Photo: Flickr/Mark Berry [Note from the authors of “Seriously, Science?”: After nine years with Discover, we’ve been informed that this will be our last month blogging on this platform. Despite being (usually) objective scientists, we have a sentimental streak, and we have spent the last few days reminiscing about the crazy, and often funny, science we have highlighted. Therefore, we have assembled a month-long feast of our favorite science papers. En ...read more

(Credit: kunmom/shutterstock) Once upon a time, Earth was colder, locked in its latest ice age. Eventually, roughly 14,000 years ago, things started thawing and the planet warmed back up. But that climate change, according to a new paper in Science, caused a major shift in vegetation. And if we don’t curb our fossil fuel use and cut carbon emissions soon, the authors say, we’ll see another big shift in plant life within 100 to 150 years. Ancient Global Warming An international tea ...read more

(Credit: Cessna152/Shutterstock) Brazil has seen a recent uptick in cases of syphilis affecting the eyes, an infection that can lead to serious vision loss if not treated quickly enough. While ocular syphilis is a rarely-seen form of the sexually transmitted infection, one study put rates at around 2 percent of syphilis patients, it can cause serious problems for those infected, including loss of vision, cataracts and glaucoma. This comes as rates of syphilis in the U.S. have trended ...read more

The International Space Station orbits some 250 miles above Earth’s surface, and is routinely exposed to impacts by tiny, fast-moving objects like paint chips, often leaving marks on the outside of the station’s hull. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Early this morning, NASA announced the International Space Station — one of the most expensive and complex structures ever built — is slowly leaking air out of minuscule hole just 2 millimeters wide. Although the astron ...read more

(Credit: Mitch M/shutterstock) A version of this article originally appeared on The Conversation. The Green, a gathering place in New Haven, Connecticut, near Yale University looked like a mass casualty zone, with 70 serious drug overdoses over a period spanning Aug. 15-16, 2018. The cause: synthetic cannabinoids, also known as K2, Spice, or AK47, which induced retching, vomiting, loss of consciousness and trouble breathing. On July 19, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers t ...read more

This artist’s concept shows Japan’s Hayabusa spacecraft collecting tiny dust grains from the asteroid Itokawa. (Credit: JAXA) Japan’s asteroid-visiting Hayabusa spacecraft wasn’t a complete disaster, but it definitely got off to a rocky start. Launched in 2003, the world’s first sample-return mission was quickly sidelined when it was struck by charged particles from a powerful solar flare shortly after its launch. Despite this, Hayabusa eventually reached its targ ...read more

A herder runs livestock in Kenya. (Credit: Marion Smith/shutterstock) Dung, poop, number 2 — we’ve all dealt with the troublesome solid waste that biological entities produce. But it can have its uses too, beyond just giving sewer planners something to do. In particular, the use of animal feces as manure has a long and fruitful history. It’s an all natural way to replenish soil after growing crops, and hey, gotta put that stuff somewhere, right? But it turns out dung has been ...read more

VISTA images of the Carina Nebula show an infrared view we can’t see with our eyes. Eta Carinae appears as the bright ball of light just above the “v” of dark material at center; the Keyhole Nebula is to the right of Eta Carinae’s glow.(Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/M. Irwin/J. Lewis) The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) is a massive star-forming region within the Milky Way. Officially discovered by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 1750s, the nebula stretches ov ...read more

(Credit: Sergey Lavrentev/Shutterstock) Once bees get a taste of pesticides, it seems they can’t help coming back for more. For years, common agricultural pesticides, like neonicotinoids, have been shown to have detrimental effects on bee colonies. Though the results aren’t always consistent, the bulk of evidence shows that pesticides are bad for bees. Exposed bees can have difficulty reproducing, die younger and aren’t as attentive to their nests when the chemicals show up i ...read more