Sarah Scoles
Verified
As seen in:
Medium,
MSN,
MSN Australia,
MSN Brasil,
OneZero,
The New York Times,
The New York Times en Español,
UOL,
Estadão,
HuffPost
and
Covers:
space exploration, radio astronomy, space science, science education, astronomy, physics, seti, commercial space flight, cosmology
Journalist, universe liker, trail runner, contributor @SciAm @Undarkmag. Author, They Are Already Here, Making Contact, Countdown.
Articles by Sarah Scoles
The Evolving Quest to Build Life in a Lab
This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article. On a lonely planet, billions of years ago, a soup of chemicals—in the right place, at the right time, and with the right conditions—shifted from an unalive assemblage into something scientists would call life. Billions of years and a lot of evolution later, researchers are now attempting to reproduce that shift in their labs. They are, put simply, trying to create life.
The Evolving Quest to Build Life in a Lab
On a lonely planet, billions of years ago, a soup of chemicals — in the right place, at the right time, and with the right conditions — shifted from an unalive assemblage into something scientists would call life. Billions of years and a lot of evolution later, researchers are now attempting to reproduce that shift in their labs. They are, put simply, trying to create life.
Brain Trust: The Age of Artificial Intelligence(s)
What is intelligence? It’s a question we’re all asking ourselves — and silicon-based AI is only one reason why. From lab-grown brain organoids that show the capacity to learn, to companies angling to tweak human intellect at the embryonic stage, the precise boundary between utility and catastrophe is a matter of unresolved debate.
Scientific American
Rachel Feltman joins Vox's Unexplainable to discuss the enduring mysteries that continue to challenge science Rachel Feltman : Hey listeners, it's Rachel. Today's episode is something a little different. We're sharing an episode of Vox's podcast Unexplainable . In it, I chat with host Noam Hassenfeld about the latest issue of Scientific American , which is all about scientific questions that once seemed impossible to answer—and even some mysteries that we still don't know how to solve.
The Pentagon is testing lasers and microwaves to stop drone swarms
In June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. This stretch of desert had been a proving ground for barely a week when, in 1945, Manhattan Project scientists detonated the first atomic bomb at its Trinity Site, releasing the destructive energy of nuclear fission.
The questions science may never answer
Science, at its best, is a striving toward truth. It is not, although we often think of it as such, the search for absolute truth. It’s more a process of systematically gathering and interpreting data about the universe to understand its past and present and predict its future. What results is the best approximation we can access at any given time with the information, methods and instruments we have. And what counts as the best approximation of truth often changes.
Will we ever know how life began?
In a laboratory at McMaster University in Ontario, a device that seems almost alive glows purple as it churns through its work. Atop a boxy base that resembles a small kitchen island, a windowed hemispherical chamber sits. Cords and instruments poke from it like flower petals. Gas billows from its bottom. The setup’s purpose is hard to fathom if you don’t know what it is and even perhaps if you do. Inside that little chamber is a whole world. Its name is, appropriately, the Planet Simulator.
Will we ever know how life began?
In a laboratory at McMaster University in Ontario, a device that seems almost alive glows purple as it churns through its work. Atop a boxy base that resembles a small kitchen island, a windowed hemispherical chamber sits. Cords and instruments poke from it like flower petals. Gas billows from its bottom. The setup's purpose is hard to fathom if you don't know what it is and even perhaps if you do. Inside that little chamber is a whole world. Its name is, appropriately, the Planet Simulator.
The questions science may never answer
Follow The questions science may never answer Will some of the biggest mysteries in science remain forever unsolved? Tue, September 15, 2026 at 6:00 AM EDT Science, at its best, is a striving toward truth. It is not, although we often think of it as such, the search for absolute truth. It's more a process of systematically gathering and interpreting data about the universe to understand its past and present and predict its future.
The Pentagon tests lasers and microwaves against drone swarms
In June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. This stretch of desert had been a proving ground for barely a week when, in 1945, Manhattan Project scientists detonated the first atomic bomb at its Trinity Site, releasing the destructive energy of nuclear fission.
Review: A Vision of a Future Where Machines Fight Wars
Twelve years ago, Frank Kendall, then under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics at the Department of Defense, pulled up a PowerPoint slide to show a group of senior military officials who deliberate over budgets. It showed the choices he thought the military had to make in space, since China and Russia were working on weapons to take down American satellites that provide everything from intelligence to communications to navigation.
Living Cells Can Be Reprogrammed With Light, Scientists Say. The Pentagon Is Trying to Build the Machine to Do It.
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: Scientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon’s R&D arm, are studying ways to reprogram cells using light. To pull it off, DARPA needs to build a sort of 3D printer that could fit inside individual cells so that they can receive “files” to encode new genetic instructions. The tech could help the U.S. stay ahead of its adversaries in biomanufacturing and medicine, but there is also great potential for abuse.
Living Cells Can Be Reprogrammed With Light, Scientists Say. The Pentagon Is Trying to Build the Machine to Do It.
Flipboard provides you with personalized news and content based on your interests. We use Essential cookies and similar technologies to (i) help tailor content based on how you interact with content in our services and (ii) analyze site usage. We also work with our 58 partners to use Advertising cookies and similar technologies as described below: You can object to the processing of your information for advertising purposes at any time.
Support networks aim to help kids through the polycrisis
Sometime in the late 2000s, Pim Sullivan-Tailyour was sitting in the back of a car, headed toward her great-grandmother’s tiny town in the south of Thailand. She watched big mountains pass by out the window. She was just six years old but was about to be hit by an adult-size realization. “They were just quarried out,” she says.
Golden Dome could require thousands of missile interceptors in orbit—and companies are scrambling to build them
Somewhere in the world, a missile’s engines ignite, and it lifts toward the sky. Somewhere above the world, satellites sense its launch. They, in turn, send out an alert, along with information about the missile’s path. Almost instantly an interceptor in orbit—essentially a big bullet—gets its own message: fire toward the missile. Ideally the space-based weapon strikes the missile early in flight, before the rocket can release a warhead or decoys, turning a threat to the U.S. into a bunch of debris.
Wiele krajów przekonuje amerykańskich naukowców, by przenieśli się do nich na stałe. I wielu badaczy to rozważa
Trzy czwarte badaczy z USA, którzy odpowiedzieli na ankietę magazynu „Nature” przeprowadzoną w marcu ubiegłego roku, zastanawiało się nad wyjazdem za granicę. Tendencja ta była szczególnie widoczna wśród naukowców na początku kariery. [Artykuł także do słuchania] Na co dzień amerykański fizyk Kenneth Long pracuje przy największym na świecie akceleratorze cząstek – Wielkim Zderzaczu Hadronów (Large Hadron Collider) w ośrodku CERN niedaleko Genewy.
Szybki dostęp do zdjęć satelitarnych sprawia, że armie nie mogą się już ukrywać. Dlatego uczą się lepiej kłamać
Rządy, dziennikarze i zwykli obserwatorzy mogą dziś zobaczyć, co dzieje się na świecie, niemal natychmiast po wydarzeniach – dzięki infrastrukturze znajdującej się w kosmosie. Ta stosunkowo nowa możliwość jest rezultatem gwałtownego rozwoju satelitów „teledetekcyjnych”, które nieustannie obserwują Ziemię z góry. [Artykuł także do słuchania] Dzień po tym, jak Stany Zjednoczone i Izrael rozpoczęły obecną wojnę z Iranem, firma satelitarna Planet Labs rozesłała komunikat prasowy.
U.S. scientists are being lured abroad-and they aren't looking back
By day American physicist Kenneth Long works with the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva. He wants to better understand the W boson, a subatomic particle that is responsible for some kinds of radioactivity and for fusion. But he also likes bikes, and this July you might find him on a scenic roadside, cheering on competitors in the Tour de France.
Genesis is sold as AI for science. Its first challenges point straight at nuclear weapons
In the beginning, people created computers. Some of them said, “Let there be software,” and it was mostly good. Then they said, “Let the software be more intelligent,” and they called that intelligence artificial. And in November of 2025 the White House launched an AI program called the Genesis Mission.
Trump’s Genesis Mission is putting AI to work on nuclear weapons
The Department of Energy bills Genesis as an AI push for scientific discovery. Its first public challenges tell a different story Sarah Scoles Tue, June 16, 2026 at 10:00 AM UTC 6 min read Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Trump’s Genesis Mission is putting AI to work on nuclear weapons In the beginning, people created computers. Some of them said, "Let there be software," and it was mostly good.
Book Review: How Radio Astronomy Made the Invisible Visible
Karl Jansky had just graduated from college as a radio engineer when he began work at the famed Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1928. Bell had built a transatlantic phone capability, but the system had a problem: It buzzed with static. If the company was going to charge callers as much as it wanted, the connection needed to be pure. Some of the static’s sources were easily traced — interference from electrical equipment, for instance.
