(Inside Science) -- The 2018 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists who have used evolution to incite a chemical revolution, with the hopes of improving drug discovery and reducing the use of harsh chemicals in industrial processes. Half of the prize goes to Frances H. Arnold from the California Institute of Technology and the other half is shared between George P. Smith from the University of Missouri and Sir Gregory P. Winter from the University of Cambridge in th ...read more

A community of frogs in Panama may have built up resistance to a deadly fungus that has imperiled one third of the amphibian population around the world, according to a paper published Wednesday [Oct. 3] in Ecological Applications. The fungus is called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd. It's also commonly referred to as chytrid fungus. In 1999, researchers linked amphibian deaths, mostly frogs, to specific strains of the fungus, which attacks the animals’ skin. Frogs use their skin fo ...read more

The earthquake and tsunami that happened last week on Sulawesi in Indonesia has been more devastating than anyone expected. The number of deaths in and around Palu has topped 1,400 and aid has been slow to reach the survivors due to the damage to infrastructure in the area. It is still unclear exactly what triggered the tsunami that followed the M7.5 earthquake -- there is speculation it was an undersea landslide that followed the temblor. What is known is that this earthquake ruptured a lon ...read more

If you watched or read “The Martian,” and wanted to try your hand at living on Mars or becoming a Martian farmer like Mark Watney, then today is your lucky day. Astrophysicists at the University of Central Florida have developed a scientific, standardized method to create soil like future space colonies might encounter on Mars. They’re selling it for about $10 per pound (or $20 per kilogram) plus shipping. This soil, also called simulant, is designed and created to mimic the r ...read more

We’ve long thought that planets formed solely from the dust and gas that surrounds their young host stars, but that theory is now being challenged. A new study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics found that, more often than not, planetary systems actually outweigh the protoplanetary disks that they formed in — suggesting a severe lack of dust and gas around infant stars. The findings are causing researchers to question how planets accumulate so much mass, and wonde ...read more

Giraffes are pretty much known for one thing: their long, luxurious necks. As my three-year-old’s animal books make clear, rhinos have the nose-horns, lions have those manes and giraffes are the tall ones. That’s their thing. But observant animal lovers will also note that giraffes have spots. In fact, they helped lend the species their official name, Giraffa camelopardalis. Apparently the Greeks thought giraffes looked kind of like a camel with a leopard’s spots. And it turns ...read more

An intricate web of cracks adorns the wrinkly, gray skin of Africa’s bush elephants. The tiny crevices hold water, which helps keep the animals cool and prevents dehydration in their dry habitat. Now, scientists have figured out how the channels on African elephants’ skin form — the outermost layer of skin gets thicker and bends until the brittle material fractures from the strain. The discovery may provide insight to a common genetic disorder in humans. Cracked Crocs Michel M ...read more

It’s hard to imagine a nation without an organized police force, but in truth, it’s a fairly modern invention. Crime was once handled locally, often by volunteers and by the will of the ruling power, and it was only in 1829 that the first large-scale, professional force came to be — London’s Metropolitan Police Service, created by Parliamentarian Sir Robert Peel. These police, nicknamed “peelers” or “bobbies” after their creator, wore uniforms sel ...read more

(Inside Science) — The 2018 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to three scientists who took lasers to new levels. The first half of the prize goes to Arthur Ashkin from Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey, "for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems." The second half was awarded jointly to Gérard Mourou of the École Polytechnique, Palaiseau in France, and Donna Strickland of the University of Waterloo in Canada, "for their method of g ...read more

Humpback whales are known for their songs. The long, repetitive vocal displays males make during the breeding season change over time until eventually the boys are belting out entirely new tunes. Now researchers find humpback whales — including females and young — communicate with calls that stay the same over multiple generations. The discovery is re-shaping what scientists know about how and why whales talk to each other. “We are just now beginning to understand ‘the o ...read more