Researchers have long maintained that we sleep to accomplish a neural or physiological function that cannot be completed when awake. Why else would higher animals waste a...
As most people age, the crystalline lenses in their eyes start to stiffen and are unable to change shape as easily. As a result, objects in close range start to look blur...
With its wide canopy of leaves, the majestic 50-feet tall manchineel tree that is native to the Caribbean, Florida, the northern coast of South America, Central America,...
If some geologists have their way, world maps will soon be altered to reflect an eighth continent. Dubbed “Zealandia,” the landmass that lies east of Australia covers 1.9...
Even if math doesn’t rank high on your list of favorite subjects, chances are you still look forward to Pi Day. That’s because though the discussions may begin with Pi —...
On Sunday, March 12, most Americans will ‘lose’ an hour by moving their clocks forward sixty minutes. This small sacrifice that marks the start of Daylight Saving Time (D...
The steady increase in global temperatures has been particularly disastrous for the polar ice caps. Experts warn that if this trend continues, there will be no late summe...
The about million species of insects known to humanity thus far have managed to neatly fit into one of 31 existing scientific orders. However, when George Poinar, Jr., th...
While the world is still debating the safety of self-driving cars, the futuristic city-state of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is preparing to launch an autonomous a...
About forty light years, or 235 trillion miles, away in the constellation Aquarius lies a planetary system with seven Earth-sized planets, at least three of which could b...
It has always been believed that the final segment of the human vertebral column, the coccyx, or tailbone, is the remnant of a lost tail. Now, some researchers assert it...
In January 2016, Professor Mike Brown, the California Institute of Technology researcher who demoted Pluto to dwarf status, reported that he and some colleagues had disco...
The fact that the Dionaea muscipula, or Venus flytrap, feeds on unsuspecting insects by luring them into its jaw-like leaves with sweet-smelling nectar has been known for...
A large otter the size of a wolf, roamed the wooded marshlands of China’s Yunnan Province about six million years ago. Xiaoming Wang, curator of vertebrate paleontology a...
Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, have tremendous potential to deliver emergency supplies to remote or disaster-struck regions. However, they are expensive to mass pro...
Move over, Atlantis! A real lost continent has been discovered by a team of geologists led by Lewis D. Ashwal from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Th...
New Zealand is no stranger to beached whales. Every year, rescuers help refloat many disoriented mammals that get stuck in the coastal waters or sand during low tide. How...
In retrospect, 2016 was a banner year for exploding devices. The trend began when hoverboards — two-wheeled self-balancing motorized devices — randomly began to burst int...
Gordon, the barista at San Francisco’s Cafe X, will not greet you by your name or wish you a pleasant day. However, the one thing Gordon will guarantee is “precision craf...
A mako shark is being dubbed the “Energizer Bunny” after traveling a distance of half the globe, or 13,000 miles (just over 21,000 km), in less than two years. According...
To get into the spirit of last night’s NFL Championship game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (...
Avid Pokémon video and card game fans were recently called upon to use their expertise for an unusual task – to help scientists understand the inner workings of the brain...
NASA’s Near Earth Object (NEO) Observations Program has discovered and cataloged over 15,000 Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) since they began scouring the skies in 1998. Howe...
For many of us, the mere thought of wiggling fingers approaching our rib cage or moving towards our underarms is enough to elicit squeals of laughter and giggles. However...