Science

IMAX’s Island of Lemurs Is A Fun, Balanced Nature Documentary

Island of Lemurs: Madagascar is a beautifully shot nature documentary that made me want to book a one-way flight to Madagascar. The movie succeeds where other similar efforts have failed, especially by balancing conservation concerns with a hopeful attitude for the future. It’s an important film in a world where the main way through which…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

See The Most Detailed Images Ever Taken Of A Crocodile’s Insides

Ever wanted to see inside the body of a crocodile in the highest of resolutions? Now you can, thanks to Ohio University Professor of Anatomy and Paleontology Larry Witmer. To understand dinosaur anatomy, he’s turned to birds and crocodilians, their closest living relatives. The thing about fossils is that there’s so much of the animal…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

No, This Isn’t A Chupacabra

This video has been making the rounds, and it doesn’t help that it’s got CNN’s stamp of approval. Let’s get one thing clear: it is not a chupacabra. Okay, obviously it’s not a chupacabra because, like unicorns and Nessie, they don’t exist. But here’s the thing. The wildlife expert who they interviewed is claiming that…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

These Portraits Will Change The Way You See Animals

The NY Times Lens blog is featuring the work of photographer Tim Flach, and the photos are jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I’ve always said that studying animals is like looking into a fun-house mirror reflection. The image you see in the mirror is distorted, to be sure, it’s not a faithful reproduction. But in its imperfection it…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

NASA Has One More Chance to Explain Bizarre Glow on Moon’s Horizon

Later this month, a NASA spacecraft will get one last chance to solve the mystery of the strange “horizon glow” seen on the moon. Scientists think the glow is caused by tiny particles of moon dust catching the sun’s ultraviolet rays, becoming electrically charged, and then shooting upwards. But they don’t know for sure. This…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes

Our Ability To Smell Depends On Our Culture

Common wisdom holds that smell is the least important sense for our species. But that conclusion may be flawed because we’ve ignored non-Western cultures. New research on a small tribe in southern Thailand challenges that assumption. Scent-based memories are particularly powerful. For me, the strongest memories of comfort from my childhood come from my grandmother’s…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

NASA Suspends Cooperation with Russian Space Agency

NASA instructed its staff to stop cooperating with the Russian Federal Space Agency. The agency claims this is a choice between funding Russia or developing our own rockets, but astronaut Ron Garan disagrees. In his view, we shouldn’t be bringing political conflict into orbit. Russia’s Soyuz rocket docked to the International Space Station after dropping…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon

Every City Deserves Space Murals This Gorgeous

Space, the final frontier… for street art. No, we’re not quite ready to tag the International Space Station, but a pair of artists in San Francisco is working on bring space down to Earth with a series of murals depicting everything from constellations to nebulae. And, boy, are they pretty. With the help of Nils…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes

Why Not Use The Mantis Shrimp As A School Mascot?

Everybody’s favorite science cartoonist Beatrice the Biologist aka Katie McKissick has some ideas for diversifying school mascots. If you’re not familiar with this creatures, then you’ll want to spend some time exploring these links. Here’s WIRED Science on tardigrades, or water-bears; The Oatmeal on why the mantis shrimp is so awesome; and Jennifer Frazer on…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

This Is the First Detailed Map of a Mammal’s Neural Network

If this looks like an incredibly complex wiring diagram to you, it’s because it kinda is: you’re looking at the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas, the first detailed map of any mammal’s neural network. It’s not a full connectome—the name given to maps of every single interconnection between neurons in a brain—but it’s the most…

Health Jamie Condliffe

During a Transplant Does the Donor’s DNA Integrate Into the Host?

Depending on the type of donation, the DNA stays for a short time, a long while—or maybe even forever. Chimerism and Microchimerism Scientists have known for years that a single organism can have cells that are genetically distinct. Sometimes, this occurs because two sets of fertilized eggs fuse into a single organism that retains both…

Health Melissa - TodayIFoundOut.com

“Mummy Brown” Paint Was Made Of Mummified Cats And Humans

There was a group of British painters called pre-Raphaelites who liked using a particular shade of brown in their masterpieces. To get just the right hue, they ground up ancient Egyptian human and cat mummies. At the Scientific American blog Symbiartic, Glendon Mellow explains: Considered to be a highly variable pigment between raw umber (almost…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

Did A “Field of Human Excrement” By The White House Kill A President?

