Back in May, Louisiana became the first state in the US to reclassify two of the most common medications used for abortions as “controlled dangerous substances”. Despite controversy and protests from both doctors and reproductive rights advocates, the change, as of October 1, is now in effect. Advertisement But what does that mean for patients […]
“Much More Active And Much More Alive”: New Series Reveals Our Solar System’s Extreme Worlds
Are you ready to take a journey across the Solar System? PBS is ready to take us into the weird and wonderful worlds of our celestial neighborhood – and we are not exaggerating when we say weird. Did you know that one of Saturn’s moons is shaped like a raviolo (or your favorite type of […]
A Surviving Remnant Of Dinosaur-Era Tectonic Plate Rewrites Mantle Behavior
When the dinosaurs dominated the Earth, a piece of seafloor west of South America was drawn into the mantle as another crust rode over it. Curiously, it has survived despite oceanic plates of the same age usually having been recycled into the mantle, suggesting we need to tweak our understanding of Earth’s interior. Advertisement The […]
Redditor Spots Something Following The International Space Station, Gets The Obvious Answer
If you look up at the sky for long enough at dusk or dawn, or take a few seconds to Google its position, you may see the International Space Station (ISS) zipping its way over your head at 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,500 miles per hour). Advertisement While seeing it is pretty cool in itself […]
This Random 3,775-Year-Old Log Might Hold One Secret To Saving The Planet
What can an ancient gnarly log tell us about safeguarding the future? According to a new analysis of one 3,775-year-old chunk of tree, potentially quite a bit – thanks to an emerging climate solution known as “wood vaulting”. Advertisement We often hear about the importance of trees in the fight against climate change, and that’s […]
A Third Of People Would Accept Meat Rationing To Tackle Climate Change, Says Survey
There’s an overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is among the most acute problems facing humanity right now, and to tackle big issues you sometimes need to look at creative solutions. A team of scientists from Sweden wanted to test the appetite for out-of-the-box climate initiatives, so they surveyed nearly 9,000 people from five countries […]
How Magnetic Fields Control Flow Within Earth’s Core
The movements within Earth’s molten core have been resisting efforts to understand them for a long time, but agreement between a mathematical and physical model has led two physicists to claim they are getting close. Since these motions are the driver of the Earth’s magnetic field, understanding them and why the field changes could turn […]
Colossal Biosciences Launches $50 Million Foundation To Halt Extinction Crisis
Colossal Biosciences has announced it will be launching a new non-profit: the Colossal Foundation. Already backed by a confirmed $50 million in funding, its goal is to halt the extinction crisis through three key conservation focus points. Advertisement The Colossal Foundation’s first key area of focus is “saving today’s at-risk species”, encompassing endangered species like […]
What Is Quicksilver And How Is It Used To Extract Gold?
Quicksilver, also known as mercury, has long been used in the process of gold extraction. Its unique ability to bond with gold has made it a useful tool in mining, but this ancient practice comes with its own set of dangers. So, how exactly is mercury used to extract gold, what are the implications of […]
What Is The Largest Star Ever Found – And The Most Massive?
If you Google “what is the largest star” you’ll probably get the answer UY Scuti, but if it was as simple as that we wouldn’t be adding much value here. Fortunately, the universe is a more interesting place than that, so let’s explore a bit deeper. Advertisement The largest star It might seem easy to […]
Modern-Day Viking Voyages Reveal How Earliest Trade With Americans Was Possible
It’s old news by now that Columbus was far from the first European to make it to the Americas. We know for a fact, for instance, that there were Vikings in Newfoundland 1,000 years ago – but what they were up to while they were there has always been a little more mysterious. Advertisement A […]
Newly Discovered Sungrazer Comet A11bP7I Could Soon Be Brighter Than Venus
While the world waits to see comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) brighten up our skies a little later this month, astronomers bring more good news. A newly discovered comet should be visible later this month, possibly outshining Venus. On September 27, the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on Mauna Loa in Hawai’i spotted the […]
Key Component Of Hair Bleach Found On Pluto’s Largest Moon
Charon is the largest among the five peculiar moons of Pluto. It was studied briefly as NASA’s New Horizons flew by the system in 2015, a quick encounter that revealed a lot, including a dark patch on its Northern pole called the Mordor Macula. Planetary scientists have now conducted follow-up studies using the James Webb […]
Astonishing Video Shows Hydrogen And Oxygen Forming Water At The Nano Scale
Researchers have witnessed and filmed oxygen and hydrogen merging to form tiny, nanoscale water bubbles for the first time. Advertisement Back in 2024, the team from Northwestern University, Illinois, developed a new method for viewing and analyzing gas molecules in real time. The method involves trapping gas molecules within honeycomb-shaped nanoreactors using ultra-thin glassy membranes, […]
How Is Whisky Made, What’s In It, And Why Does It Burn Like That?
Are you a whisky fan? Yeah, us too, but it recently occurred to us that we didn’t have a scooby when it came to how the amber nectar is made. So, we set out on a quest to uncover the science of whisky, a quest that led us to Scotland. Advertisement First, we spoke to […]
Montana Man Sentenced For Hybrid Sheep Breeding Plot Using Illegally Trafficked Body Parts
Montana resident Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, aged 81, was handed a six-month prison sentence on Monday, September 30, for perpetrating a long-running scheme to breed enormous – and illegal – hybrid sheep. Advertisement Between 2013 and 2021, the court heard, Schubarth conspired with at least five other individuals to get his criminal enterprise off the ground. […]
Small Rocky Planet Found Orbiting Sun’s Closest Single Star, Just 6 Light-Years Away
Astronomers have found a planet around Barnard’s star, the closest single star to the Sun. It is the fourth closest star overall, after the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system, which already have planets around Proxima Centauri. Still, this new world is very exciting. Advertisement It is estimated to be half the mass of […]
COVID-19 Lockdown May Have Affected The Surface Of The Moon, NASA Data Shows
COVID-19 wrought – and continues to wreak – havoc on the Earth. According to a new study, its effects were not limited to our planet; the surface of the Moon may have been indirectly affected by the resulting lockdown. Advertisement At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, before vaccines were developed, lockdowns were used by […]
Fat Bear Week 2024 Plans Delayed After Bear Fight Ends In Death
The release of the tournament bracket for this year’s Fat Bear Week has been delayed after a fight between two of Katmai National Park and Preserve’s brown bears resulted in the death of one of the event’s competitors. Advertisement Fat Bear Week is usually a celebration of all things chonky as Katmai’s resident brown bears […]
This Glow-In-The-Dark Crystal Is A Dazzling World-First
Does it get any more Indiana Jones than a jewel that can glow? Such a piece of jewelry has been made possible thanks to jeweler-turned-scientist Sofie Boons of the University of the West of England (UWE). The ground-breaking gemstone is the world’s first single stone lab-grown crystal that can glow in the dark. It was […]
