In the year 1006, our ancestors witnessed the biggest natural light show in recorded history. A new “guest star,” as Chinese astronomers called it, appeared one night without warning. It was brighter than a crescent moon and visible in daytime. As months passed, the star dimmed until it was no longer visible over a year later.
Today, we know the guest star of 1006 was a supernova. The most violent explosions known, supernovas can briefly outshine the rest of a galaxy. The most common ...read more
Along Antarctica’s west coast near the Amundsen Sea, great white glaciers the size of U.S. states slowly slide into the ocean. In the early ’80s, scientists dubbed it the continent’s “weak underbelly” after learning that ice here — which helps hold back the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet — is anchored below sea level.
If oceans warmed, this unfortunate topography could cause rapid and irreversible retreat. In decades past, glaciologists had assumed thes ...read more
In 2008, Discover profiled amateur archaeologist Sam Osmanagich, who claimed to have discovered the oldest and largest pyramids in the world. Located near the Bosnian city of Visoko and billed as “the most monumental construction complex ever built on the face of the planet,” the pyramids were allegedly made by a highly advanced civilization some 12,000 years ago.
While Osmanagich had no evidence, he did gather worldwide media attention, hundreds of volunteers aiding his excavation a ...read more
The Parker Solar Probe will help explain the mysteries of our sun’s atmosphere – a mission first envisioned more than half a century ago. (Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben)
We often equate light with a lack of mystery. We elucidate or illuminate answers. So it’s tad ironic that the brightest object in our solar system remains one of its most mysterious.
Scientists still don’t understand why the sun’s corona, or atmosphere, is hotter than its surface &m ...read more
(Credit: Nelson Charette Photo/Shutterstock)
Was it a chance encounter when you met that special someone or was there some deeper reason for it? What about that strange dream last night—was that just the random ramblings of the synapses of your brain or did it reveal something deep about your unconscious? Perhaps the dream was trying to tell you something about your future. Perhaps not. Did the fact that a close relative developed a virulent form of cancer have profound meaning or was it ...read more
(Credit: Martin M303/Shutterstock)
Scientists may have miscalculated the age of an olive branch that has served as a key piece of evidence in dating the Santorini eruption, according to a new study.
The findings cast doubt on the accuracy of an analysis of the millennia-old branch, suggesting it may predate by several decades the natural disaster that fundamentally altered the political landscape of the Mediterranean and has been used to anchor much of the chronology of ancient history.
As Oli ...read more
A close-up of Omega Centauri’s core shows some of the 10 million stars that lie within its borders. (Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team)
Well, it looks like we’re going to have to look farther than we thought for intergalactic extraterrestrial life.
Astronomers have long held out hope that Omega Centauri, a massive globular cluster just 16,000 light years away, harbors habitable exoplanets. Researchers estimate that 10 million densely packed stars lie within the cluster ...read more
Photo: flickr/artisrams
[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. Enj ...read more
The Parker Solar Probe will scream around the sun at more than 400,000 mph and get as close as 3.83 million miles before burning up. (Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)
In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus’ newly crafted wings made him exceedingly bold and confident. Overcome with ecstasy, he soared too close to the sun, melting his wings until he fell back to Earth. Are humans about to share a similar fate with the first probe to explore the sun, or will our inge ...read more