If you remember President William Henry Harrison from U.S. history class at all, then you probably remember him as the poor fellow who died from pneumonia a month after delivering his inaugural address in freezing rain. Except was it really pneumonia after all? A New York Times article suggests a different theory, and a cautionary…

Health Sarah Zhang

Mars500: Astronaut isolation experiment

Cramping six astronauts into a small space for over a year is stressful. A freshly-released study goes into the details of how stressful, and how to minimize conflict in future simulations (or deep-space missions).

Health Mika McKinnon

Baby Elephant Wanders Into South African Living Room, Has A Snack

A 10-day-old African elephant (Loxodonta africana) somehow became separated from its herd and wandered into a house at the Thula Thula Private Game Reserve in Zululand, South Africa. Above: The elephant herd at the Thula Thula Game Reserve. You’ll want to expand it to really see the details. The female infant has been named “Tom,”…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

22 Strange Medical Instruments From the Past That Make You Shudder

In the history of medicine, machines became crucial parts of the diagnostic and treatment process in the first half of the 20th century. Scientists and doctors experimented with some really strange devices, and they developed a lot of creepy-looking health equipment—at least some of which seems almost horrific, seen through the eyes of today. The…

Health Attila Nagy

What Happens To Wildlife After A Tsunami?

After a magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck Chile yesterday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama. While it’s still too early to know how the wildlife along that stretch of Pacific coastline fared – let alone how our own species fared – we can look to previous tsunamis…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

Exploding Head Syndrome Is a Real Thing

Jarred awakes from a sound sleep by a “shotgun blast, a thunderclap . . . the clash of cymbals, a lightning strike or the sound of every door in the house slamming.” As with others who have his condition, sufferers of exploding head syndrome (EHS) wake terrified, only to realize the noise was just a…

Health Melissa - TodayIFoundOut.com

Even Packing For a Space Mission Looks Cool

The European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle Georges Lemaître will soon deliver over 2,600 kg of dry cargo to the International Space Station—and even packing it looks kinda fun. The craft will take off, strapped to Ariane 5, from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana later this year. Packing is no mean feat, either, given…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

More Evidence That Operant Conditioning Rocks

You can use it to train your very own rat army!

Biology Jason G. Goldman

IMAX’s Island of Lemurs Is A Fun, Balanced Nature Documentary

See The Most Detailed Images Ever Taken Of A Crocodile’s Insides

No, This Isn’t A Chupacabra

These Portraits Will Change The Way You See Animals

NASA Has One More Chance to Explain Bizarre Glow on Moon’s Horizon

Our Ability To Smell Depends On Our Culture

NASA Suspends Cooperation with Russian Space Agency

Every City Deserves Space Murals This Gorgeous

Why Not Use The Mantis Shrimp As A School Mascot?

This Is the First Detailed Map of a Mammal’s Neural Network

During a Transplant Does the Donor’s DNA Integrate Into the Host?

“Mummy Brown” Paint Was Made Of Mummified Cats And Humans

Did A “Field of Human Excrement” By The White House Kill A President?

Mars500: Astronaut isolation experiment

Baby Elephant Wanders Into South African Living Room, Has A Snack

22 Strange Medical Instruments From the Past That Make You Shudder

What Happens To Wildlife After A Tsunami?

Exploding Head Syndrome Is a Real Thing

Even Packing For a Space Mission Looks Cool

More Evidence That Operant Conditioning Rocks

This Winter Fly Is Doing Something Scientists Didn’t Think Was Possible

Acer’s Mac Mini M4 Docking Station Drops to an All-Time Low, Supporting Up to 8TB Storage

Sony Is Hiking PS5 Prices for the Second Time in Less Than a Year

This Amazon Smart Plug Deal in the Spring Sale Makes Alexa Smart Home Setup Almost Too Easy and Cheap

Ryan Coogler’s ‘X-Files’ Reboot Has Found Its Other Big Star

Anker’s 100W Power Bank Hits Its Lowest Price of the Year on Amazon, Packing 25,000mAh and 3 Ports

Beats Solo 4 at 40% Off Is Now Apple’s Lowest-Cost Headphone Pick During Amazon’s Spring Sale

Now the Oscars Aren’t Just Moving to YouTube, They’re Moving Out of Hollywood

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

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