When you stack up the most promising recent exoplanet finds, as illustrated here, it becomes clear none is Earth’s true twin. But even more habitable worlds may be out there waiting to be found. (Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech)
Earth is the only place in the universe where we know life exists. But with billions of other star systems out there, it might not be the best place for life. In a new study, astronomers modeled the potential for life on other watery planets and found some conditi ...read more
Scientists recently dug into salt marshes and discovered abundant amounts of a"good guy gas" that helps cool Earth's climate. (Credit: JuneJ/shutterstock)
The tangy smell of the sea may seem like nothing more than salt in the air, but in fact it comes courtesy of a specific chemical. And dimethyl sulfide, or simply DMS, not only defines that airy aroma, but it also helps cool the climate. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Microbiology, researchers say they’ve discovered ...read more
(Credit: Sara López Gilabert/SAPIENS)
It is early morning on a wide plain in Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya. With a small Dixie cup and a wooden tongue depressor, Susan Alberts picks up a fecal sample left by a female baboon named Yoruba.
Alberts is an eminent primatologist. She is both the chair of the department of evolutionary anthropology and a member of the biology department at Duke University, and the co-director of the Amboseli Baboon Research Project. But this mor ...read more
(Credit: Odua Images/Shutterstock)
A human’s genes are laid down at
conception. A fetus’ heart, brain and other organs start to form five weeks later.
At six months, an unborn child has most of its body parts. But there is one
essential component missing: the helpful bacteria, often referred to as the microbiome,
that will inhabit its gut, skin and other organs.
Our first interactions with microbes set the stage for health throughout our lives. Babies’ microbiomes have b ...read more
The image shows the first image acquired by the DLR-developed MASCAM camera system during Hayabusa2's descent, shortly after separation from the landing module at a height of 41 meters. (Credit: Jaumann et al., Science (2019))
The solar system is a crowded place. Earth may be the only planet with humans on it, but many worlds are home to robots — rovers and landers and orbiters, gathering data for astronomers. Asteroid (162173) Ryugu joined them last summer, and has been playing host to ...read more
These color-coded maps of the brain show the semantic similarities during listening (top) and reading (bottom). (Credit: Fatma Deniz)
If you don’t have time to sit and read a physical book, is listening to the audio version considered cheating? To some hardcore book nerds, it could be. But new evidence suggests that, to our brains, reading and hearing a story might not be so different.
In a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from the Gallant Lab at UC Berkele ...read more
The new crater lake at Kīlauea's summit, spotted on August 15, 2019. M. Patrick, USGS-HVO
Over the last few weeks, we've had two newsworthy events that involve volcanoes and water. This is a common combination on our planet and can have dramatically different results. One is a very small feature that's new to one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. The other is now a large feature spreading across the Pacific that came from a previously unknown volcano under the sea.
First, the sma ...read more
Does alcohol cause cancer? Here's what recent research tells us. (Credit: Mateone/Shutterstock)
Humans and the bottle go a long way back. Archaeologists have found our love of alcohol began some 9,000 years ago (and maybe even 10 million years ago, according to some reports).
Evidence of people boozin’ it up has been found in nearly every society throughout history. And today, alcohol is still ingrained in cultures around the world, especially in places like the Midwest – dubbe ...read more
An artist's illustration of a neutron star, a proposed source for fast radio bursts. (Credit: Casey Reed - Penn State University/Wikimedia Commons)
Fast radio bursts are one of the most puzzling phenomena in
astrophysics. But a new discovery of eight new sources for them might help
scientists figure out what’s causing these intense outbursts of energy coming
from distant galaxies.
The newly discovered bursts are from repeating sources,
meaning they were observed to burst multiple tim ...read more
The La Silla Observatory in Chile, where at least three new exoplanets have been discovered. (Credit: Iztok Boncina/ESO)
There is a triplet of Earth-sized planet candidates orbiting
a star just 12 light-years away, a new study has found. And one appears to be
in the habitable zone.
All three candidates are thought to be at least 1.4 to 1.8
times the mass of Earth, and orbit the star every three to 13 days, which would
put the entire system well within Mercury’s 88 day orbit of the S ...read more
