On August 27, NASA’s Juno mission completed the first orbital flyby of Jupiter. Traveling at a speed of 130,000 mph, the spacecraft passed about 2,600 miles above the gas giant’s swirling clouds. Though the space probe will be conducting 35 additional flybys before the mission ends on February 2018, this was its closest approach and hence, the most important for data collection. Juno did not disappoint....

If you visit Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington DC, you may notice one of the zoo’s resident elephants, Shanthi, strolling around in stylish Teva boots. While the footwear makes the 9,000-pound pachyderm stand out among her peers, its primary purpose is to provide the 41-year-old relief from the side effects of arthritis, a chronic condition that causes painful inflammation and stiffness of joints....

Though not mandatory, it has become customary for the US Presidential nominees of the two largest political parties — currently the Democratic and Republican parties — to face off against each other in a series of live debates. While the primary purpose is to convince undecided voters, hearing the candidate’s views on issues ranging from the US economy to foreign policy sometimes sways even staunch party supporters. Given that the nominees get just three chances to present their ideas, the discussions are often contentious. However, the arguments are usually restricted to differences in policies. But this time the rhetoric has been personal. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spent the first two debates talking more about each other’s character flaws than discussing America’s future. Last night was no different....

Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and important ecosystems on Earth. Not only do they provide food and habitats for the fish and seafood we eat, but they also shelter many other organisms that are crucial for ocean food chains. Experts estimate they contribute about $30 billion USD to the global economy annually, through tourism, fisheries, and coastal protection. Unfortunately, warming ocean waters, acidification, and over-fishing are killing the beautiful reefs at unprecedented levels....

Robots have come a long way since ancient Greek mathematician, Archytas, released a steam-powered wooden dove dubbed “The Pigeon” in 350 B.C. However, the terminator-type rigidity of the machines has hindered them from being useful at tasks like search and rescue operations. While researchers have recently created softer and more flexible robots, they still contain hard electric power and control systems — such as batteries and circuit boards....

What do circles, squares, and triangles have to do with making movies? According to a new video from Now You See It, a YouTube channel that explores film concepts, it is one of the several ways used by directors and cinematographers to influence the audience about a character or a situation....

Listen up Potterheads! Muggle student scientists from the U.K.’s University of Leicester have been researching some critical matters: do the spells and potions that Harry Potter and his fellow wizards use really need magic to work or do they have a scientific basis? The research papers, “Gillyweed – Drowning with Gills?” and “Revealing the Magic of Skele-Gro,” published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics in May, investigated the magical plant and potion that helped the wizard in the popular book series....

Looking for some inspiration for your Halloween pumpkin? Then you might want to check out American sculptor and artist, Ray Villafane’s masterpieces. The two-time winner of the Food Network show, “Outrageous Pumpkins,” does not just “carve” pumpkins. He transforms them into 3-D sculptures — ghoulish ones of course!...

Polish explorer Krzysztof Starnawski’s fascination with the Hranická Propast, or Hranice Abyss, an underwater cave in the Czech Republic, began in 1999. The diver, who once held the record for the deepest dive (283-meters) with a closed circuit rebreather, says the cave’s limestone unusual formation led him to suspect that it was a lot deeper than his dives had taken him....

Legendary artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, who conducted the first systematic study of friction, has always been credited as the pioneer in Tribology. But while his famous machinery design sketches reflected the inventor’s knowledge of the benefits and drawbacks of friction, precisely when and how Leonardo developed these ideas, has remained a mystery....

Nora, the polar bear born to Columbus Zoo residents Nanuq and Aurora, has captivated the world since her birth on November 6. She is after all, the only polar bear born at the zoo to survive beyond the first few weeks, in twenty-eight years....

The first clue that the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season would be an active one came in January, when Alex, a Category 1 hurricane, arrived six months before the season’s official June 1st start date. Since then, there have been 13 named storms and three hurricanes. However, none have been as devastating as Hurricane Matthew, which has left a trail of destruction all the way from Haiti to North Carolina....

On Wednesday, October 5, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, and Bernard L. Feringa won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating machines that are a thousand times thinner than a hair strand! What is even more impressive is that the nanomotors are not made of pistons or gears — just a handful of molecules!...

In August, a team of Mongolian and Japanese researchers unearthed the world’s largest dinosaur footprint in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. The print that measured 3.6-feet long and 6.4-feet wide, is believed to be that of the titanosaur, a diverse species of sauropod dinosaurs that inhabited Earth during the Cretaceous period, between 70 and 90 million years ago....

Mourning the loss of a loved one was initially thought to be just a human characteristic. However, over the years, experts have observed similar behavior in terrestrial social animals like gorillas and elephants. In one case, a herd of wild elephants spent hours trying to lift the body of their dead matriarch. After accepting her death, the elephants covered the body with leaves and tree branches and kept vigil for two days before finally dispersing. Now, scientists have discovered that even whales undergo tremendous sorrow when they lose an offspring or companion....

Researchers have long attributed the evolution of human intelligence to the size of the brain. It turns out that while a larger skull certainly helped, it was the extra blood sucked in by the brain that transformed humans into one of Earth’s smartest species. The surprising revelation that overturns the previous, long-standing theory comes from a team of scientists at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and the University of Adelaide in Australia....

Turkish technology company Letvision recently revealed a working prototype of a real-life transformer that will make all Autobot and Decepticon fans swoon! The company says the idea to build “Letrons” came about during a brainstorming session to create a unique and futuristic project. It took the team of twelve engineers and four supporting technicians, eight months to build the first prototype, unveiled in late September....

Five years ago, Finland resident Rami Adham embarked on a mission to help the Syrian refugees in his former hometown of Aleppo. The father of six used all his savings to buy food and medicine. As he was leaving for Syria, his three-year-old daughter, Yasmin, offered to donate her toys, in exchange for a new Barbie doll. A deal was made, and the aid worker added 25 teddy bears and 36 Barbie dolls to his already heavy load....

The great frigatebird, a species of seabird found across the world’s tropical seas, has a 7 foot wingspan — the largest of any bird species its size. Past research had indicated that these adept pilots could stay aloft as long as a week at a time. It turns out, that the experts and even Christopher Columbus, who noticed the birds on his 1492 voyage to the Americas — and remarked “does not alight on the sea nor depart from land 20 leagues (70 miles)” — had vastly underestimated the magnificent bird’s flying prowess and smarts!...

Here is some exciting news for those living in the Western Hemisphere — today, September 30, marks the emergence of the black moon. While that may sound sinister and is even dubbed apocalyptic by some; it is just the moniker given to the second new moon in a month. And like all new moons, this one too will be invisible to the naked eye....

September is usually a month when the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) are at their lowest levels in the northern hemisphere. That’s because plants suck up a lot of the gas as they grow during the summer. But this year, the level of the greenhouse gas has remained stubbornly above the symbolic “red line” of 400 parts per million. This has caused scientists to predict that CO2 levels will not return to environment-friendly levels "ever again for the indefinite future.”...

As predicted, the first debate between US presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, that took place at New York’s Hofstra University on September 26, drew a record audience. According to initial estimates, between 70 – 80 million people tuned in to watch the first face-off between the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees. The last time a US presidential debate generated this much interest was in 1980, when incumbent president Jimmy Carter was pitted against former California governor Ronald Reagan....

If you think winter luge, where athletes lying on tiny sleds hurtle down slippery icy tracks is dangerous, you probably have never seen the “summer” version of the sport. Street luge is similar to its winter counterpart, except for one thing – competitors do not have the safety of a chute. Instead, they lay on their sleds and zip down paved streets to what seems like certain death!...

Like most bees, the ground nesting Anthophora squammulosa, that are native to parts of North and Central America, are a solitary species. The females lay their eggs in little underground nests and then head out to search for nectar to feed their developing larvae. This process usually takes place in environments with plenty of flora, to ensure a reliable supply of food....