In places like Chernobyl and Fukushima, where nuclear disasters have flooded the environment with dangerous radiation, it makes sense that life might evolve ways to survive it. But one of the most radiation-resistant organisms ever discovered doesn’t come from anywhere radioactive at all. An archaeon called Thermococcus gammatolerans is able to withstand an extraordinary radiation
We’re on the cusp of spring now, and the one thing I’m most looking forward to is watching bees buzz around blooms in my yard once again. In particular, I’ll be keeping an eye out for my birth month bee this year. Just like birth month birds, there are 12 different bees associated with the
The universe is vast, filled with countless cosmic objects and phenomena, many of which remain hidden from our eyes. Traditional optical telescopes reveal only part of the picture, leaving much of the universe’s activity in the dark. But by observing the sky through low-frequency radio waves, astronomers are uncovering a different and much more detailed
Scientists believe so called triplet superconductors could open the door to the most energy efficient technologies ever developed. “A triplet superconductor is high on the wish list of many physicists working in the field of solid state physics,” said Professor Jacob Linder. Linder is a physicist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU’
Researchers have drilled deeper than ever before beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, uncovering evidence that the region was once part of an open ocean. The research team hopes that analyzing the past conditions of Antarctica will provide crucial data to predict sea level rise in the coming decades. The international team of 29 scientists
“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.” Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: About 307 million years ago, Tyrannoroter heberti emerged as one of Earth’s largest land vertebrates during the Late Carboniferous period. After analyzing its fossilized skull, scientists discovered that this football-sized creature
Scientists have long wondered whether other social animals show any consistent response to companions that stop responding, seemingly in distress. When a mouse spots another mouse lying still, it may paw at its friend, chew on its snout, or even yank its limp tongue aside in what closely resembles an attempt at first aid. Is
A fluffy cluster of stars spilling across the sky may have a secret hidden in its heart: a swarm of over 100 stellar-mass black holes. The star cluster in question is called Palomar 5. It’s a stellar stream that stretches out across 30,000 light-years, and is located around 80,000 light-years away. Such globular clusters are
It started as another exoplanet in a group labeled “ordinary.” No one expected that a world, once thought to be a mini-Neptune, would reveal traits of a super-Venus and change how we see certain planetary types. Astronomers used JWST data to learn more about an unusual place called Enaiposha, that orbits a red dwarf star
A superfluid is supposed to flow forever without friction. Yet researchers have now observed one come to a stop. In classical physics, matter falls neatly into familiar categories: gases, liquids, solids, and plasmas. But as temperatures approach absolute zero, quantum mechanics begins to reshape those categories in ways that defy everyday intuition. That is how,