With photosynthesis, scientists show for the first time that there are quantum effects in living systems. This could lead to better solar panels, energy storage or even quantum computers. (Credit: Shutterstock)
We all probably learned about photosynthesis, how plants turn sunlight into energy, in school. It might seem, therefore, that we figured out this bit of the world. But scientists are still learning new things about even the most basic stuff (see also the sun and moon), and pho ...read more
Lava flows from fissures 16-20 moving across the landscape on May 19, 2018. USGS/HVO.
The eruption at Kīlauea had a number of firsts over the weekend, some of them quite significant. The style of eruption continued much the same as we’ve been seeing: lava flows, fountaining and spatter in the lower East Rift zone near Leilani Estates and intermittent explosions from the summit caldera. However, the nature of the former has changed over the last few days.
Lava reaches the ocean
For the ...read more
It has been called “the world’s most dangerous meal,” a fish whose internal organs are laced with one of the deadliest toxins on Earth. Specialized restaurants in Japan and a few other places serve carefully prepared fugu flesh as an expensive delicacy, in part because of this risky thrill.
But Byrappa Venkatesh was drawn to the fugu for an entirely different reason: It has the smallest genome of any vertebrate. That quality was gold back in the 1990s, when geneticists were sti ...read more
A study claiming that a “memory” could be transferred from one animal to another in form of an injection has caused a lot of excitement. The Futurist said that Scientists Transferred Memories From One Snail to Another. Someday, They Could Do The Same in Humans. But I have to say I’m not convinced.
In the paper, published in eNeuro, UCLA researchers Alexis Bédécarrats and collagues report that they extracted RNA from the neurons of sea slugs (Aplysia) after traini ...read more
Lava flows from Fissure 17, seen on May 17, 2018. USGS/HVO
The eruption at Kīlauea is still captivating the nation, as it should because this volcano hasn’t behaving like this in almost a century. I thought I’d take a moment to step back and review of the main events so far and what it might all mean for Kīlauea and the people who live around the volcano. These eruptions are separated by a long way if you look at the satellite data and should almost be treated at two d ...read more
The biggest explosion yet from the Kilauea volcano propelled 1,000-pound rocks into the air, and sent ash rocketing 30,000 feet high
A timelapse video from a camera on the Gemini Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii captured the ash cloud exploding high in the atmosphere from the Kilauea volcano just before dawn on May 17, 2018. The plume explodes above the cloud deck shortly after four minutes into the video. Lightning and meteors streaking across the sky are also visible. (Source: Gem ...read more
Jess Phoenix, a volcanologist and Democrat running for the US House, doing field work.
It is always exciting (to me) when a scientist runs for public office — and doubly so if that person is a geologist. There have been a few geologists who made waves as politicians, including Colorado governor John Hickenlooper (we’ll leave you to sort out Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke’s claims of “being a geologist”). Now, imagine if that person was also a volcanologist. N ...read more
A scene from “Interview with the Vampire” featuring Christian Slater and Brad Pitt. (Credit: Warner Bros./Youtube)
[Editor’s note: One of the most popular articles on our site is a piece by Georgia Institute of Technology researcher John Edgar Browning about his work with the real vampire community, published in March 2015. In it, Browning discusses what a real vampire is, how they live their lives, and what researchers are hoping to learn about them. Here, he expan ...read more
(Credit: Kokhanchikov/Shutterstock)
Mosquito bites are like a gross form of French kissing — the insects swap your blood with their saliva, and leave a trail of salivary secretions behind like mosquito cooties. Some of those compounds prevent clotting as the insects slurp up your blood. Now researchers find mosquito spit aggravates your immune system for days afterward. The findings could help scientists develop vaccines for mosquito-born diseases like Zika.
Rebecca Rico-Hesse, a vi ...read more
Ancient DNA from archaeological sites in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand’s World Heritage site Ban Chiang, has refined our understanding of how farmers and hunter-gatherers mixed and mingled millennia ago. (Credit Wikimedia Commons)
Southeast Asia is home to scores of different languages and cultures, but the story of how such diversity blossomed in the region has always been unclear. A new study out today turns to ancient DNA — a rare find in hot and humid environments & ...read more
