Another issue: Most scientists aren’t experts in mouse biology. “I think in the past, some investigators worked in a vacuum,” says Elizabeth Bryda, director of the Rat Resource and Research Center (RRRC). Scientists aren’t always thinking about the genetic differences between mice and humans because they’re focused elsewhere. “Maybe the species you’re working with isn’t the best species for the question, but you don’t know enough about the ph ...read more
Rare Earthquakes Within Tectonic Plates Are Highly Deadly New Jersey Coast: Before and After Sandy Finally, a Home Where You Can Enjoy the Post-Apocalypse The Colorado Deluge CO2 ‘Time Bomb’ From Thawing Permafrost More Like Slow Leak 97. Seismologists Convicted for Failed Quake Prediction Iceland Eruption, Largest for a Century, Shows No Signs of Stopping Hurricanes with Female Names Are Deadlier Than Masculine Ones Solving the Mystery ...read more
Scientists debate whether the faces humans make mean the same thing around the world. Everyone smiles in the same language, right? For decades, psychologists have backed up the idea that facial expressions are universal. Paul Ekman’s research in the 1960s was a driving force behind this popular notion. He found cultures worldwide describe facial expressions the same way: For example, a scrunched-up nose signals disgust. Even in the isolated Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea, Ekman’ ...read more
NASA’s news of the TRAPPIST-1 solar system generated quite the buzz recently. The agency announced that the system’s star — an ultra-cool dwarf just a bit bigger than Jupiter — has a collection of seven Earth-sized planets circling it. Researchers confirmed two of these planets in 2016 but upped the tally to seven after they gathered more data. Three of the worlds lie in the star’s habitable zone, where there is the greatest likelihood of having liquid water and may ...read more
Once this iceberg drifts into the ocean, the shelf behind it might collapse. That’s similar to what happened at Larsen B, which will likely disintegrate completely by 2020. However, NASA JPL ice shelf scientist Ala Khazendar cautions that Larsen C’s future remains uncertain. Ice shelves naturally shed icebergs, and this ice shelf could recover and avoid the fate of Larsens A and B. If the floating Larsen C does collapse, it won’t raise sea levels directly. But once an ice shelf ...read more
Wetlands aren’t just full of mosquitoes and cattails. They also store carbon, act as storm buffers and boast carnivorous plants. ...read more
Mammals aren’t the only ones who can have a good time. In April 2013, on board the unmanned spacecraft BION-M, a thick-toed gecko wriggled out of its polyurethane collar. In microgravity, the object floated away, then floated back toward the animal, then away again, approaching another gecko, and then a third. The animals got curious. One pushed the collar with its snout. Another tried inserting its head into it. Yet another pinned the thing down to the floor. As the spacecraft orbite ...read more
Dr. Edith Bone has decided not to cry. On this autumn afternoon in 1956, her seven years of solitary confinement have come to a sudden end. Beyond the prison gates, the Hungarian Revolution’s final, scattered shots are echoing down the streets of Budapest. Inside the gates, Bone emerges through the prison’s front door into the courtyard’s bewildering sunlight. She is 68 years old, stout and arthritic. Bone was born in Budapest in 1889 and proved an intelligent — if disobe ...read more
Astronomers are cracking the secrets of our solar system within the oldest rocks — on Earth and beyond. The oldest object known to humans fell from the sky on Feb. 8, 1969, with the furor of a divine omen. The blue-white fireball streaked over northern Mexico at 1:05 a.m., ending with a staccato of booms heard from hundreds of miles away. A small asteroid had struck Earth’s atmosphere and exploded — raining thousands of fragments over the desert. NASA dispatched scientists ...read more
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