Science

Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills Woman Who Filled Her Neti Pot With Tap Water

A 68-year-old Seattle woman who died after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba used regular tap water to rinse her sinuses, according to new research. As noted in a new International Journal of Infectious Diseases case study, the infection was initially misdiagnosed as a brain tumor. During surgery to remove the suspected tumor, the lead neurosurgeon,…

Health George Dvorsky Dec 7

How NASA’s Mission to Bennu Will Keep Earth Safe from Asteroids

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission won’t just take pretty pictures of the asteroid Bennu—it will also help scientists learn whether the rock will one day threaten Earth. There are plenty of reasons to study asteroids. They could be potential mines for precious resources like water and heavy elements, and they contain clues we can study to learn…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 7

New Images from Mars Show NASA’s InSight Landed on an Absolutely Glorious Spot

It’s been 11 days since InSight made its picture-perfect landing on Mars. Vivid new photos taken from the landing site are finally giving mission controllers a sense of the landscape around the stationary probe—and the early signs are very positive. After six years of planning, $814 million in development costs, and a successful 300-million-mile journey…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Dec 7

A Heart Failure Patient Actually Coughed Up This Blood Clot Shaped Like a Lung Passage

Though it resembles a coral, root system, or some other kind of growth, the above photo actually depicts a six-inch-wide blood clot in the near-perfect form of the right bronchial tree of a human lung, the Atlantic reported on Thursday. Even more uncomfortable is the revelation that it was not removed by medical staff, but…

Health Tom McKay Dec 6

Too Much UV Light Could Turn Gas Planets Into Sad Rocky Cores

The atmosphere of a gas giant exoplanet located 163 light-years from Earth is being blasted into space by its host star, forming a ghostly tail. Excessive ultraviolet radiation is responsible for the celestial phenomenon, according to a new study, a discovery that could provide new insights into planetary formation. The excellently named WASP-69b is roughly…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Dec 6

Why the Large Hadron Collider Is Shutting Down for Two Years

The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest atom smasher, will be turned off for the next two years for upgrades. Hopefully, its particle-hunting abilities will be even better once it restarts in 2021. The LHC experiment is the crown jewel of CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. A complex of successive rings accelerate subatomic particles before injecting…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 6

Too-Potent Infants’ Ibuprofen Recalled from CVS, Walmart, and Family Dollar Stores

The manufacturer of a common infants’ over-the-counter pain medication is pulling some of its products off the shelves of several big box and discount stores, over concerns that the affected products might be too potent for infants to take. Late Wednesday night, Tris Pharma announced a voluntary recall of three lots of its infants’ liquid…

Health Ed Cara Dec 6

Ancient Black Plague Found in Swedish Gravesite

Long before the two deadliest pandemics in history—the Plague of Justinian and the Black Plague—an ancient strain of the bacterium responsible for these scourges, Yersinia pestis, may have already wreaked havoc among Neolithic European communities over 5,000 years ago, according to a controversial new study. New research published today in Cell describes a newly identified…

Human History George Dvorsky Dec 6

Where Is Dark Matter? Another Experiment Fails to Find a Signal

A dark matter experiment in South Korea may soon confirm or deny an outstanding piece of dark matter evidence. Observations of the universe reveal that it consists mostly of stuff scientists don’t understand. Regular matter seems to make up less than 5 percent of the universe, dark energy around 68 percent, and the rest is…

Physics & Chemistry Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 6

How Flint’s Water Crisis Almost Turned Into a Plastic Bottle Disaster

If the water pouring out your sink is full of lead, you might reasonably turn to bottled water. That’s exactly what happened in Flint, Michigan, after the city switched its drinking water source and lead began leaching into everyone’s taps. In the first three weeks after the state declared the situation an emergency in January…

Environmental Justice Yessenia Funes Dec 6

World’s Oldest Wild Bird Just Laid Another Dang Egg

The world’s oldest wild bird, Wisdom the Laysan albatross, has once again returned to her breeding grounds, and she has laid another egg. She is at least 68 years old, but doesn’t look a day over 6. Laysan albatross are sea-faring birds found in the northern Pacific Ocean that breed in the northwestern Hawaiian islands,…

Biology Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 5

Medieval Skeleton Wearing Leather Thigh-High Boots Found in River Thames

Archaeologists in London, England have uncovered a dramatic 500-year-old male skeleton lying face-down in the mud of the River Thames. Extraordinarily, the skeleton is still wearing his thigh-high leather boots. Researchers from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) stumbled upon the mysterious skeleton while conducting excavations at Chambers Wharf in Bermondsey, a site that’s being…

Human History George Dvorsky Dec 5

Dolphins Had a Jurassic-Era Reptile Twin Featuring Blubber and Warm Blood

Ichthyosaurs and dolphins are the archetypal examples of convergent evolution in action, in which two completely unrelated species acquire near identical characteristics. The discovery of a new ichthyosaur fossil suggests this Jurassic-era creature was even more dolphin-like than we appreciated, featuring warm-blood, blubber, and even similar camouflage. A remarkable 180-million-year-old fossil found in the Posidonia…

