leaked code is the latest suggestion that Spotify will use the “Supremium” branding for its higher-priced tier. Previously, it had called it “HiFi”, and a survey sent to subscribers last year referred to it as “Platinum”. Read More Spotify clarifies position on whether it will ban AI-powered music Spotify makes voice clones of podcasters and uses them to speak other languages Slack has stopped working