Typical spacecrafts orbiting the Earth aren’t extremely far away. They’re only a few hundred miles above our heads. So, when it’s time to return to solid ground, it’s a relatively short trip.However, spacecrafts and similar objects in orbit are also moving at exceptionally high speeds. We’re talking 17,000 mph for a low-Earth orbit satellite or spacecraft, and even faster for higher orbits.Combined, these two factors create a dilemma — and a whole lot of heat — when bringing spacec ...read more

Drug overdose deaths have skyrocketed in the U.S. in recent years. In 2021, 106,699 people died of overdoses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that number was up 14 percent from the year before. Experts contend that it’s not that more people are using drugs; it’s that the drug supply has been contaminated with highly potent fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin. Overdose deaths that included fentanyl increased by 22 percent last year ...read more

[embedded content]Debate continues as to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, propelled in part by U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which conducted their own investigations. Both issued tentative conclusions that the disease originated in a scientific facility, fueling the lab leak theory. But scientists point to a likely animal source, ranging from horseshoe bats to raccoon dogs to even outer space.We’ve been here before with new diseases, according to epide ...read more

In 1895, seven men from the Norwegian whaling ship Antarctic made the first substantiated landing on the Antarctic continent. But four long decades passed before a woman could claim the same.Antarctica, with its extreme temperatures and barren wastelands, was viewed for many years as the perfect battleground for men seeking to prove their mettle. Having a woman there, according to popular belief, would merely invite distraction and “sexual problems.”And yet, in the decades since a woman did ...read more

This article contains affiliate links to products. Discover may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.You may be unconscious while you’re sleeping but your body is anything but idle. Depending on which stage of sleep you’re in, your brain and body could be very active. Your body goes through changes in respiration, brain activity, hormone production, and cardiac activity during sleep but one of the first changes to occur is a drop in body temperature. Body temperature ...read more

This article was originally published on Nov. 2, 2020.There are a number of religious objects that claim to be authentic pieces of history. Take the pieces of wood from Jesus’ cross, fragments of Muhammad’s beard or the Buddha’s tooth, for example. Because it’s difficult to verify the authenticity of these objects, they’ve remained largely outside the purview of science. The one notable exception, however, is a sheet of cloth in Italy, known as the Shroud of Turin.The Shroud of TurinPe ...read more

NASA has selected the four astronauts that will travel to the Moon during the upcoming Artemis 2 mission, which will be humanity’s first crewed return to the Moon in more than 50 years.The four astronauts are: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of NASA, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.“The Artemis 2 crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson before announcing the crew during a live event ...read more

The seeming existence of an “arrow of time” is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of modern physics, so the short answer to the question is “we have no idea.” But sometimes, the journey is more fun than the destination.We remember our pasts, but our futures are unknown to us. Causes always lead to effects, and not the other way around. You can do some things with ease, like break an egg or burn a book, but you can’t do the reverse.Arrow of TimeThis phenomenon is called the “arrow ...read more

The Tyrannosaurus is typically depicted with its fearsome fangs on full display. But a paper published in Science states that the theropod dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, actually had thin, lizard-like lips that hid their sharp, serrated teeth.Tyrannosaurus rex bellowing with its mouth shut, like a vocalising alligator. With its mouth closed, all of the enormous teeth of T. rex would be invisible behind its lips. (Credit: Mark Witton)Theropod TeethThe paleontologists and paleoartists who ...read more

Did your mother ever say, "you should eat your greens"? Well, she was right; you should definitely eat your greens — and you should make sure she's eating hers, too.In recent years a growing body of evidence has shown that diet can play an important role in staving off Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Now scientists are starting to work out the details of what such a diet looks like.You've probably been hearing about the Mediterranean diet for years, based on its known benefits for h ...read more