Science
What It Looks Like When a Dying Star Eats a Planet

Astronomers have witnessed a star gobbling up a planet, offering the first direct glimpse of a gnarly process called planetary engulfment that most likely awaits Earth in the deep future. Scientists serendipitously spotted a gas planet — like Jupiter but possibly larger — as it was swallowed up by an aging sun-like star about 12,000 […]

Updated: May 3, 2023
General Equipment That Every Science Lab Should Have

What are the basics that every science lab needs? Here, we briefly overview the general equipment every lab should have, from safety goggles to incubators.

Updated: May 2, 2023
Ancient Romans Dropped Their Bling Down the Drain, Too

Down the drain is where British archaeologists recently discovered 36 artfully engraved semiprecious stones, in an ancient bathhouse at the site of a Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall in Carlisle, England. The colorful intaglios — gems with incised carvings — likely fell out of signet rings worn by wealthy third-century bathers, and ended up trapped […]

Updated: May 1, 2023
As Hospitals Close and Doctors Flee, Sudan’s Health Care System Is Collapsing

With the battle for control of Sudan entering its third week, health care services are rapidly unraveling in the nation’s capital, Khartoum, a grim consequence of the brutal fighting that has raised fears the conflict could devolve into a wider humanitarian crisis. The total collapse of the health care system could be days away, the […]

Updated: May 1, 2023
Bilingualism May Stave Off Dementia, Study Suggests

Speaking two languages provides the enviable ability to make friends in unusual places. A new study suggests that bilingualism may also come with another benefit: improved memory in later life. Studying hundreds of older patients, researchers in Germany found that those who reported using two languages daily from a young age scored higher on tests […]

Updated: Apr 28, 2023
La COVID-19 podría aumentar el riesgo de diabetes de tipo 2, según investigadores

Las personas contagiadas de coronavirus son mucho más propensas a que se les diagnostique diabetes tipo 2 en el año siguiente a su infección, en comparación con las que no han estado expuestas al virus, según informó el 18 de abril un grupo de investigadores de Canadá. Los hombres son más propensos a desarrollar diabetes […]

Updated: Apr 26, 2023
To Display 500,000 Ants, No Simple Ant Farm Will Do

When the American Museum of Natural History’s new insectarium opens on May 4, a half-million leafcutter ants will share the title of star attraction. The ants are biological marvels, living in enormous colonies that function as a single superorganism. They are sophisticated farmers, collecting leaves that they use to nurture sprawling fungal gardens, which provide […]

Updated: Apr 24, 2023
They May Be Just Acquaintances. They’re Important to You Anyway.

Ilze Earner, 67, retired last year after 25 years of teaching at Hunter College in Manhattan. Life in rural Claverack, N.Y., had its satisfactions and friendships, but after a few months, “I started feeling like I was missing something,” she said. She began taking herself to lunch weekly, sitting at the bar at the nearby […]

Updated: Apr 22, 2023
Salamander Dads Are Turning Into Cannibals, Threatening Species Survival

The hellbender salamander has been called a lot of things. Snot otter. Mud devil. Old lasagna sides. And now, perhaps: baby-eating cannibal, according to new research into the parental habits of these giant amphibians. An eight-year study of hellbenders living in the cold, rocky rivers of southwestern Virginia has found that male salamanders are increasingly […]

Updated: Apr 20, 2023
From Bullets to ‘Bird Residue,’ the Many Trials of Telescopes

Few things in science appear to be as delicate or precarious as the giant mirrors at the hearts of modern telescopes. These mirrors — doughnuts of glass meters in diameter, weighing tons and costing millions of dollars — are polished within a fraction of a wavelength of visible light into the precise concavity required to […]

Updated: Apr 18, 2023