Photo: flickr/artisrams
[Note from the authors of “Seriously, Science?”: After nine years with Discover, we’ve been informed that this will be our last month blogging on this platform. Despite being (usually) objective scientists, we have a sentimental streak, and we have spent the last few days reminiscing about the crazy, and often funny, science we have highlighted. Therefore, we have assembled a month-long feast of our favorite science papers. Enj ...read more
The Parker Solar Probe will scream around the sun at more than 400,000 mph and get as close as 3.83 million miles before burning up. (Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)
In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus’ newly crafted wings made him exceedingly bold and confident. Overcome with ecstasy, he soared too close to the sun, melting his wings until he fell back to Earth. Are humans about to share a similar fate with the first probe to explore the sun, or will our inge ...read more
(Credit: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock)
If you’re over 60 and, by BMI standards, overweight, it might not be such a bad thing. But there’s a catch. If you also have a fat belly, you’re at risk for not only metabolic health issues, but also cognitive problems.
That’s the conclusion of a study published this month in The British Journal of Nutrition.
For years, scientists have seen a correlation between children who are overweight or obese and their performance on c ...read more
For 60 years, scientists have bred a group of foxes to be either tame, or aggressive. A new study into the animals’ genes hints at a genetic basis for behavior in both foxes, as well as dogs and humans. (Credit: Kingston Photography for the JAB Canid Education and Conservation Center)
Over the course of more than a half-century, a Russian science experiment successfully bred the world’s first domesticated fox. Now, by sequencing the fox genome and comparing tame foxes with their wi ...read more
(Credit: Researcher97/shutterstock)
The same recent evolutionary changes that make humans prone to bad backs and impacted wisdom teeth may also tweak genes in ways that make people vulnerable to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other mental disorders, a new study finds.
Scientists have long suspected that common ailments like lower back, knee and foot pain are likely due to the evolution of upright walking in the human family tree. And there may be a connection between the fact that 70 perc ...read more
This illustration depicts the exoplanet WASP-121b, an ultra-hot Jupiter that sits so close to its host star that its dayside atmosphere is hot enough to boil iron.(Credit: Engine House VFX, At-Bristol Science Centre, University of Exeter)
Scattered throughout the cosmos, astronomers are uncovering a strange new class of exoplanets too small to be stars, but too big to be planets. They’re called ultra-hot Jupiters.
These incredibly hot gas giants sit much closer to their host stars than M ...read more
(Credit: Maxx-Studio/shutterstock)
If you’re struggling with fertility, you might want to switch up your underwear.
When it comes to sperm health, the boxers vs. briefs debate has delivered inconsistent results over the last few decades, leaving dads-to-be questioning their choice of undergarments. But the latest study, published on August 8 in the journal Human Reproduction, says that boxers are the way to go if you’re looking to conceive.
The largest study of its kind shows that ...read more
(Credit: allou/Shutterstock)
If we broke it, then we can probably fix it, too. That’s the logic behind geoengineering, the broadly-defined set of techniques proposed to artificially reverse climate change.
The most popular method involves pumping the atmosphere full of sulfur aerosols, a compound that would reflect more of the sun’s incoming radiation, bouncing heat back into space and cooling down the planet.
Too Good to Be True
It sounds seductive, but there are any num ...read more
The twin MarCO CubeSats launched May 5th with NASA’s larger InSight mission, making them the first pair of miniature probes to ever venture into deep space. Many other mission concepts are in the works for CubeSats that could follow these pioneers beyond Earth’s orbit. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
When NASA’s InSight lander began its journey to Mars on May 5th, two tiny satellites tagged along for the ride — CubeSats called MarCO-A and MarCO-B.
CubeSats are a small and re ...read more
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photo of a towering pyrocumulus cloud rising from the Ferguson Fire near Yosemite National Park. Make sure to click on the image and then click again to view close-up details. (Source: NASA Earth Observatory)
When California’s 2018 wildfire season is over — if it actually ends — it may well be remembered as the summer of the “new normal.”
That is, of course, the meme that has exploded across news a ...read more
