Earlier this week, family members of 76-year-old Bella Montoya gathered to mourn her at a funeral parlor in Ecuador. About five hours into the funeral, they heard a strange sound coming from the coffin. When family members opened the coffin, they found Montoya gasping for air. Paramedics returned her to the hospital where, only hours earlier, she had been declared “dead” by doctors due to complications with a stroke. Montoya remains in the hospital in intensive care.While we only hope th ...read more

Although they may not have nine lives, it’s not uncommon for cats to enjoy the one life they’ve got for many years, even decades. But as with humans, numerous factors play critical roles in lengthening or curtailing a cat’s lifespan, especially genetics, lifestyle and the kind of care their owners give them.What Is the Average Cat Lifespan?(Credit: Andrey Zheludev/Shutterstock)It’s hard to find a definitive answer to this question. Depending on which pet-expert source you favor, you’ll ...read more

A new study is challenging the longstanding theory that Earth formed in a pinball fashion, through random collisions of rocky stellar bodies that crushed together through gravity. The water we enjoy would have collided at random, too, when one or more comets smashed into the growing planet, the old theory says.“If that is how Earth was formed, then it is pretty lucky that we have water on Earth,” says Martin Schiller, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, in a press release ...read more

When leaving my apartment, I make sure to leave the radio on for my cat. I like to think the songs are a satisfactory substitute for the voices that fill the apartment when people are home. Then again, perhaps the music is nothing more than a nuisance to my feline friend.“It’s something that people have wanted to know for a long time,” says Pralle Kriengwatana, an affiliate researcher at the University of Glasgow’s School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine. “And there ...read more

It sounds like an advertisement for bottled water: The flowing Colorado River emerges high in the Rocky Mountains, from snows untouched by man. It tumbles down through seven states and the two largest reservoirs in the country, lakes Powell and Mead, crossing some 1,450 miles. Along the way, it winds through the Grand Canyon, a project 6 million years in the making.But the storied river’s final flourish, to empty into the Gulf of California, doesn’t happen anymore. The once vibrant Colorado ...read more

While many sci-fi writers have wondered if time travel into the past can be allowed as long as you slip into an alternate universe, you should be warned: Nature doesn’t like a cheater.Time travel into the past is a real pain in the neck. For one, as far as we can tell it’s forbidden in our universe. You can travel into the future as slowly or as quickly as you like, but you can’t stop time or go in reverse.Is It Possible To Travel Back in Time?Technically speaking, physicists are not exact ...read more

Let’s start with a definition: Dinosaurs, according to the Natural History Museum in London, were the dominant group of animals that roamed the land for between 140 and 160 million years.Yes, all dinosaurs were egg-laying reptiles. But they were also distinct from other reptiles that lived around the same time.For one, they had straight hind legs that stood perpendicular to their bodies. These helped them to use less energy compared with other reptiles – such as crocodiles, which have a spra ...read more

Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may have uncovered one of the Holy Grails of astronomy and astrophysics: the discovery of a rocky exoplanet with an exotic, water-rich atmosphere. Then again, it might all be an illusion.JWST was designed, in part, to hunt for such planets, and GJ 486 b would be the first identified. The problem is, the planet closely hugs its parent star, a red dwarf, and lies well outside the habitable zone. Temperatures on the planet, which is larger than ...read more

In 2018, a woman at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport attempted to board a cross-country United Airlines flight with a peacock named Dexter.Although the woman claimed the bird — which had its own seat purchased for the trip — was an emotional support animal, the airline refused to let Dexter travel due to health and safety concerns. Soon after, Delta Airlines announced a tightening of regulations for service and emotional support animals, noting that customers were attempti ...read more

Of the 700 or so dinosaur species paleontologists have discovered to date, some are terrifying, some are magnificent and others are downright bizarre. Those in the last category won’t haunt your nightmares like Spinosaurus or lend grandeur to a Jurassic Park scene like Brachiosaurus; mostly, they’ll just leave you wondering what Mother Nature was smoking in the Mesozoic Era (and where you can get some). The Weirdest DinosaursHere are a few of the preeminent weirdos:1. Mononykus[embedd ...read more