New Atlas

Space Audio available

NASA's new lasers to reveal polar ice changes down to the width of a pencil

Nick Lavars August 26, 2018

NASA is preparing to launch a new tool into orbit that will bounce lasers off polar ice to finely monitor elevation changes over time, providing new insights into not only the severity of climate change, but how it is directly impacting seal level rise.

The western edge of Antarctic iceberg A68

Wearables

The best fitness trackers of 2017

David Nield November 23, 2017

A fitness tracker is the perfect gift for the holiday season, for treating someone else or treating yourself – what better way to start tackling your New Year resolutions? These are the best fitness trackers we've seen launched this year, as wearables get smarter, smaller, and more diverse.

It's been a relatively quiet year for fitness trackers, but we've picked out some gems

Smartwatches

Polar M600 merges Android Wear with high-end fitness tracking

Eric Mack August 3, 2016

Polar is seriously old-school in the fitness tracking market, having launched a wireless, wearable heart rate monitor back in 1982. Now the company is diving into the smartwatch world with an Android Wear watch boasting its latest proprietary optical pulse monitoring tech and on-board GPS.

The Polar M600 will be available in black or white

Space

Cassini glimpses the dark eye of Saturn's south polar storm

Anthony Wood May 12, 2016

The Cassini spacecraft has captured a stunningly detailed view of the "dark eye" of Saturn's vast south polar vortex, a feature so large that it could comfortably swallow planet Earth.

Composite image of Saturn's south polar vortex

Wearables

Polar A360 fitness tracker packs color touchscreen and optical heart rate monitor

Stanley Goodner October 20, 2015

With its new A360 fitness tracker, Polar has added a splash of color to a device designed to offer 24/7 activity tracking, convenient wrist-based heart rate monitoring and smartwatch-like notifications.

The Polar A360 fitness tracker will be available in a variety of colors with interchangeable bands

Wearables Review

Review: Polar Loop 2 activity tracker & H7 heart rate sensor

Stanley Goodner October 5, 2015

Even the most dedicated fitness buff can benefit from reminders to stay active, which is one of the new features of the Polar’s latest activity tracker. We get some wrist-on experience with the Loop 2 to see how well this device measures up.

The Polar Loop 2 activity tracker looks simple with a touch of style

Space

New research on Saturn's polar cyclones could allow for a better understanding of distant exoplanets

Anthony Wood June 19, 2015

A team of scientists from MIT has put forward a theory that would explain the presence of enormous polar cyclones present on the gas giant Saturn. The research may lead to better characterization of the atmosphere of distant exoplanets.

Science

Polar bear fur could hold secret to ultrathin insulation

Grant Banks February 2, 2014

In what could lead to new ultrathin insulation, researchers at the University of Namur in Belgium and the University of Hassan I in Morocco found that radiation plays a larger role than conduction in the insulation of polar animals such as penguins and polar bears than previously believed.

Mimicking polar bear fur, which is able to insulate the animal's body to temperatures of 98.6° ...

Robotics

NASA's GROVER roves over snow for over a month

James Holloway May 2, 2013

NASA's solar-powered GROVER will take to Greenland's ice sheet on Friday, where it will spend a month analyzing the accumulation of snow and how this contributes to the ice sheet over time.

NASA's GROVER, without solar panels. The laptop is a temporary fixture (Photo: Gabriel Trisca, Boise State ...

Space

Venus atmosphere unexpectedly measured by drag

Tannith Cattermole October 11, 2010

Scientists have accidentally discovered that the atmosphere on Venus is 60 percent thinner than expected by measuring drag of the Venus Express satellite.

Image of the Venusian atmosphere at 60km over the south pole (yellow dot) using Visible and ...