Scientists can’t agree on why some autumn leaves go red
Leaves often turn brilliant colors in autumn. One of those colors has generated a lot of heated debate among scientists in recent years.
Category: Science
World’s biggest spiderweb discovered inside ‘Sulfur Cave’ with 111,000 arachnids living in pitch black
A giant colonial spiderweb in a sulfuric cave on the border between Greece and Albania may be the largest ever found — and it was
There’s math behind this maddening golf mishap
Math and physics explain the anguish of a golf ball that zings around the rim of the hole instead of falling in.
6 million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica shatters records — and there’s ancient air trapped inside
Researchers have found 6 million-year-old ice in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica and say the oldest-of-its-kind sample offers an unprecedented view into Earth’s ancient
‘Interstellar visitor’ 3I/ATLAS may have just changed color — for the third time
Recent observations of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS show that it has developed a faint blueish hue, hinting at a potential color change. This is the
‘As if a shudder ran from its brain to its body’: The neuroscientists that learned to control memories in rodents
In this adapted excerpt from “How to Change a Memory,” author and neuroscientist Steve Ramirez recounts the events that led him and his colleagues to
See the largest, most detailed radio image of the Milky Way yet
Supernova remnants, stellar nurseries and more populate the new edge-on view of the Milky Way as seen from Earth’s southern hemisphere.
As teens in crisis turn to AI chatbots, simulated chats highlight risks
From blaming the victim to replying “I have no interest in your life” to suicidal thoughts, AI chatbots can respond unethically when used for therapy.
Sink or swim? What will human migration look like as climate change impacts take hold
In this excerpt from “Sink or Swim,” author Susannah Fisher explores the future of human migration, and what that will look like based on the
A Beacon to Space
In this infrared photograph, the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory at JPL’s Table Mountain Facility near Wrightwood, California, beams its eight-laser beacon to the Deep Space
What Is a Manifold?
Standing in the middle of a field, we can easily forget that we live on a round planet. We’re so small in comparison to the
2-mile-tall, naked ‘Marree Man’ looming over Australian outback is a total mystery — Earth from space
A 2019 satellite photo shows the recently resurrected “Marree Man” geoglyph, which mysteriously appeared in the Australian outback in 1998. Experts are still unsure who
Science history: Archaeologists discover King Tut’s tomb, and rumors of the ‘mummy’s curse’ begin swirling — Nov. 4, 1922
While excavating in the Valley of the Kings, an Egyptian worker on an archaeological dig discovered a partially obscured step. It would lead into the
Memento Mori: A mosaic that predates Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in Pompeii and reminds us that we will all die
A famous mosaic from Pompeii holds lessons for today.