Time works differently on the moon – a dilemma that can throw up a few challenges when it comes to timekeeping on the planet’s only natural satellite. It is a problem Congress is seeking to address with the introduction of the Celestial Time Standardization Act (H.R. 2313).Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan of Virginia introduced the bill last year and recently passed the committee stage, receiving unanimous approval from the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology committee in April 2025. If ...read more
From Spanish and Swahili to Finnish and Filipino, over 7,000 languages are spoken across the world today. Humans are unique in that we are the only species known to use language. However, new research suggests we might not be as unusual in this capacity as previously thought.A paper published in Science Advances describes chimpanzees’ ability to create new meanings by combining calls – a technique not so different from how we combine words to produce sentences. This discovery could have majo ...read more
The largest known flood in geological time took anywhere from 2 years to 16 years to fill up the Mediterranean Sea. While it didn’t fill up the area fast, the water was powerful and hit some areas at speeds of 67 miles per hour — unleashing a wall of destruction that dug out canyons, shaped future islands and wiped out more than 95 percent of known marine species at the time.“What makes this event extraordinary is it is the largest flood that we know that ever happened in Earth’s history ...read more
The crisis of fentanyl and other opioids is far from over in the U.S., and a new study stresses that point, finding that the illicit use of these substances is much more prevalent than prior studies suggest. Published today in JAMA Health Forum, the research reveals that 7.5 percent of adults in the U.S. had used illicitly manufactured fentanyl at some point between June 2023 and June 2024 — a percentage that is more than 20 times higher than past reported rates. According to the study authors ...read more
Vultures are often seen as unsightly outcasts in the animal kingdom, yet their dirty work is needed to keep ecosystems healthy. New research has shown that without these underappreciated scavengers, diseases would run rampant throughout the natural world.A study recently published in Ecology and Evolution explains how declining vulture populations could have a devastating impact on the environment. Vultures have already begun to vanish across Europe, Asia, and Africa; now, concerns are also risi ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine