An international team of scientists has created a robot that seamlessly goes from a solid to a liquid state and back again. The feat may sound magical. But it is rooted in science....

The first phonetic alphabet — where each symbol stands for a certain sound — is credited to the Canaanites. They lived in the Eastern Mediterranean over 2000 years ago. Over the years, archaeologists have found some of these symbols on old pottery pieces. Now, they have discovered the oldest complete sentence written in this alphabet on an ancient lice comb....

Despite technological advances, modern concrete structures start to crumble in just 50 years if not maintained. This contrasts sharply with Italian monuments that remain standing after over 2,000 years. Now, an international research team has finally uncovered how Roman concrete wonders continue to survive to this day....

A remote area in Antarctica has been identified as the "coldest place on Earth." According to NASA, the temperatures in the East Antarctic Plateau can dip to a bone-chilling -136° F (-93.3° C). That is several degrees colder than the previous low of -128.6° F (-89.2° C) set in 1983 at the Russian Vostok Research Station in East Antarctica....

Starting January 12, 2023, stargazers will get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a rare comet with a greenish hue. Astronomers discovered Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in March 2022 when it was inside Jupiter's orbit. NASA scientists believe this may be the comet's first sighting. If the icy body did pass our planet previously, it was probably thousands of years ago....

US doll maker American Girl unveiled its first South Asian "Girl of the Year" on December 29, 2022. Kavika (Kavi) Sharma is a gorgeous brown-eyed 12-year-old who loves to sing and dance. She dreams of starring on Broadway one day....

The Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) was one of the most ferocious dinosaurs that roamed Earth in the very late Cretaceous period — about 66 million years ago. Over the years, scientists have collected substantial information on the tiny-armed reptile itself. However, very little is known about how the vicious predator evolved. Now paleontologists at the Badlands Dinosaur Museum in North Dakota believe they may have found an essential missing link to the T. rex's lineage....

On November 23, 2022, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced its first new class of astronaut trainees in 13 years. The 17 candidates were selected from a pool of 22,500 applicants. They include five career astronauts, 11 reserve astronauts, and John McFall — the world's first astronaut with a disability....

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are all about finding the best deals on holiday gifts for friends and family members. But GivingTuesday, which will be observed on November 29, 2022, has a more altruistic purpose. "The Global Day of Giving" encourages people to do good by helping those in need....

The Champs-Élysées is an iconic Paris landmark. It connects the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. The 1.2-mile (1.9km) tree-lined avenue was once a popular place for locals to walk and picnic. However, it is now a tourist hotspot, filled with expensive cafes and designer shops....

Norway is a global leader in sustainability. The Nordic country's approximately 5.4 million residents do everything possible to reduce their environmental impact. Hence, it should come as no surprise that it was the venue of choice for the world's first energy-positive hotel....

If Chinese automobile company Xpeng AeroHT has its way, we may soon be commuting on flying cars. The electric car manufacturer recently unveiled two radical flying vehicle models....

On December 24, 2021, NASA's InSight lander recorded a magnitude four quake on Mars. At first, scientists had no idea what had caused the tremor. However, that changed in February 2022 when the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted a new crater on the Red Planet's surface. Researchers connected the dots from both missions and realized that a meteoroid had struck Mars....

Travis Gienger did not have much hope for a pumpkin he planted in April 2022. The 42-year-old horticulture teacher from Anoka, Minnesota, had accidentally dropped a bucket of dirt on the plant when it was just five days old! But the mishap did not seem to impact the gourd. "Maverick" — nicknamed after the main character in Top Gun — grew to an astounding 2,560 pounds....

On October 25th, 2022, Rishi Sunak replaced Lizz Truss as Britain's Prime Minister (PM). The country's third leader in less than two months is a man of many firsts. He is the first non-white and first Indian-origin PM. At 42, Sunak is also the youngest British leader in over 200 years. With an estimated family net worth of £730 million ($840 million), Sunak is the richest-ever British PM....

Every fall, families across the Northern Hemisphere rush to pumpkin patches in search of the perfect gourds. Some use them to carve out scary jack-o'-lanterns. Others place the fruits outside their homes as decor. But the fascination with pumpkins ends after Halloween, and most end up in the trash....

Every winter, Alaskan fishers head out to the Bering Sea to harvest snow crabs. However, on October 10, 2022, officials announced that the 2022/2023 snow crab season had been canceled due to a sharp decline in their population. Ocean surveys indicate that the number of snow crabs has shrunk from an estimated 11.9 billion in 2018 to about 1.9 billion in 2022....

The Sun is getting excited about Halloween as well! On October 26, 2022, NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) caught the fiery star sporting a cheerful "smile." However, don't be fooled by the friendly "jack-o'-lantern" look. It could trigger a mild solar storm on Earth on October 29, 2022....

Electric cars are a great way to reduce our carbon footprint. But French car maker Citroën believes more can be done to make vehicles sustainable. On September 29, 2022, the company unveiled Oli, a concept electric car that can be "reused or recycled throughout ownership."...

A gentle giant in Farmington Hills, Michigan, has set a Guinness World Record as the world's tallest living domestic cat. Fenrir Powers measured an impressive 18.83 inches on January 29, 2021. The two-year-old Savannah cat's achievement was revealed in the Guinness World Records 2023 edition, released on September 13, 2022....

Plastic may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of footwear. But a significant portion of modern shoes, including soles and uppers, are made using plastic materials. The billions of pairs of discarded shoes, flip flops, and sandals that end up in landfills every year take hundreds of years to decompose and pose a substantial environmental challenge. California-based Blueview hopes to alleviate the problem with what they claim is the world's first fully compostable shoe....

The origin of Saturn's beautiful rings and the reason for the planet's unusually large 27 degree-tilt on its axis has puzzled astronomers for decades. Scientists had initially believed that the rings had been a part of the planet since its formation billions of years ago. However, recent research indicates that the planet acquired them sometime between 100 and 200 million years ago....

The Polynesian Kingdom of Tonga is home to a new island. The land mass results from the lava and ash spewed by the Home Reef seamount, an undersea volcano that came to life on September 10, 2022. While the volcano has been erupting steadily since, it poses no risk to the residents of the South Pacific archipelago....

A seven-year-old boy's love for corn has made him an Internet celebrity worldwide. Tariq's rise to fame was accidental. The New York resident was at Smorgasburg, a weekly food festival in Brooklyn, this summer when Julian Shapiro-Barnum approached him. The comedian is the host of "Recess Therapy," a fun YouTube series featuring impromptu interviews with kids....