Galaxy NGC 3344 (Credit: NASA/ESA)
Albert Einstein’s name is synonymous with intelligence, but he’s more than earned his rep. The man revolutionized physics when he was in his 20s and 30s. He came up with a whole new way of understanding reality, not as a fixed grid against which events occur, but as fundamentally intertwined with time and perception. Trying to prove Einstein wrong, somehow, is a perennial goal of budding and experienced physicists al ...read more
Three reconstructed ancient genomes of Treponema pallidum, the corkscrew-shaped bacterium that causes syphilis, reveal new details of its evolution. (Credit: NIAID)
The bacterium Treponema pallidum is a nasty critter. It can lead to a number of conditions, collectively called treponemal diseases, that you definitely don’t want to have. They include syphilis, a typically sexually transmitted disease that still infects millions annually. The origins of the disease have lon ...read more
Koko playing with a kitten. (Credit: kokoflix/Youtube)
Koko, a gorilla who was instrumental in expanding our knowledge of the inner lives and abilities of primates, has died at the age of 46.
The western lowland gorilla was born at the San Francisco Zoo in 1971 on the Fourth of July — her given name was Hanabi-ko, Japanese for “fireworks child� — and was trained in sign language from a young age. Koko proved ...read more
I read once that if you want to keep a giraffe in captivity you have to capture it when it is young because an adult giraffe will fight to the death to be free.
Giraffes congregating in Kenya are caught on camera as part of Wildwatch Kenya’s citizen science project. Photo by Twiga Walinzi
The story was in the book “Zarafa� by Michael Allin, and while I don’t think the statement is scientifically correct, I have alway ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
