Science
Discover facts about science. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Science
One language family reaches half the world
English, Spanish, Persian, and Hindi may sound far apart, but their systematic similarities point to a shared ancestor: Proto-Indo-European. Linguists compare…
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The mushroom that smells like rotting flesh
A stinkhorn smells like rotting flesh to lure blowflies to its slimy coating. The flies feed, pick up spores, and carry them elsewhere; some spores may even…
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Sun contains nearly all mass in our solar system
Jupiter is the solar system’s heavyweight planet, yet it contains less than one-thousandth as much mass as the Sun. Add up the planets and other smaller…
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The FBI warned that a job interview could include a borrowed identity
In 2022, the agency reported complaints about remote-job applicants using stolen personal information and suspected voice or video manipulation. Some reports…
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Facial recognition software fails completely mostly
A mask can hide features a face-recognition system uses, making a match harder. But many systems can still compare the visible parts of the face, and the…
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Measuring a quantum state forces it to collapse
A quantum measurement happens when an interaction leaves a record of information about a particle. That process yields one definite result from the…
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Why Brontosaurus disappeared from science
The name Brontosaurus disappeared from scientific use because researchers once classified its fossils with Apatosaurus. The disagreement was about whether the…
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The messy discovery that led to penicillin
Bacteria grew everywhere except in a clear ring around Fleming’s mold. That empty space suggested the mold was releasing something that stopped the bacteria.…
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Uhlenbeck theorized that electrons spin exactly like tops
Electrons act as if they carry a tiny magnetic moment, and physicists describe the underlying quantum property as spin. But an electron isn’t a little sphere…
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Tourists are named for going in circles
The word “tourist” grew from “tour,” meaning a journey or circuit. Trace “tour” back through French and Latin and you reach Greek *tornos*, linked to a…
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How electrons repel each other without touching
Electrons push one another through their electric fields, which reach across the space between them. Think of two magnets nudging apart without ever meeting:…
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Head lice die quickly away from a warm scalp
Head lice need two things their usual home supplies: warmth from the scalp and regular access to blood. Away from a person, they dry out and usually die…
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Mars is slowly pulling Phobos to its doom
Phobos orbits Mars faster than Mars turns, and that mismatch lets the planet’s tides drain energy from the moon’s orbit. As the orbit loses energy, Phobos…
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Why baking powder makes batter rise
When baking powder gets wet, baking soda reacts with a dry acid and releases carbon dioxide. The batter traps that gas in bubbles, which expand as the oven…
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A scalding sip can leave your tongue temporarily less sensitive
Heat can injure the tongue's surface, producing soreness and dulling taste until it recovers. That is different from a drink merely cooling down: the same…
Discover moreSeaborgium broke a rule for naming elements
Usually, an element named for a person honors them after their death. Seaborgium became an exception when Glenn Seaborg received the honor in 1997, while he…
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How one apple can ripen the fruit around it
As an apple ripens, it releases ethylene, a gas that signals nearby fruit to ripen too. A paper bag holds more of that gas around a banana, strengthening…
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Phosphoric acid totally strips stubborn rust from iron
Phosphoric acid can react with iron oxide in rust and turn it into iron phosphate, a darker, more stable coating. The reaction works best when the rust is…
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Streaming sold a shortcut around managing music files
Downloading songs meant finding files, storing them, and moving them between devices. Streaming replaced much of that work with a searchable catalog and a…
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How a third choice can change an election winner
In ranked-choice voting, votes move only after a candidate is eliminated. If a third candidate draws first-choice votes from people who prefer A to B, that…
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Why magnesium burns with blinding white light
When magnesium burns, the hot reaction produces an intense white glow and ultraviolet radiation. Before electric flashbulbs were common, photographers used…
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Theoretical machines can compute any mathematical function
A machine can compute a function if it has a precise set of steps for producing the answer. That doesn’t mean every mathematical question has such a recipe,…
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A red object needs the right light to look red
A surface reflects some wavelengths more strongly than others, and your visual system interprets the light reaching your eyes. Under blue-only illumination, a…
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Web browsing was initially given away for free
The web spread partly because its core software was made available for anyone to build on without a license fee. That removed one barrier for developers, not…
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