Biology George Dvorsky Dec 5

We Must Prepare Now for Quantum Attacks, National Academy of Sciences Warns

The road ahead is rocky for those hoping to build quantum computers, according to a new report from the National Academy of Sciences. But as these computers become possible, the government should prioritize preparing for the potential consequences, which could be dire for cybersecurity. Physicist Richard Feynman first proposed a quantum computer in 1982, and…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 5

Baboon Survives for Six Months With a Pig’s Heart Beating in Its Chest

A baboon survived 195 days after an experimental heart transplant, according to a new paper. But the heart didn’t come from another baboon—it came from a pig. There are far more people who desperately need organ transplants than there are donor organs available—nearly 4,000 Americans are currently waiting for a heart, for example. Scientists have…

Health Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 5

How We Can Prepare for Catastrophically Dangerous AI—and Why We Can’t Wait

Artificial intelligence in its current form is mostly harmless, but that’s not going to last. Machines are getting smarter and more capable by the minute, leading to concerns that AI will eventually match, and then exceed, human levels of intelligence—a prospect known as artificial superintelligence (ASI). As a technological prospect, ASI will be unlike anything…

Artificial Intelligence George Dvorsky Dec 5

In World First, Woman Gives Birth After Receiving Uterus Transplant from Dead Donor

A team of doctors in Brazil have announced a medical first that could someday help countless women unable to have children because of a damaged or absent uterus. In a case report published Tuesday in the Lancet, they claim to have successfully helped a woman give birth using a transplanted uterus from a deceased donor.…

Health Ed Cara Dec 4

Cyborg Houseplant Can Drive Itself Toward the Light It Craves

During the impending robopocalypse, humanity will have to ward off freakishly agile androids, robotic dogs, whatever the hell this is, and, as new research from MIT suggests, quasi-autonomous, mobile robot-plant hybrids. Introducing Elowan, a robot-plant hybrid designed by Harpreet Sareen and Pattie Maes, both from MIT Media Lab. The system is a true cybernetic organism,…

Tech News George Dvorsky Dec 4

I Got Duped by Zozo’s Polka Dot Suit-Powered ‘Custom-Fit’ Clothes Gimmick

The oversized jeans bunched up comically and uncomfortably around my waist as I tightened my belt last night, and I realized that I’d totally fallen for a diabolical scheme. I believed a brand and had been owned very hard. This past summer, Japanese clothing retailer Zozo, formerly Start Today, publicized their polka-dotted ZOZOSUIT. It looks…

Culture Ryan F. Mandelbaum Dec 4

Chinese Scientist Responsible for Gene-Edited Babies Has Reportedly Gone Missing

The current whereabouts of He Jiankui—the scientist who claims to have engineered the world’s first genetically modified human babies—is unknown. Rumors are now circulating that he’s been detained by the Chinese government. The last that anyone has seen or heard from He Jiankui was on Wednesday November 28, after he spoke in Hong Kong at…

Biology George Dvorsky Dec 4

Rare Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills Woman Who Filled Her Neti Pot With Tap Water

How NASA’s Mission to Bennu Will Keep Earth Safe from Asteroids

New Images from Mars Show NASA’s InSight Landed on an Absolutely Glorious Spot

A Heart Failure Patient Actually Coughed Up This Blood Clot Shaped Like a Lung Passage

Too Much UV Light Could Turn Gas Planets Into Sad Rocky Cores

Why the Large Hadron Collider Is Shutting Down for Two Years

Too-Potent Infants’ Ibuprofen Recalled from CVS, Walmart, and Family Dollar Stores

Ancient Black Plague Found in Swedish Gravesite

Where Is Dark Matter? Another Experiment Fails to Find a Signal

How Flint’s Water Crisis Almost Turned Into a Plastic Bottle Disaster

World’s Oldest Wild Bird Just Laid Another Dang Egg

Medieval Skeleton Wearing Leather Thigh-High Boots Found in River Thames

Dolphins Had a Jurassic-Era Reptile Twin Featuring Blubber and Warm Blood

We Must Prepare Now for Quantum Attacks, National Academy of Sciences Warns

Baboon Survives for Six Months With a Pig’s Heart Beating in Its Chest

How We Can Prepare for Catastrophically Dangerous AI—and Why We Can’t Wait

In World First, Woman Gives Birth After Receiving Uterus Transplant from Dead Donor

Cyborg Houseplant Can Drive Itself Toward the Light It Craves

I Got Duped by Zozo’s Polka Dot Suit-Powered ‘Custom-Fit’ Clothes Gimmick

Chinese Scientist Responsible for Gene-Edited Babies Has Reportedly Gone Missing

Trump Is Reportedly Going Full Steam Ahead with the Golden Dome

‘Kamen Rider’ Is Ready to Take on the World

Twitter Just Can’t Stop Leaking Movies

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

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Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

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