Science

White dwarfs are the glowing lumps of carbon left over after stars have used up all their fuel. They are hot, dense and small, typically with the mass of the Sun packed into the volume of the Earth. The structure of these objects is complex. Astronomers cannot see the glowing carbon embers because white dwarfs Continue Reading →

Yes, seriously. NASA announced on Wednesday that its Curiosity rover had “checked in” on Mars via Foursquare. Marking the first check in from another world, the robotic rover will utilize the location-minded social network to share updates and pictures while visiting the Red Planet. While Curiosity will continue to explore the possibilities of Mars being Continue Reading →

Last year, we heard about the first article of Catalytic Clothing, an experimental dress that pulls pollutants out of the atmosphere. Now the technology is moving along to the point where it could be used as a liquid laundry additive and become part of our regular clothes washing chores. According to a release from the Continue Reading →

The story goes that one of the world’s greatest geniuses had a slightly different shaped brain than mere mortals. Now anyone can verify the tale for themselves with a new iPad app. The National Museum of Health and Medicine Chicago launched an interactive app today that has about 350 scanned and digitized slides of Albert Continue Reading →

Bumblebees foraging in flowers for nectar are like salesmen traveling between towns: Both seek the optimal route to minimize their travel costs. Mathematicians call this the “traveling salesman problem,” in which scientists try to calculate the shortest possible route given a theoretical arrangement of cities. Bumblebees, however, take the brute-force approach: For them, it’s simply Continue Reading →

One of the most enjoyable facets of studying other species is discovering the amazing things they’re capable of. As humans, the things we tend to find most amazing are the abilities that remind us the most of, well, us—parrots that can speak, bonobos that play Pac-Man, monkeys that use rocks like hammers to crack nuts, Continue Reading →

Paleoartist Tyler Keillor has long specialized in sculpting realistic clay dinosaur heads for museums and universities, but for his next project — an exacting replica of a full Dryptosaurs built entirely as a 3-D digital object — Kiellor needed a little help from the crowd. He set up a modest Kickstarter campaign to help buy Continue Reading →

A team of scientists led by Jon Kellar at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology have come up with a special QR code—using nanoparticles combined with blue and green fluorescent ink—that can be used to prevent counterfeiters from getting away with passing along forged cash. The code is designed with standard computer-aided design Continue Reading →

There’s plenty of science suggesting Mars was once home to water. But new research suggests that much of the evidence, in the form of clay, could have come from lava and not lakes—and that would decrease the chance of life having existed on the red planet. Previously, scientists have assumed that layers of clay found Continue Reading →

We’ve been waiting on the prospect of a bionic eye for a while now; being able to surgically give sight to the sightless would be a medical breakthrough, and we’re right on the cusp. Exhibit A: In a world first, scientists have successfully implanted a prototype bionic eye that has helped a woman see shapes. Continue Reading →