Existing fiber optic cables can monitor whales

A new study demonstrates for the first time that the same undersea fiber optic cables used for internet and cable television can be repurposed to tune in to marine life at unprecedented scales, potentially transforming critical ...

Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) starts 5-year survey

A five-year quest to map the universe and unravel the mysteries of "dark energy" is beginning officially today, May 17, at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. To complete its quest, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic ...

Video: The making of the largest 3-D map of the universe

DESI, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, will mobilize 5,000 swiveling robots – each one pointing a thin strand of fiber-optic cable – to gather the light from about 35 million galaxies.

Shining light on dark fiber, other broadband networks

Only a couple of months after they were installed in 2016, New York City decided to cut off internet access to a series of "smart city" kiosks it built to replace old telephone booths after homeless people monopolized them ...

An army of tiny robots that tracks galaxies

Why is the universe expanding at an increasing rate? Scientists will attempt to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon by mapping the distribution of galaxies in the universe. Astrophysicists and robotics engineers ...