The practice of drinking tea with milk has been around for centuries and enjoyed by many cultures throughout the world. Milk tea is said to have originated in China, where it remains one of the country’s — indeed one of Asia’s — most popular nonalcoholic drinks.But in the 1980s, tea vendors in Taiwan began serving a novel variation of the beloved beverage. The milk tea was served ice-cold and combined with fen yuan, a traditional Taiwanese dessert made with ice, sugar, and small, sweet t ...read more

Andrea Mosie greeted me at the doorway to the moon with a wink. “Are you ready?” she asked. I had been warned about the technical procedures that would precede my visit, but I was not prepared for what I would see, and she knew it.Only a few hundred humans have ever been to space. Only a handful have ever walked on the moon. But there is one other way to experience that other realm, and it is through a doorway at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. I entered a boringly tan federal buil ...read more

The Neanderthals had a good run. They were around from at least 200,000 years ago to about 42,000 years ago, only a couple millennia after they began to interbreed with modern humans. After that window, all physical traces of them disappearedThroughout that period, though, Neanderthals would have certainly experienced some cold weather — so much that it’s unlikely they would have walked around completely naked. In fact, some research has shown that the temperatures were likely too cold in pa ...read more

With millions of cases per year in the United States, strep throat is an extremely common disease. You might recognize it from a distinctively unpleasant scratchy feeling in the throat, or as the source of many sick days from school for young children. But there’s still no vaccine for this bacterial infection, mainly because antibiotics can provide an effective treatment. With outbreaks of severe strep throat infections on the rise worldwide — particularly in countries with limited access t ...read more

Saturn has 146 confirmed moons– more than any other planet in the solar system – but one called Enceladus stands out. It appears to have the ingredients for life.From 2004 to 2017, Cassini– a joint mission between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency – investigated Saturn, its rings and moons. Cassini delivered spectacular findings. Enceladus, only 313 miles (504 kilometers) in diameter, harbors a liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust that spans the entire moon ...read more

Concussions are a mild form of traumatic brain injury. 'Mild’ means that most patients make a complete recovery within a week or so. But some of the symptoms experienced in the immediate aftermath of a bang on the head can be disturbing. In addition to headaches, blurry vision, and nausea, some people experience brain fog and memory loss. What Happens to the Brain During a Concussion?When you get a blow to the head, on the soccer field or in a tumble from a bicycle, say, your brain can bang a ...read more

Many people around the world make and eat fermented foods. Millions in Korea alone make kimchi. The cultural heritage of these picklers shape not only what they eat every time they crack open a jar but also something much, much smaller: their microbiomes.On the microbial scale, we are what we eat in very real ways. Your body is teeming with trillions of microbes. These complex ecosystems exist on your skin, inside your mouth and in your gut. They are particularly influenced by your surrounding e ...read more

The last full week of Citizen Science Month is jam packed! It’s the week of Earth Day, Arbor Day, Noise Awareness Day, and the City Nature Challenge! Find a project and report your Act of Science here. Just creating a SciStarter account and participating in any Affiliate project before May 1 will earn you a One Million Acts of Science badge! And don't forget to share your activity on social media with the hashtag "#OneMillionActsOfScience," so we can celebrate with you. April 21: Step Up for V ...read more

When faraway stars explode, they send out flashes of energy called gamma-ray bursts that are bright enough that telescopes back on Earth can detect them. Studying these pulses, which can also come from mergers of some exotic astronomical objects such as black holes and neutron stars, can help astronomers like me understand the history of the universe.Space telescopes detect on average one gamma-ray burst per day, adding to thousands of bursts detected throughout the years, and a community of vol ...read more

The Colorado River slowly cut one of the world’s most epic scars into the landscape of northern Arizona. That scar, of course, is better known as the Grand Canyon. One of the top tourist attractions in the U.S., this natural wonder draws visitors from all over the world every year to gawk at the views created by roughly 278 miles of river.Modern visitors are hardly the first to appreciate the vistas. In fact, archaeologists have discovered the remains of a number of ancient cultures in and aro ...read more