Amerikaans AI-systeem beoordeelt militaire claims van tegenstanders
Beeld: Hebben China’s quantum- en codebrekende capaciteiten de VS voorbij gestreefd? Om de waarheid te achterhalen, doen onderzoekers een beroep op kunstmatige intelligentie. In 2023 beweerden Chinese onderzoekers iets opvallends: met de huidige, relatief eenvoudige quantumcomputers zouden ze versleutelde informatie kunnen kraken, zoals berichten uit apps of data van spionagesatellieten. Gecodeerd blijft die informatie veilig.
Commercial satellites can now watch much of Earth in near-real time. Militaries are responding with inflatable tanks, painted runways and AI-faked images
The day after the U.S. and Israel began the current war with Iran, satellite company Planet Labs e-mailed a media release. “Sharing our first batch of areas impacted by airstrikes,” it read. Planet operates a constellation of about 200 satellites that together can take pictures of much of Earth—including the parts in turmoil—daily. The release included a link to images taken that day of collapsed tunnels at a missile base and smoke over a naval facility.
Model terminatora, czyli jak i po co rozpoznawać „pory roku” aktywności słonecznej
Naukowcy chcą ostrzegać rolników, że ich traktor może zboczyć z drogi na sąsiedni rząd lucerny, albo uprzedzać firmy energetyczne o możliwych przerwach w dostawie prądu. Jest tylko jeden problem: tak naprawdę nie rozumiemy dobrze, jak Słońce obecnie działa. Mimo to heliofizycy opracowują różne – choć niedoskonałe – modele naszej najbliższej gwiazdy, by lepiej prognozować jej zachowanie.
China said it could break military encryption. DARPA built an AI to find out if that’s true
In late 2022 Chinese researchers claimed something extraordinary: using today’s relatively basic quantum computers, they could hypothetically unlock encrypted information—the kind that you might send from messaging app Signal or that spy satellites might beam groundward. Encoded, that information remains safe. But if quantum computers could crack that code, secrets would not stay secret. Obviously this is bad news for spicy Signal chats, but it would be worse news for the defense community.
You have no choice in reading this article—maybe
Uri Maoz loved doing his human research, back when he was getting his PhD. He was studying a very specific topic in computational neuroscience: how the brain instructs our arms to move and how our gray matter in turn perceives that motion. Then his professor asked him to deliver an undergrad lecture. Maoz assumed his boss was going to tell him exactly what to do, or at least throw some PowerPoint slides his way. But no. Maoz had free rein to teach anything, as long as it was relevant to the students.
Inside a bold plan to pulverize an Earth-bound asteroid
Scientists are designing techniques to smash up space rocks that could be headed our way It's the stuff of movies: an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, and we have to do something to stop it—or die. Disturbingly this scenario is also the stuff of the actual universe. Scientists have discovered more than 2,000 “potentially hazardous” asteroids .
Inside a bold plan to pulverize an Earth-bound asteroid
It’s the stuff of movies: an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, and we have to do something to stop it—or die. Disturbingly this scenario is also the stuff of the actual universe. Scientists have discovered more than 2,000 “potentially hazardous” asteroids. To merit that official NASA designation, an object must be at least 460 feet in diameter and have an orbit that passes within about 4.7 million miles of our planet.
Polygraphs have major flaws. Are there better options?
Tech News Tube is a real time news feed of the latest technology news headlines.Follow all of the top tech sites in one place, on the web or your mobile device.
Polygraphs have major flaws. Are there better options?
Research proceeds on alternatives, but some doubt whether true lie detection is possible. When George W. Maschke applied to work for the FBI in 1994, he had already held a security clearance for over 11 years. The government had deemed him trustworthy through his career in the Army. But soon, a machine and a man would not come to the same conclusion. His application to be a special agent had passed initial muster.
Polygraphs Aren’t Very Accurate. Are There Better Options?
When George W. Maschke applied to work for the FBI in 1994, he had already held a security clearance for over 11 years. The government had deemed him trustworthy through his career in the Army. But soon, a machine and a man would not come to the same conclusion. His application to be a special agent had passed initial muster. And so, in the spring of 1995, according to his account, he found himself sitting across from an FBI polygraph examiner, answering questions about his life and loyalties.
