Science

Watch This Documentary And Remember Why SeaWorld Sucks

SeaWorld is back in the news in a big way this week. First, the park announced an ill-timed, controversial expansion. Then, someone finally claimed responsibility for a highly-visible protest against the park back in May which changed the freeway signage to “Sea World SUCKS.” The man behind the prank was none other than Jackass hero…

Pizza Science is the Tastiest Science

Everybody knows that pizza is delicious, but did you know that there’s a science to getting that perfectly browned-but-not-too-brown, moist-but-not-oily, haphazard-but-also-uniform arrangement of peaks and valleys for the blistered cheese that rests on top of a pizza? Bryony James, a researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, is interested in the microstructure of…

The Woodpecker’s Guide to Avoiding Head Injuries

Most woodpeckers use their beaks to drill into tree trunks in search of tasty bugs and their larvae. One group of ‘peckers, the sapsuckers, lick the sap out of the holes they drill using their long, brush-like tongues. The acorn woodpecker drills holes to store individual acorns. Colonies of acorn woodpeckers can store more than…

Why NASA Launched One of the Blackest Materials Ever Made Into Space

A few years ago, we looked at NASA’s long project to design a paint so black, it would absorb nearly every bit of light around it (that’s it above, in the “D” spot). Now, NASA has finally launched the stuff into space—which means that the six-year effort to make it is finally paying off. So,…

How the Hell Does Quantum Mechanics Work Anyway?

People that know about quantum mechanics tend to talk about it very breezily, leaving us mortals behind. Be left behind no longer, though, with this wonderful little video. Taking a cue from Schrödinger’s famous cat thought experiment, Josh Samani walks us through the basics of quantum mechanics and entanglement. It’s still not easy—you’re going to…

Wait, is that… human bones on Mars? Not quite, conspiracy theorists: in fact it’s just a rock that happens to look a little bit like a femur thigh bone. It was snapped by the Mars rover Curiosity using its MastCam. [NASA]

What Do Animals Dream About?

“Almost all other animals are clearly observed to partake in sleep, whether they are aquatic, aerial, or terrestrial,” wrote Aristotle in his work On Sleep and Sleeplessness. But do other animals dream? On that the Greek philosopher also had an opinion. In The History of Animals, he wrote: “It would appear that not only do…

Cargo Ships Arriving at the ISS Are Guided In Using a Plastic Ruler

You’re looking at the European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst as he guided in the Automated Transfer Vehicle 5 to dock with the International Space Station on August 12th. In his hand? A simple plastic ruler. While ATV-5 is designed to dock without human intervention, someone aboard the ISS always manually checks the approach speed…

Virtually no one starts smoking after age 26

There’s a reason the government has had to severely restrict cigarette advertising (and smoking in general) to minors: they’re the only ones still gullible enough to think smoking is a good idea. According to the Surgeon General’s office, anyone over the age of 26 has a better chance of being mugged by a great white…

Alzheimer’s Patients Will Be Injected With the Blood of Young People

It’s not often that science confirms ideas straight out of vampire lore, but here you have one: a spate of studies in mice have found that infusions of young blood seem to reverse aging. So now we’re moving to the next logical step: giving the blood of young humans to Alzheimer’s patients. The first very…

This Crazy Jellyfish Has No Tentacles, But Its Sting Is Nasty

Meet Keesingia gigas, one of a pair of new species of Irukandji jellyfish recently discovered off the coast of Western Australia. It’s confusing researchers because it appears not to have any tentacles. Actually, Kessingia gigas isn’t actually new. It was first photographed in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until last year that a live specimen…

How Antiperspirant Works (And Who It Might Hurt)

You only need to walk down your supermarket’s personal care aisle to understand how big of a business the selling of deodorant and antiperspirant has become in the US, totaling over $2 billion in U.S. sales last year alone. But do you know what’s actually in the stuff you roll on (hopefully) every morning? The…

Beautiful Images of Astronauts Releasing Nanosatellites Into Space

This is Oleg Artemyev. In his hand is a tiny satellite, known as a nanosatellite, called Chasqui 1—and he’s about to throw it into the wilds of space. Well, throw might not be quite the right word—Artemyev would favor “deploy”—but it’s not far off. Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev conducted a 5-hour spacewalk on Monday,…

Into The Amazon: Boats, Breakfast And Blowguns

In part two of this series, “Into The Amazon,” Laurel wakes up to a boat ride, meets a baby sloth and learns to shoot a blowgun. https://gizmodo.com/sharpening-blowgun-darts-on-piranha-teeth-1622159554 It’s a merciless 5:32 a.m. and I’m late, pounding down the lodge’s raised walkways in pursuit of two boats already pulling away from the dock. In my periphery,…

NASA Wants You to Sift Through Its Astronauts’ Photos

NASA has a problem, and it wants you to help. Since the 50s, it’s amassed 1.8 million images of Earth from space—and it needs your assistance in working out exactly what they’re of. As part of The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, NASA is releasing the huge library of images—1.3 million of which have…

A little blurry? Perhaps, but this is a three-second exposure taken from aboard the ISS. As astronautReid Wiseman points out, it “shows how crazy our atmosphere really is.” [Reid Wiseman]

DIY Diagnosis: How One Woman Uncovered Her Own Genetic Flaw

When Kim Goodsell discovered that she had two extremely rare genetic diseases, she taught herself genetics to help find out why. Kim Goodsell was running along a mountain trail when her left ankle began turning inward, unbidden. A few weeks later she started having trouble lifting her feet properly near the end of her runs,…

Giant Alligator Literally Broke The Scale When Biologists Weighed It

The previous record for the largest alligator ever legally hunted in Alabama was, until this week, held by 14-foot, 2-inch, 838-pound specimen caught in 2011. But now that honor goes to an even larger critter. The monster brought in by the Stokes and Jenkins families was easily measured at 15 feet long. But the first…

What is this, Breaking Bad in space? Not quite. This is actually European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst venturing into the Automated Transfer Vehicle Georges Lemaitrefor the first time since it recently docked with the ISS. The face mask is to avoid the inhalation of any dust or debris created during its journey. [ESA]

Set Your Alarm: Venus and Jupiter Will Light Up the Pre-Dawn Sky

This is a week dedicated to the early riser. If you’re an energetic morning person who can actually operate in the early hours or just have a strong desire for astronomy that overrides your need for sleep, then you’ll be able to witness quite the light show. At about 45 minutes before sunrise (about 5:2o…