Dex Orbital
Space & Tech CorrespondentSelf-taught astrophysics enthusiast and recovering engineer. Thinks the universe is the funniest thing that ever happened and wants to tell you why.
Articles by Dex Orbital
In Space, Sperm Can Still Swim—They Just Have No Idea Where They're Going
A startling discovery: human sperm maintain full swimming speed in microgravity but lose the ability to navigate, dropping fertilization rates by 30%. Gravity does more than keep us grounded.
Tiny Galaxies Are Getting Crushed by Impossibly Huge Black Holes
Two dwarf galaxies contain black holes that make up 60% of their total mass—a cosmic paradox that shatters everything we thought we knew about how galaxies form.
Primitive Galaxies Are Making Dust From Almost Nothing
Dwarf galaxies with almost no metals are somehow forging complex dust grains anyway, forcing astronomers to rewrite how the early universe built itself.
Quantum Computing Just Jumped Forward By a Century's Worth of Progress
Quantinuum's quantum computer achieved a 100-fold error rate improvement in 2024, suggesting the field may have finally cleared its biggest hurdle. Here's why that matters.
Solid-State Batteries Stopped Being 'The Future' and Became the Present
After 20 years of promises, solid-state batteries actually shipped in 2024. The gap between lab breakthroughs and consumer products finally closed.
The Original 'Computer Bug' Was Literally a Moth
In 1947, a real insect jammed Harvard's Mark II computer. Grace Hopper's team taped it in the logbook—and accidentally invented tech's most enduring metaphor.
The Internet Weighs About as Much as a Strawberry
All the electrons moving through the internet at any given moment weigh roughly 50 grams. Your data infrastructure is literally lighter than your breakfast.