One of the most common questions I get is whether a nuclear bomb could set off a volcano or trigger an earthquake. You might think that all that energy being released in the explosion would be perfect for getting faults or magma to move. So, would you believe that the United States set three nuclear bombs off in one of the most geologically active parts of the world … and nothing happened?These days it is hard to imagine a world with nuclear testing. However, in the 1940s to 1990s, the US and ...read more

Scientists have unveiled a new species of archosaur, a reptile that existed around the dawn of the dinosaurs. The armored creature sported both crocodilian and dinosaur-like features, and roamed the planet more than 235 to 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period.“We think [the creature lived] just before dinosaurs appear on the planet,” says Sterling Nesbitt, a paleobiologist at Virginia Tech and lead author on the new study.What Are Archosaurs? Archosaurs are a diverse group of cre ...read more

The presence of wolves in Maine is hotly debated after they were extirpated from the Northeast due to centuries of bounties, habitat alteration and development. But with evidence of a possible wolf roaming the trails, researchers must turn to poop, or scat, to really understand if they’ve returned. Differentiating between different canid species can be challenging, especially from visual observations or scat analysis alone. Wolves, coyotes and domestic dogs can have overlapping characteristics ...read more

A population group inside modern-day Ukraine avoided outside influence for about 4,000 years during the latter days of the Stone Age and delayed the transition from hunting and gathering to farming, a new study says.Researchers from Uppsala University and elsewhere drew on genetic material of 56 people who lived at different times during the Stone Age, in central and eastern Europe. Experts were particularly interested in the introduction of farming to Europe, which occurred about 8,500 years ag ...read more

The sound of a crackling fire. The feel of a warm shower. The smell of bread baking in the oven. Many people take delight in these experiences. But for people with anhedonia, these little pleasures can feel meaningless.Experts typically describe anhedonia as the reduced ability to feel enjoyment in activities or experiences that once brought pleasure. It's a condition associated with several mental health disorders, and it's a primary symptom of major depressive disorder.Clinicians are still lea ...read more

The death of a lion in Kenya’s picturesque savannas rarely tugs at people’s hearts, even in a country where wildlife tourism is a key pillar of the nation’s economy. But when one of the most tracked male lions in Kenya’s famous Masaai Mara was killed on 24 July 2023 the world took notice. Known as Jesse, he was killed during a fight with a coalition of three male lions from a rival pride, drawing attention to the brutally risky and dangerous lives of male lions.Lions are organised in f ...read more

We’ve all heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but how true is that?Apples are not high in vitamin A, nor are they beneficial for vision like carrots. They are not a great source of vitamin C and therefore don’t fight off colds as oranges do.However, apples contain various bioactive substances – natural chemicals that occur in small amounts in foods and that have biological effects in the body. These chemicals are not classified as nutrients like vitamins. Because apples cont ...read more

Wildfires, pushed by powerful winds, raced through Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 8 and 9, 2023, leaving a charred and smoldering landscape across the tourist town of about 13,000 residents that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. At least 36 people died, Maui County officials said. Others were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard after going into the ocean to escape the flames.Fires were still burning on Aug. 10, both in Maui’s tourist-filled west coast and farther inland, as well as o ...read more

The April 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction included "Reason," a story by Isaac Asimov later published in the collection I, Robot. The story in Asimov's Robot series was set on a space station that beams power in the form of microwaves directly to planets.More than 30 years later, Peter Glaser, a NASA engineer who worked on, among other projects, the Apollo moon missions, took a big step in turning Asimov's plot device into reality. Glaser designed — and in 1973 was granted a pate ...read more

A 300,000-year-old skull recovered from an archaeological dig in China could prompt a new branch on the human family tree. The development comes after scientists have spent years studying the skull and puzzling over its combination of archaic and modern features.The new paper published in the Journal of Human Evolution joins an existing call to found a new human species closely related to our Homo Sapiens.The study is the first attempt to fully classify the skull and its features of a flat face ...read more