In recent years, scientists have puzzled over a particular class of transients – bursts of intense X-rays and light shot from distant galactic centers. Now, astronomers have discovered a new X-ray transient and are offering an explanation for these outbursts. The new find – located at the center of a galaxy some 500 million light-years away – is early fruit for a new transient detection system that feeds off data produced by the Swift Observatory X-ray telescope.What Are Transients?Astrono ...read more

If you landed on the moon today and conducted a thorough survey of the landscape, you would encounter multiple U.S. flags and a single Chinese one upon its dusty surface.These national symbols, however, bear little weight when it comes to land claims and territorial jurisdiction in this realm. That’s because international terms have established that no nation can claim land in outer space or upon any celestial body – no planet, moon or asteroid.Such places are “the province of all mankind, ...read more

One of the most difficult problems in neuroscience and philosophy is the study of consciousness. How does consciousness arise from physical matter?In a 1995 paper, philosopher David Chalmers dubbed this question "the hard problem." The "easy" problem, he said, is figuring out how the brain does things like see, learn, think and make decisions. While not exactly easy, at least these questions can be approached scientifically and, given the right techniques and technology, might eventually be sol ...read more

Unlike our solitary Sun, most stars form in binary or multiple-star systems. However, astrophysicists haven’t learned a lot about how these complex stellar systems are born because they lack high-resolution observations to distinguish between different theories of formation. But international researchers have now gained some insight with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Northern Chile. Their study of IRAS 04239+2436, a triple system of protostars about 460 light-years ...read more

When the garbage truck drives up to my house every week, my three little dogs can barely contain their excitement. They bark and race from one window to the next. At one point, my chihuahua mix will throw back her head and release a dramatic howl.It seems ridiculous to howl at a garbage collector. However, animal behavior researchers have learned howling is a vital form of communication among wolf packs. This behavior lingers among some domesticated dogs, and scientists are learning that dogs ho ...read more

Prehistoric reptiles roamed every corner of the Earth millions of years ago — including the depths of the ocean to streams and rivers. While commonly referred to as aquatic or marine dinosaurs — or reptiles — many of these creatures also spent a significant amount of time out of the water. Some prehistoric marine reptiles came to the surface to breathe or returned to land to lay their eggs. Here are five of the most interesting aquatic reptiles that lived among the dinosaurs.       � ...read more

How is it that a fly always seems to be buzzing around your food moments after you sit down for an outdoor meal?The answer is practice. Or, more specifically: evolution. Flies and other insects have been on a multimillion-year journey of evolution, honing their ability to detect food. Being able to zero in on nutritious meals is a matter of life and death.The family of flies that I study – the blow flies – are the buzzing ones that are usually a beautiful metallic blue, with bronze and gre ...read more

By NASA’s current estimates, it would take around 2 to 3 years to get to Mars, and that’s on a good day when its orbit comes closest to Earth. And once you get there, it’s not exactly an Eden away from home. Rather, it’s an arid Martian desert with temperatures reaching -81 degrees Fahrenheit regularly.It’s not habitable without spacesuits and a completely enclosed environment because Mars’ air is about 95 percent carbon dioxide. There’s also no liquid water found on its surfac ...read more

Pterosaurs are often referenced as “flying dinosaurs,” though they’re just flying reptiles — cousins to dinosaurs. From the late Triassic period to the end of the Cretaceous period, Petrosaurs dominated the sky. They could be as large as fighter jets and as small as toy planes. Here are five of the most fascinating flying dinosaurs. 1. Pterodactylus(Credit: Elenarts/Shutterstock) Pterodactylus was the first pterosaur to be recognized as a flying reptile. First described in 1784 by Ita ...read more

Pterosaurs are often referenced as “flying dinosaurs,” though they’re just flying reptiles — cousins to dinosaurs. From the late Triassic period to the end of the Cretaceous period, Petrosaurs dominated the sky. They could be as large as fighter jets and as small as toy planes. Here are five of the most fascinating flying reptiles that lived among the dinosaurs. 1. Pterodactylus(Credit: Elenarts/Shutterstock) Pterodactylus was the first pterosaur to be recognized as a flying reptile. ...read more