Polygraphs Aren’t Very Accurate. Are There Better Options?
When George W. Maschke applied to work for the FBI in 1994, he had already held a security clearance for over 11 years. The government had deemed him trustworthy through his career in the Army. But soon, a machine and a man would not come to the same conclusion. His application to be a special agent had passed initial muster. And so, in the spring of 1995, according to his account, he found himself sitting across from an FBI polygraph examiner, answering questions about his life and loyalties.
With DARPA backing, a start-up thinks spent nuclear fuel could power military drones for months on end
Every atom is a coiled source of power. But some atoms pack more punch than others. The radioactive elements fueling nuclear reactors can be coaxed into generating so much power that in the mid-1950s Lewis Strauss, then chair of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, predicted electricity would soon be “too cheap to meter.” Civilian nuclear power fell short of that utopian hype, but it succeeded in creating a lot of waste.
Kosmologie: Was war vor dem Urknall?
Hintergrund Lesedauer ca. 9 Minuten Drucken Teilen Kosmologie: Was war vor dem Urknall? Urknall, Big Bounce oder ein Spiegeluniversum: Die Theorien darüber, wie unser Kosmos entstand, sind vielfältig. Wir stellen die verbreitetsten Modelle vor. Wie genau das Universum entstand – und ob es überhaupt einen Zeitpunkt der Entstehung gibt – , darüber herrscht in der Kosmologie Uneinigkeit.
What came before the big bang? Original
The big bang wasn’t a bang in the traditional sense—but it was nonetheless the start of important things: for one, space; another, time. Thirdly, it began the conditions and processes that eventually resulted in us humans, who can sit here and wonder about space and time. The big bang was, effectively, the beginning of the universe.
Zawsze, nigdy. Przyszłość broni jądrowej
Wielu z nas wydawało się, że po zakończeniu zimnej wojny temat bomby atomowej i nuklearnego wyścigu zbrojeń zszedł na dalszy plan. W USA zaprzestano prób jądrowych, a międzynarodowe traktaty spowodowały, że w amerykańskich laboratoriach nie tworzono już nowych rodzajów tej broni.
Paradoksem amerykańskiego arsenału nuklearnego jest to, że powstał, by nie musiał być użyty nigdy więcej
Plus Minus Zdaniem krytyków stworzenie nowatorskiej broni może być postrzegane na arenie międzynarodowej jako posunięcie prowokacyjne. W USA natomiast oznacza to potwierdzenie, że zależność od broni jądrowej się nie skończy. Aktualizacja: 02.01.2026 15:01 Publikacja: 02.01.2026 15:00 Działalność Narodowego Laboratorium Lawrence Livermore w Kaliforni, gdzie prowadzone są m. in. prace nad modernizacją amerykańskiej broni jądrowej, wzbudza kontrowersje.
Twins’ peaks: The Gilbertson brothers want to rewrite your country’s map
In 2020, Eric Gilbertson, a mechanical engineering professor at Seattle University, climbed the 100 highest mountains in Colorado. Or so he thought. In 2021, he found something concerning in data published by the United States Geological Survey about a summit called Crestone Peak. It’s one of Colorado’s famous 14ers, mountains that reach beyond 14,000 feet. The data made the mountain appear pointier — and so perhaps taller — than Gilbertson knew it to be from standing on its summit.
GPS is vulnerable to jamming-here’s how we might fix it
Tech News Tube is a real time news feed of the latest technology news headlines.Follow all of the top tech sites in one place, on the web or your mobile device.
GPS is vulnerable to jamming-here’s how we might fix it
GPS jamming has gotten cheap an easy, but there are potential solutions. In September 2025, a Widerøe Airlines flight was trying to land in Vardø, Norway, which sits in the country’s far eastern arm, some 40 miles from the Russian coast. The cloud deck was low, and so was visibility. In such gray situations, pilots use GPS technology to help them land on a runway and not the side of a mountain.
