Legends of setting foot in Qin Shi Huang’s tomb in Xi’an, China speak of booby traps — poison gases, trip-wire alarms and deadly crossbows. The crypt of the first emperor of China has been untouched for more than 2,000 years and has been a mysterious tomb for archeologists. But are those legends even true? Some say the booby traps of Qin Shi Huang’s tomb are real. Some say they’re just a bunch of fantasy. Let’s explore the proof we can find. Who Was Emperor Qin Shi Huang Himself? Emp ...read more

In my reporting for Discover, I regularly see studies that rely on laboratory rats to answer a variety of questions. One study, for example, considered whether garlic had protective properties against toxins. Another studied rats' hunger and impulse control. And in a study that no one in my family wanted to hear about at dinner time, researchers measured brain activity in decapitated rats. For me, these stories prompted a new question — why do rats show up so much in research? Why are t ...read more

This story was originally published in our Mar/Apr 2023 issue. Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one. You live on this planet — and you’re of a certain age — there’s a decent chance you’ve seen the classic Star Trek episode “mirror, mirror,” in which Captain Kirk and several members of the enterprise find themselves in what appears to be a parallel universe. The trouble starts when they attempt to beam up from a planet during an ion storm. Something goes wron ...read more

In 1798, Thomas Malthus, an English economist and demographer, published “An Essay on the Principle of Population,” in which he predicted that human population growth would eventually exceed the Earth’s ability to provide enough food for everyone. This would lead to famine, disease, war and other associated travails. So far, that hasn’t happened. In 1968, 170 years later, Paul Ehrlich published a book titled, The Population Bomb, another doomsaying work predicting that human fecun ...read more

When it comes to scientific, archaeological and paleontological discoveries, girls really DO get it done! If a casual Google search is anything to go by, it sometimes seems like girls are making astonishing finds every day, advancing our knowledge of science, nature, the ancient world and so much more. In honor of the upcoming International Day of Women and Girls in Science (Feb. 11), here are a few of our favorite discoveries, and the girls who made them. 1. Molly and the Megalodon The most rec ...read more

The Neanderthals represent the richest, most robust and most studied species in the hominin record, other than our own. And thanks to the wealth of available specimens — including their remains, tools, trash, and many more traces of their activities — scientists are piecing together a picture of their basic behavior, bit by bit. From the unique diet of the Neanderthal to the advanced language ability and communication skill, the picture that they're producing is far from primitive. In fact, ...read more

Stonehenge is probably the world's most renowned henge – the name given to prehistoric stone or wooden circles. It's thought that the site's builders gathered close by at a settlement called Durrington Walls, which dates back to around 2500 B.C. Found around two miles from Stonehenge, archaeological studies have revealed what its inhabitants used to feast on. Where's The Pork? Researchers gleaned insights from a massive haul of animal bones found at Durrington Walls, explains Umberto Albar ...read more

The gravitational force is by far the weakest of the four forces of nature. It’s simple to defy gravity: just lift something in the air. But the annoying thing about gravity is that it’s both persistent and has an infinite range, which takes a surprising amount of work to overcome. Gravity is so weak that even if it were a billion times stronger than it is now, it would still be the weakest of all the forces. The whole mass of the Earth is pulling on you, but you can reach over and grab a pe ...read more

Researchers in the U.K. have achieved something of a world first: they have manufactured blood in the lab, which they’ve since administered to humans. The clinical trial will aim to test the safety and effectiveness of the lab-made blood in at least 10 healthy people. Two volunteers have already received a dose. The scientists — from the University of Cambridge, the National Health Service and the University of Bristol — are keen to find out whether their novel blood can last as long ...read more

Among the achievements of the ancient Roman Empire still acclaimed today, historians list things like aqueducts, roads, legal theory, exceptional architecture and the spread of Latin as the language of intellect (along with the Latin alphabet, memorialized nowadays in many popular typefaces). Rome was not known, though, for substantially advancing basic science. But in the realm of articulating and preserving current knowledge about nature, one Roman surpassed all others. He was the polymath Gai ...read more