Science

About 50 miles off the coast of South Korea, a group of women — some of them in their 80s — start many days by free diving into frigid waters to collect conch, sea urchin, abalone, octopus, and other ocean dwellers for their communities to eat. Jeju Island’s Haenyeo, or “women of the sea,” are […]

A rattlesnake slithering across your path may make you antsy throughout a long hike, while stumbling upon a stunning view at the end of the trail could leave you feeling content for the remainder of the day. Each experience is a short-lived moment, but both can lead to lasting emotion. How does this happen? Scientists […]

A groundbreaking observatory in Chile is off to a sparkling start, as evidenced by the debut images released today. While the initial photos are all mesmerizing, they’re just a sliver of what’s to come from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a massive U.S.-funded telescope perched at the summit of Cerro Pachón.  “These images are fantastic. […]

In the earliest days of the United States, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail about the celebration of independence, “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.” “Bonfires and illuminations” refer directly to what we know as pyrotechnics and firework displays.

The deep, vibrant blue you often see in ancient Egyptian depictions of royalty is no ordinary color — made from calcium copper silicate, it may be able to enhance energy efficiency, boost solar electricity, and help create counterfeit-proof ink. Originally used around 5,000 years ago, it’s considered the world’s oldest synthetic pigment. Its usage faded […]

Back in May, a team of experts and University of Rhode Island students received national attention when they explored and documented 17 ships while conducting the first survey of known wrecks in the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary. A lesser-known aspect of the story? Team member Jake Bonney had been partially paralyzed after a ski […]

This article was originally written by Ben Barry for at SWNS — the U.K.’s largest independent news agency, providing globally relevant original, verified, and engaging content to the world’s leading media outlets. Never-before-seen photographs have been released showing NASA astronauts testing the limits of human endurance and the technology needed to get humans to the […]

What pushes an acquaintance into friendship territory? While there are plenty of reasons we forge bonds with others — proximity, shared hobbies, similar values — new research from the University of California Los Angeles and Dartmouth College suggests a neurological explanation for kinship as well. Publishing their findings in Nature Human Behavior, the study authors […]

Science’s coolest moments aren’t always visible to the naked eye, but the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s appropriately named Cool Science Image Contest is here to show them to us. Featuring objects and phenomena captured through microscopy, photography, animations, medical imaging, and other methods, the competition highlights the best scientific visuals to come out of research, scholarship, […]

More than 5 million people worldwide are impacted by geographic atrophy due to age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of irreversible blindness. There’s previously been no treatment for the condition — but in a new landmark trial, scientists restored vision to patients for the first time.

If your best idea of what dinosaurs looked like comes from the Jurassic Park movies, new research out of the University of Chicago is here to provide a clearer picture. Published in Science, the paper describes two duck-billed dinosaur “mummies” discovered in Wyoming that were preserved in such detail they’ve given scientists a newly comprehensive […]