In space, there are clouds that contain gas and dust ejected from stars. Our solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago from such a molecular cloud. Most of these dust grains were destroyed during solar system formation. The dark areas in this image of the Carina Nebula are molecular clouds. NASA, ESA, N. Smith (U. California, Berkeley) et al., and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)However, a very small amount of the grains survived and remained intact in primitive meteorites. They are cal ...read more

The fact that most humans spend most of their time indoors is not a subject of great debate. In contrast, archeologists agree that Neanderthals spent most of their time outdoors, so what were their living .    Scientists have evidence dating Neanderthals to more than 520,000 years ago. They believe Neanderthals originated in Africa and then migrated to Europe. They went extinct around 40,000 years ago.They left little behind for scientists to analyze. Although some ancient skeletons have bee ...read more

We’re lucky to live on a water world. More than 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water.Earth is about 94 million miles from the Sun. That’s within the Goldilocks zone: the place in our solar system where a planet has just the right temperature for water to exist in oceans and rivers as a liquid and as ice in the north and south poles.Earth also has an atmosphere more than 6,000 miles (9,650 kilometers) thick that’s filled with oxygen for us to breathe. This atmosphere, along with ...read more

Sneezes have taken on many meanings throughout human history. Early Christians considered them divine signs or devilish tricks, while the ancient Greeks interpreted them as omens, both good and bad. But modern science has replaced all those superstitions with a physiological explanation: Sneezing is an integral part of the immune system, responsible for kicking out any material that tries to enter the body via the nasal passage. It’s essentially a defense mechanism, guarding against germs and ...read more

Elon Musk recently pronounced that the next Neuralink project will be a “Blindsight” cortical implant to restore vision: “Resolution will be low at first, like early Nintendo graphics, but ultimately may exceed normal human vision.”Unfortunately, this claim rests on the fallacy that neurons in the brain are like pixels on a screen. It’s not surprising that engineers often assume that “more pixels equals better vision.” After all, that is how monitors and phone screens work.In our n ...read more

China achieved a historic feat by bringing back the first-ever sample from the lunar far side in June 2024. It’s moon lander, Chang'e 6, used a robotic scoop and drill to collect approximately 5 pounds (2 kilograms) of rocks and soil. These samples came back to Earth on June 25, 2024.Chang'e 6 built off the accomplishments of two previous Chinese missions: Chang'e 4, which soft-landed on the far side of the Moon and used a rover to explore the surface, and Chang'e 5, which returned samples fro ...read more

Most grade school kids know that they can count tree rings to learn how long they lived. Biologists and forensic scientists count cementum rings (these microscopic structures encircle a tooth's root and vary in shade and thickness by season) in teeth for the same reason. Now, scientists have adapted the technique — but with high-powered X-ray imaging technology — and applied it to fossils hundreds of millions of years old. This method not only can pinpoint how long the fossilized creature li ...read more

One of the world’s great geophysical phenomena is the flow of warm water, and associated weather, from the Gulf of Mexico across the Atlantic towards western Europe. This flow is known as the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift and although huge in scale, it is merely a surface feature of a much bigger ocean process.As this current travels north, warm water evaporates, leaving the surface water saltier and denser. Then, as it reaches the Arctic, the water begins to cool and freeze, making ...read more

In 1940, American chemist Roger Adams isolated and identified CBD. Since then,  scientists discovered that CBD is not psychoactive and have investigated CBS’s potential health and medical benefits. In recent years, this natural remedy has become increasingly popular as a sleep treatment. While the exact mechanism of how CBD works is still being studied, it’s likely that it leads to better sleep by addressing conditions that adversely affect sleep. What Is CBD?Cannabidiol, colloquially know ...read more

In 1998, the Internet was in its infancy but growing fast. So, too was a mental health phenomenon called hikikomori — a name for extreme social withdrawal and isolation — that the rise of the Internet may well have helped feed. That same year, Tamaki Saito coined the term from the Japanese “hiki,” which means pulling inward or withdrawing, and “komori,” which means being confined or being inside. Saito first applied it to a patient who had socially withdrawn for six months, then popu ...read more