Photo: flickr/ NASA Goddard Photo and Video [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 ...read more

Image:Flickr/moocatmoocat [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. Enjoy! ...read more

(Credit: Ali Yazdani Laboratory, Princeton University) You’ve never seen bismuth like this before. Element 83 on the periodic table, bismuth is a hard, pinkish-white metal that can grow in stunning geometric crystals. Recently, researchers have been taking a closer look at bismuth, down to the atomic level. Shown here is a simulation of orbiting bismuth surface electrons in a very strong magnetic field. Note how the electrons are all gathered in clumps inside each potential orbit. S ...read more

Hurricane Katrina, imaged on Sunday, August 28, 2005, near the peak of its intensity. (Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC) 2005 was a crazy year in the North Atlantic. That hurricane season saw not only the most tropical cyclones in recorded history for the region, it also spawned the lowest pressure measured in the Atlantic, the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever, the most hurricanes and the highest accumulated cyclone energy index on record. There were so many storms ...read more

No one mineral dominates the surface of Ryugu, so scientists are still trying to determine its composition. (Credit: JAXA) Back in June, Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission arrived at the asteroid Ryugu, a near-Earth object that crosses our home world’s orbit. The spacecraft will touch down on the surface in October. But first, scientists must find the most “pristine” location possible – the spot least weathered by the hazards of outer space. One Hayabusa2’s main goal ...read more

Kenneth Chau, an engineer at the University of British Columbia, helped shine a light on how electrons impart momentum. (Credit: UBC Okanagan) Quantum mechanics, the science of the smallest stuff, is famously kooky. Light is both a particle and a wave, electrons zip around and travel instantaneously, cats are both alive and dead — it’s hard for our human brains to comprehend. One phenomenon that sort of makes a little sense, if you think about it right, is that light alone can push ...read more

Researchers uncovered the first direct evidence of hominin interbreeding in the bone fragments of a 13-year-old girl from Russia’s Altai Mountains. (Credit: Max Planck Institute) Humans think of themselves as exceptional among the creatures inhabiting Earth. But it wasn’t always so. Multiple groups of humans once co-existed with Homo sapiens, including Neanderthals and the mysterious Denisovans. And we did more than simply live alongside them — traces in our DNA reveal t ...read more

Map of shaking felt by the M7.3 earthquake in Venezuela on August 21, 2018. USGS. Venezuela was hit by a M7.3 earthquake today, causing extensive damage across the northern part of the country as well as nearby Trinidad & Tobago. Shaking was felt as far away at Bogotá, Martinique and Guyana, thousands of kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter. This temblor may have the largest earthquake to strike Venezuela since a M7.7 hit off of Caracas in 1900. Video and images of th ...read more

These rare-earth oxides are used as tracers to determine which parts of a watershed are eroding. Clockwise from top center: praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium. (Credit: Peggy Greb, US Department of Agriculture) Most Americans use rare earth elements every day – without knowing it, or knowing anything about what they do. That could change, as these unusual materials are becoming a focal point in the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China. Stanley ...read more

Waiting by the Phone For now, engineers continue to listen to Mars for signals from Opportunity at her programmed fault check-in intervals. They also send prompts to the rover and listen for a response during these times. The team has also essentially widened the net — the radio science group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is listening daily for Opportunity on a broader range of frequencies than normal, using specialized radio equipment focused on Mars during most of the daylight hours a ...read more