Researchers believed they've solved Peto's paradox by studying elephants' genes, and their insights could lead to novel cancer treatments for humans. | Continue reading
A toxin produced by bacteria can puncture the cell walls of harmful bacteria, killing them. The compunds could be used to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. | Continue reading
Go ahead, click this button. | Continue reading
Replicating human milk is no easy feat — nor is separating the science from the hype. | Continue reading
When a volcano erupts underwater, all the gas has to go somewhere. It sometimes takes the form of massive bubbles, scientists find. | Continue reading
Radiation shouldn't ruin astronomers' shot at finding alien life on Europa's surface. Any clues that wash up from the ocean below should be shielded from cosmic rays. | Continue reading
Microbes are the omnipresent yet frequently unacknowledged adversary on the battlefield. Though microscopic in size, their very macroscopic effects can decimate armies, foil the best planned war initiatives, and change the course of history. In one of the greatest military debacl … | Continue reading
Researchers find that steeping a single plastic mesh tea bag releases billions of microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics into your beverage. | Continue reading
A highly acclaimed neuroscientist whose work offered hope for many patients with brain injury has fallen from grace. Prof. Niels Birbaumer, of the Eberhard-Karls University of Tübingen in Germany, came under investigation earlier this year. The probe began after researcher Martin … | Continue reading
Whether it's the sights, the sounds or the smells, most dogs love to hang their heads out of car windows. | Continue reading
Small, spouted pots from the Bronze Age were used to feed infants milk from their mothers and animals, a new analysis reveals. | Continue reading
Our need to be consistently active to stay healhty might have its roots in our evolution toward endurance over strength. | Continue reading
In patients with certain types of lung cancer, finding the right treatment can be difficult. The "eNose" helps diagnose patients with just a puff of air. | Continue reading
Extraterrestrial microbes might need protection from humans. And although some outlines already exist, there are many ethical details to flesh out. | Continue reading
Soul experiments became popular, lost credibility, and persisted in cultural memory, and they showcase human tendencies that are still influential today. | Continue reading
Unknown 20 years go, massive paleoburrows in southern Brazil are a formidable mystery for the handful of researchers who study them. | Continue reading
For years, an Australian researcher has drawn headlines with tantalizing evidence that plants can think. A growing chorus of scientists question her claims. | Continue reading
The same brain regions are activated when both reading and listening to stories, a new study says. It's a new insight into how our brains process semantic meaning. | Continue reading
Hundreds of people died at India's lonely Roopkund, or Skeleton Lake, prompting dozens of theories. New DNA research only deepens the mystery. | Continue reading
In Australia, a pair of superb fairy-wrens return to their nest with food for their newborn chick. As they arrive, the chick makes its begging call. It’s hard to see in the darkness of the domed nest, but the parents know that something isn’t right. Whatever’s in their nest, it’s … | Continue reading
The brain is buzzing with gamma oscillations – cycles of neuronal activity with a frequency (around 40-60 Hz) higher than that of other major brain waves. A longstanding hypothesis is that gamma serves as a kind of ‘clock signal’ that enables the coordination and integration of s … | Continue reading
The 'Father of the Internet' is on board — and so are a number of companies, from industry heavyweights to startups. | Continue reading
Apollo was amazing. Footage moonwalking astronauts and breathtaking images of the Earth from space remain a source of inspiration, and on a personal level have been the driver behind my entire academic and professional career. Apollo’s legacy, on the other hand, has crippled our … | Continue reading
“Got the Earth straight out our front window.” As the lunar module Eagle yawed into a windows up orientation, Buzz Aldrin looked away from the computer to see the Earth nearly a quarter of a million miles away. “Sure do,” agreed Neil Armstrong, adding, “Houston, [I hope] you’re l … | Continue reading
Researchers say the accomplishment is a step toward AI that thinks, reasons and plans. | Continue reading
The cordyceps fungus attacks ants' jaw muscles to force them to bite with irreversible force, sealing their fate. | Continue reading
Likely cast off by a grooming primate more than 15 million years ago, the tick contained both blood and a species of parasite still found today. | Continue reading
If you delve into the wildest depths of the scientific literature, you will find a trilogy of papers so weird, that they have become legendary. In these articles, spanning a 12 year period, author Jarl Flensmark says that heeled shoes cause mental illness, while flat footwear pro … | Continue reading
You may not know what microsleep is, but chances are you do it dozens of times every day. | Continue reading
The Big Bang is the defining narrative of modern cosmology: a bold declaration that our universe had a beginning and has a finite age, just like the humans who live within it. That finite age, in turn, is defined by the evidence that universe is expanding (again, and unfortunatel … | Continue reading
Driving, say, to a friend’s house, we usually have directions to follow like “turn left at the light then it’s the third door on the right.” The same isn’t true when going to the Moon; there are no signposts guiding the way. So how exactly did Apollo astronauts know where they we … | Continue reading
A new analysis of the cosmic microwave background sees little evidence for cold spots, leaving astronomers more puzzled than ever about their existence. | Continue reading
A paper in a peer-reviewed medical journal makes the suggestion that physicist Stephen Hawking's disability was psychosomatic. | Continue reading
For dedicated researchers, it's possible to obtain illegal drugs for legitimate research. But the many hurdles are choking beneficial research, scientists say. | Continue reading
A new report shows how Coca-Cola may be working to hide harmful scientific findings about soft drink consumption. | Continue reading
The jets shooting out from black hole V404 Cygni are wobbling around fast enough for astronomers to watch it happen in real time. | Continue reading
Researchers may have finally figured out the mechanism of the tragic birth defects caused by thalidomide, the drug taken by pregnant women in the late 1950s as a remedy for nausea: It is thought to have inhibited development of new blood vessels at a crucial stage in the pregnanc … | Continue reading
Early in the morning of April 25, astronomers at LIGO and Virgo caught gravitational waves from two merging neutron stars, just the second such detection. | Continue reading
Two new studies confirm the existence of galaxies without much dark matter. One study confirms a previous find, and another reveals a new galaxy. | Continue reading
Researchers debate why human skulls have diminished in size since the last Ice Age. | Continue reading
I just came across a paper with an interesting title: The Mutant Says in His Heart, “There Is No God”. The conclusions of this work are even more interesting. According to the authors, Edward Dutton et al., humans evolved to be religious and atheism is caused (in part) by mutatio … | Continue reading
The brain became a celebrity this week when Ariana Grande shared the results of a scan of her brain seemingly showing signs of severe PTSD: Is there any science behind this? Not really. The source of the scan isn’t clear but I’m 99% sure that the image was taken at one of Dr Dani … | Continue reading
Biodiversity hits an evolutionary "speed limit" when recovering from mass extinction, implying life won't rebound until long after humanity's damage ends. | Continue reading
To bridge a gap in the research, experts have developed a test for so-called light triad personality traits. | Continue reading
Suppose, if you will, that alien scientists came down to Earth and began to study the local lifeforms. But let’s suppose that these aliens arrive by the side of a busy expressway, and stay there. Our extraterrestrials might conclude that cars are the dominant inhabitants of Earth … | Continue reading