Science

Words have the power to inform, embolden, and inspire. But very few have the power to send a cold shiver up your spine quite like the word “moist.” Thanks to a new piece of research, scientists might have uncovered what makes this word so uncomfortable to hear. First of all,...

Science

If you looked out at the Sun across the 93 million miles of space that separate our world from our nearest star, the light you’re seeing isn’t from the Sun as it is right now, but rather as it was some 8 minutes and 20 seconds ago. This is because as fast as light is — moving at...

Science

A small mammal has sabotaged the world's most powerful scientific instrument. The Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile superconducting machine designed to smash protons together at close to the speed of light, went offline overnight. Engineers investigating the mishap found the charred remains...

Science

“Moon over Makemake” sounds like a novel or painting, but actually represents a NASA announcement of the discovery of a companion for the third largest (and second brightest) dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt. The announcement strengthens the hypothesis that most dwarf planets have...

Science

Are you a fan of snakes? If not, you won’t approve of the latest collaboration between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Kongsberg Maritime, and Statoil: Let us introduce you to Eelume, a self-propelled, aquatic, mechanical serpent. A current operational model of the new...

Science

When we’re born, our lungs are thought to be sterile. But from the moment we take our first breath, our pristine lungs are exposed to all the bugs that are in the air. It has become clear in the last 10 years that the lungs rapidly acquire a population of many different microorganisms...

Science

The Antarctic ice conceals a smorgasbord of secrets. Once a warm forested part of the world during the age of the dinosaurs, many fossils of which are just waiting to be excavated, it also features the world’s largest canyon system and a treasure trove of meteorites that were forged in the...

Science

Poor battery life is the number one complaint when it comes to smartphones and laptops. As a wireless society, having to tether ourselves down to power up our gadgets seems more and more a nuisance. And while researchers are looking into wireless charging, if batteries were better we would have to...

Science

Mom, you were right ... again. A new study reveals that we’re all cleaning our hands poorly — a U.N.-approved six-step method gets your palms next to godliness better than the basic three-step approach that American officials have been recommending for years. Researchers writing...

Science

This is Depression Awareness Week, so it must be hoped that during this seven-day period more people will become more aware of a condition that a minority experience, and which most others grasp only remotely – confusing it with more familiar feelings, such as unhappiness or misery. This...

Science

Plants are reviving after a long winter, helped along by warming temperatures and increased light. But do plants also “remember” what to do? Maybe so. In 2014, Dr. Monica Gagliano and colleagues at the University of Florence in Italy decided to see if they could train a plant to...

Science

Every Friday, we’ll offer a Trilobite talking point to help you bring a bit more science to your weekend conversations. Earth is old. The sun is old. But do you know what may be even older than both? Water. It’s a mystery how the world became awash in it. But one prevailing...

Science

A man appears to have deleted his entire company with one mistaken piece of code. By accidentally telling his computer to delete everything in his servers, hosting provider Marco Marsala has seemingly removed all trace of his company and the websites that he looks after for his customers. Mr...

Science

Can you fly an iPhone to the stars? In an attempt to leapfrog the planets and vault into the interstellar age, a bevy of scientists and other luminaries from Silicon Valley and beyond, led by Yuri Milner, a Russian philanthropist and Internet entrepreneur, announced a plan on Tuesday to send a...

Science

An international panel of doctors has decided that a type of tumor that was classified as a cancer is not a cancer at all. As a result, they have officially downgraded the condition, and thousands of patients will be spared removal of their thyroid, treatment with radioactive iodine and regular...