science and technology

On March 21, the Department of Justice (DOJ), along with attorneys general from 15 states and D.C., filed a lawsuit against Apple for monopolizing the smartphone market—a violation of the Sherman Act. The complaint alleges that Apple maintains its monopoly “by selectively imposing contractual restrictions on, and withholding critical access points” to its smartphones from developers. The argument is that Apple’s practices lock consumers into using its smartphones—thereby enabling the company to charge higher prices, impose higher fees on developers and creators and discourage the use of alternative phones. 

In October, a Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying NASA’s Europa Clipper mission. The $5 billion mission is designed to find out if Europa, Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, can support life. But because Europa is constantly bombarded by intense radiation created by Jupiter’s magnetic field, the Clipper spacecraft can’t orbit the moon itself. Instead, it will slide into an eccentric orbit around Jupiter and gather data by repeatedly swinging by Europa — 53 times in total — before retreating from the worst of the radiation. Every time the spacecraft rounds Jupiter, its path will be slightly different, ensuring that it can take pictures and gather data from Europa’s poles to its equator.

New research has uncovered a social world of viruses full of cheating, cooperation and other intrigues, suggesting that viruses make sense only as members of a community.

Earlier this year, the Dutch government stopped ASML, the major supplier of lithography equipment to global chip makers, from exporting advanced "DUV" tool lines to China, following US demands.

Space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm watch through Monday, saying an ouburst of plasma from a solar flare could interfere with radio transmissions on Earth. It could also make for great aurora viewing.

China's first home grown hydrogen energy urban train successfully completed its test run on a trial line at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province on Thursday. The maximum cruising range of the train is over 1,000 km.

Average annual salaries at Naver and Kakao went down last year due to a sharp decline in their stock vaulations caused by decelerated growth experienced after the COVID-19 pandemic, regulatory filings showed Friday.

Quantum computers are poised to become computational superpowers, but researchers have long sought a viable problem that confers a quantum advantage — something only a quantum computer can solve. Only then, they argue, will the technology finally be seen as essential.

It can be hard to tell, at first, when a cell is on the verge of self-destruction. It appears to be going about its usual business, transcribing genes and making proteins. The powerhouse organelles called mitochondria are dutifully churning out energy. But then a mitochondrion receives a signal, and its typically placid proteins join forces to form a death machine.

An experimental Alzheimer's treatment involving sounds and flickering lights also prevented a decline in mental sharpness among mice having chemotherapy