Twins' Peaks: The Gilbertson Brothers Want to Rewrite Your Country's Map
(Science Times) kAmx? a_a_[ tC:4 v:=36CED@?[ 2 >6492?:42= 6?8:?66C:?8 AC@76DD@C 2E $62EE=6 &?:G6CD:EJ[ 4=:>365 E96 `__ 9:896DE >@F?E2:?D :? r@=@C25@] ~C D@ 96 E9@F89E]k^Am kAmx? a_a`[ 96 7@F?5 D@>6E9:?8 4@?46C?:?8 :? 52E2 AF3=:D965 3J E96 &?:E65 $E2E6D v6@=@8:42= $FCG6J 23@FE 2 DF>>:E 42==65 rC6DE@?6 !62<] xEVD @?6 @7 r@=@C25@VD 72>@FD `c6CD[ >@F?E2:?D E92E C6249 36J@?5 `c[___ 766E]k^Am kAm%96 52E2 >256 E96 >@F?E2:? 2AA62C A@:?E:6C \\ 2?5 D@ A6C92AD E2==6C \\ E92? v:=36CED@?
Twins’ Peaks: The Gilbertson Brothers Want to Rewrite Your Country’s Map Original
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Climbing Pobeda Peak in Kyrgyzstan in 2021.Credit...Eric Gilbertson Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Dec. 28, 2025 In 2020, Eric Gilbertson, a mechanical engineering professor at Seattle University, climbed the 100 highest mountains in Colorado. Or so he thought.
Istnienie tego miasta było utajnione. Jako miejsce realizacji przedsięwzięcia o kryptonimie Projekt Y
Więcej ciekawych historii przeczytasz na stronie głównej "Newsweeka" Dziękujemy, że jesteś z nami! Stoki ośrodka narciarskiego Pajarito Mountain wznoszą się sześćset metrów nad położoną w Nowym Meksyku miejscowością Los Alamos, skąd dojazd na górę zajmuje około piętnastu minut. Gdyby spojrzało się w dół z wyciągu, miasto wydałoby się małe, a nawet chaotycznie zabudowane.
Istnienie tego miasta było utajnione. Jako miejsce realizacji przedsięwzięcia o kryptonimie Projekt Y
Miejsce Projektu Manhattan i Projektu Los Alamos w Los Alamos Więcej ciekawych historii przeczytasz na stronie głównej "Newsweeka" Dużo czytania, a mało czasu? Sprawdź skrót artykułu Dziękujemy, że jesteś z nami! Stoki ośrodka narciarskiego Pajarito Mountain wznoszą się sześćset metrów nad położoną w Nowym Meksyku miejscowością Los Alamos, skąd dojazd na górę zajmuje około piętnastu minut. Gdyby spojrzało się w dół z wyciągu, miasto wydałoby się małe, a nawet chaotycznie zabudowane.
GPS Is Vulnerable. New Technology May Be Required.
In September 2025, a Widerøe Airlines flight was trying to land in Vardø, Norway, which sits in the country’s far eastern arm, some 40 miles from the Russian coast. The cloud deck was low, and so was visibility. In such gray situations, pilots use GPS technology to help them land on a runway and not the side of a mountain. But on this day, GPS systems weren’t working correctly, the airwaves jammed with signals that prevented airplanes from accessing navigation information.
GPS Is Vulnerable. New Technology May Be Required.
In September 2025, a Widerøe Airlines flight was trying to land in Vardø, Norway, which sits in the country’s far eastern arm, some 40 miles from the Russian coast. The cloud deck was low, and so was visibility. In such gray situations, pilots use GPS technology to help them land on a runway and not the side of a mountain. But on this day, GPS systems weren’t working correctly, the airwaves jammed with signals that prevented airplanes from accessing navigation information.
GPS Is Vulnerable. New Technology May Be Required.
8 hours ago America is in for a confusing, troubling holiday. This particularly cursed holiday week kicked off in earnest last night when my father turned his iPad in my direction. On its screen was a terribly disturbing post on X containing two images. In the first, Jeffrey Epstein was hugging and kissing a …
U.S. military funds AI tools to speed modeling of viral outbreaks
As SARS-CoV-2 radiated across the planet in 2020, epidemiologists scrambled to predict its spread—and its deadly consequences. Often, they turned to models that not only simulate viral transmission and hospitalization rates, but can also predict the effect of interventions: masks, vaccines, or travel bans.
Meet the ‘Terminator’—The Sun Theory That Could Change Space Weather Forecasting
On May 10, 2024, a John Deere dealer sent out a strange press release. “Please be advised that there is significant solar flare and space weather activity,” it read. The company, a maker of tractors and ball caps, isn’t the first entity you’d turn to for advice about the sun. But the star’s storms were messing with the GPS systems on John Deere’s precision agricultural equipment, which uses geographic guidance to help farmers precisely plant, spray and harvest crops.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Sarah
Contact Sarah, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack