Science

What Does it Take to Make the Blackest Black?

The ever-entertaining American Chemical Society gives us a run down on what black is, how very little black we see as we go about our lives, and what it takes to make real black. Black is the absence of light, but most of the time, the black we see is just the comparative absence of…

Physics & Chemistry Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Way Electric Eels Kill is Even Cooler Than We Realized

Electric eels are among the most badass predators on planet Earth. How many other creatures can deliver a shock powerful enough to paralyze a horse? But their superpowers are even more impressive than we realized. These eels don’t just use electricity to attack, they use it to see. That’s the conclusion of a fascinating study…

Biology Maddie Stone

Here’s How the Automobile (And Youth Culture) Led to Raccoons Taking Over Germany

The butterfly effect is a funny thing. You never know where one discovery will lead. Take the automobile: It changed the world, transforming cities and small towns. And it also led to raccoons leaving America—and, possibly, taking over Europe. In the 1910s and 1920s, the automobile was taking off both as a practical invention and…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell

What Are the Odds of an Alien Megastructure Blocking Light From a Distant Star?

A strange star located 1,500 light-years from Earth is exhibiting strange flickering behavior that’s leading some scientists to speculate that an alien megastructure is blocking the light. But what would such a structure be exactly and how likely is it that the Kepler space telescope has actually spotted one? Right now the star KIC 8462852…

Space & Spaceflight Anders Sandberg—The Conversation

First Fukushima Recovery Worker Diagnosed With Radiation-Linked Cancer

When Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered its meltdown in 2011, over 44,0000 workers helped safely take it offline. Now, more than four years later, comes the first diagnosis of cancer in a recovery worker to be linked to radiation exposure during the work. Earlier today, reports the Washington Post, Japan’s ministry of health,…

Health Jamie Condliffe

Antioxidants Might Actually Make Cancer Worse

Antioxidants have made a fortune for the dietary supplement industry, but how many people really know what they are and why they’re supposedly good for you? One common claim is that the these molecules can protect you from cancer. This is supposedly because they can counteract other molecules known as “reactive oxygen species” or “free…

Health Victoria Sanz-Moreno — The Conversation

El Niño Brings Venomous Sea Snakes to California

If you’re one of those people wary of swimming in the ocean because you’ve been traumatized by Jaws, guess what? Now there’s one more reason not to go in the water. A venomous sea snake has shown up in Southern California for the first time in 30 years. Inhabitat is reporting that beachgoers in Ventura…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell

Unexpected Asteroid to Zip Past Earth On Halloween

We can expect a totally different kind of trick-or-treater this coming Halloween. A rather large asteroid—discovered less than three weeks ago—is set to to fly past the Earth at a distance not seen in nearly a decade. The asteroid, dubbed 2015 TB145, was discovered on October 10 by astronomers using the Pan-STARRS telescope. The object…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

This Video Proves That Penguin Sex Can Get Kind of Messy

Two penguins at the Monterey Bay Aquarium decided to make baby penguins in front of their viewing window. In the process, they showed off a fascinating aspect of bird reproductive biology. Birds use internal fertilization–their shelled eggs make it a requirement, since ova have to get fertilized before the shell is laid down. But most…

Biology Diane Kelly

You Will Not Believe What This Ordinary-Looking Bird Does

This headline sounds like click-bait. I can’t help that. Sometimes the world is click-bait, and the headlines have to follow its lead. What this bird does is unbelievable… in that researchers had to do a serious study to actually believe it. The scientific name for this bird is Indicator indicator, which gives you an idea…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell

We’ve Had Some Amazing Trips to Venus and It’s Time to Go Back

After decades of neglect, Venus might just be making a comeback. Late last month, NASA announced five finalists for the next low-cost space probes; two of them are missions to Venus. Venus has captivated our imaginations for centuries, and Cold War-era exploration of the planet brought about a lot of firsts in the history of…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Slow-Mo Footage Reveals How Balloons Burst in Two Different Ways

When a balloon bursts, it doesn’t just simply burst. New high-speed camera footage shows that they either snap cleanly open or become covered in many cracks, depending on the stresses within the skin. A team of researchers from Paris Diderot University have been analysing the exact ways in which balloons burst, inspired by footage of…

Physics & Chemistry Jamie Condliffe

Scott Kelly Shares a Space Station Sunset

We’ve all seen sunsets, but most people never see a sunset like this one, with its last rays filtered through the solar panels of the International Space Station. ISS astronauts, of course, see sunsets like this regularly — several times a day, in fact. ISS commander Scott Kelly posted this image on his Twitter account…

Space & Spaceflight Kiona Smith-Strickland

Scott Kelly Reveals the Raw Beauty of the Sahara From Space

Scott Kelly must be feeling pretty chipper about breaking the U.S. spaceflight record yesterday, because the social media-friendly astronaut has been even busier than usual on Twitter, posting one jaw-dropping image of the Sahara after another. Feast your eyes on the geomorphic beauty of our planet’s largest desert, courtesy of Earth’s favorite amateur landscape photographer.…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Watch the Laws of Physics Come to Life as Magnetic Putty Devours Everything

Silly putty is a pretty weird substance, but magnetic putty is like an alien life form. Not only can it be twisted, stretched, and compressed every which way, give this souped-up putty enough time and it’ll devour your magnetic objects like a voracious amoeba, all thanks to the laws of magnetism. Visual effects master Joey…

Physics & Chemistry Maddie Stone

Far From Equilibrium Translates Turbulence Into Dance

Turbulent motion is a tricky concept to convey to the public without resorting to complicated mathematical equations. But what if you could take those abstract notions and turn them into a dance? Elizabeth Hicks is an astrophysicist with a PhD from the University of Chicago who founded her own nonprofit lab to explore the intersection…

Physics & Chemistry Jennifer Ouellette

A Huge Gash Just Appeared On the Sun

A rather massive coronal hole was recently spotted on the Sun by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. The region—the size of 50 Earths—is spewing material into space at tremendous speeds. It may look terrifying, but astronomers say it’s nothing to worry about. The coronal hole was imaged on October 10, 2015. The image above was taken…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s Fourth Mirror Melting Is Mesmerising

Mirrors start off as melted glass—and big mirrors need an appropriately large oven to cast properly. It takes a full year to cast segments of the mirrors used to build the Giant Magellan Telescope, and the melting process is elaborate and hypnotic. The GMT will be an enormous ground-based in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Scheduled…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

You Can Pick Up These Snails With a Magnet

The “scaly-foot gastropod” is a type of snail that thrives in the hydrothermal vents found deep in the Indian Ocean. And it has a unique property: a magnetic outer shell. These snails were first discovered during a 2001 survey. It took researchers a while to find the snails because they (the snails) were at the…

Biology Esther Inglis-Arkell

Cassini Reveals Enceladus’ North Pole in Glorious Detail

On Wednesday, NASA’s Cassini probe made its closest pass yet above the north pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, coming within 1,142 miles (1,839 kilometers) of the icy, eruptive satellite. Yesterday, we started to get back images of the encounter — and dang, they are beautiful. Enceladus may be tiny —from end to end it could…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

What Does it Take to Make the Blackest Black?

The Way Electric Eels Kill is Even Cooler Than We Realized

Here’s How the Automobile (And Youth Culture) Led to Raccoons Taking Over Germany

What Are the Odds of an Alien Megastructure Blocking Light From a Distant Star?

First Fukushima Recovery Worker Diagnosed With Radiation-Linked Cancer

Antioxidants Might Actually Make Cancer Worse

El Niño Brings Venomous Sea Snakes to California

Unexpected Asteroid to Zip Past Earth On Halloween

This Video Proves That Penguin Sex Can Get Kind of Messy

You Will Not Believe What This Ordinary-Looking Bird Does

We’ve Had Some Amazing Trips to Venus and It’s Time to Go Back

Slow-Mo Footage Reveals How Balloons Burst in Two Different Ways

Scott Kelly Shares a Space Station Sunset

Scott Kelly Reveals the Raw Beauty of the Sahara From Space

Watch the Laws of Physics Come to Life as Magnetic Putty Devours Everything

Far From Equilibrium Translates Turbulence Into Dance

A Huge Gash Just Appeared On the Sun

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s Fourth Mirror Melting Is Mesmerising

You Can Pick Up These Snails With a Magnet

Cassini Reveals Enceladus’ North Pole in Glorious Detail

Roku’s 2025 Streaming Stick HD Is 40% Off to Compete With Amazon Fire TV Stick During Spring Sale

Epstein Victims Sue Google, Claim AI Mode Exposed Personal Information

‘Wicked Spot’ Is a Fun, Sapphic Rom-Com That Yeets a Witch Into the Magical World of Influencer Culture

Anthropic and OpenAI Just Gave Us a Glimpse Into the Future of Model Pricing

Amazon Slashes 63% Off Acer Aspire Desktop for a Limited-Time Spring Sale, With Keyboard and Mouse Included

Smart Glasses Now Have One of the Vision Pro’s Best Features

Marvel Just Put ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 in a Very Weird Place in the MCU Timeline

Trump Drops $1B to Kill 2 Wind Farms, Then Watches a Bigger One Go Online

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

Let us help find what you are looking for...