Science
Discover facts about science. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Science
An apple seed does not reliably grow a copy of the apple you ate.
An apple seed does not reliably grow a copy of the apple you ate. It contains a new genetic combination, so the tree’s fruit may differ in flavor, texture,…
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The Sun rings with waves that help scientists study its hidden interior.
The Sun rings with waves that help scientists study its hidden interior. Hot solar material carries pressure waves, and their patterns reveal conditions…
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Chameleon color changes are primarily driven by temperature regulation and emotional state rather than a simple desire to camouflage into their surroundings.
Chameleon color changes are primarily driven by temperature regulation and emotional state rather than a simple desire to camouflage into their surroundings.…
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Wombat poop is not the only weird animal waste, as penguins shoot their feces out at incredibly high pressures to avoid soiling their nests, creating a spectacular projectile effect.
Wombat poop is not the only weird animal waste, as penguins shoot their feces out at incredibly high pressures to avoid soiling their nests, creating a…
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Russell's viper venom became a tool for testing blood clotting.
Russell's viper venom became a tool for testing blood clotting. The dilute Russell's viper venom test uses a controlled reagent to trigger part of the…
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Earth may have several trees for every star in the Milky Way.
Earth may have several trees for every star in the Milky Way. A global study estimated about three trillion trees, while estimates of our galaxy's stars run…
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Cows keep their own voices when their mood changes.
Cows keep their own voices when their mood changes. Researchers recorded 18 heifers in different emotional situations and found distinctive vocal features…
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Termites' gut microbes make them a global methane source.
Termites' gut microbes make them a global methane source. A 2023 modeling study estimated termite methane emissions at about 15 million metric tons in 2020,…
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A plant can respond to the vibrations of being chewed.
A plant can respond to the vibrations of being chewed. Researchers played caterpillar-feeding vibrations to Arabidopsis plants and found changes in their…
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Sperm whales can share an ocean while belonging to different vocal clans.
Sperm whales can share an ocean while belonging to different vocal clans. Their social calls, called codas, are patterned sequences of clicks. Researchers…
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The ocean has salty lakes with living shorelines.
The ocean has salty lakes with living shorelines. Some seafloor depressions hold brine dense enough to remain distinct from the seawater above. In a Gulf of…
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This blue planet gets its color from a very unfriendly sky.
This blue planet gets its color from a very unfriendly sky. HD 189733 b looks blue, but it is a hot gas giant, not another Earth. NASA describes an atmosphere…
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Paleoanthropologists have confirmed that Neanderthals actually possessed cranial capacities significantly larger than those of modern humans, meaning they had physically bigger brains.
Paleoanthropologists have confirmed that Neanderthals actually possessed cranial capacities significantly larger than those of modern humans, meaning they had…
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Fresh-cut grass releases chemicals from damaged leaves.
Fresh-cut grass releases chemicals from damaged leaves. Cutting breaks plant tissue and releases airborne compounds responsible for the familiar green smell.…
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Fire ants can lock their bodies together to form massive, living rafts that float on floodwaters for weeks at a time.
Fire ants can lock their bodies together to form massive, living rafts that float on floodwaters for weeks at a time. They link legs and jaws into a connected…
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Evolution keeps reinventing the crab.
Evolution keeps reinventing the crab. Several crustacean lineages independently evolved a broad, flattened body with a tucked-under abdomen: the crab-like…
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Some horned lizards make an escape attempt with their own blood.
Some horned lizards make an escape attempt with their own blood. When threatened, species such as the Texas horned lizard can force blood from the eye region…
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Dolphins were filmed passing a pufferfish between them.
Dolphins were filmed passing a pufferfish between them. The BBC series Dolphins: Spy in the Pod showed bottlenose dolphins repeatedly handling and sharing a…
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Mapping the surface of Mars and the Moon has been done in far greater detail than mapping the bottom of our own oceans on Earth.
Mapping the surface of Mars and the Moon has been done in far greater detail than mapping the bottom of our own oceans on Earth. Satellites can spot broad…
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NASA equipped the Voyager 1 space probe with a gold-plated audio-visual disc containing greetings in 55 languages, sounds of Earth, and a curated selection of music designed to…
NASA equipped the Voyager 1 space probe with a gold-plated audio-visual disc containing greetings in 55 languages, sounds of Earth, and a curated selection of…
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Ostrich eyes are about the size of a billiard ball, making them the largest eyes of any land animal, which is necessary to spot predators from a vast distance across the open savanna.
Ostrich eyes are about the size of a billiard ball, making them the largest eyes of any land animal, which is necessary to spot predators from a vast distance…
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Fossil records show that the prehistoric snake known as Titanoboa grew up to forty-two feet long and weighed well over a ton, thriving in the swampy jungles of South America right after the dinosaurs went extinct.
Fossil records show that the prehistoric snake known as Titanoboa grew up to forty-two feet long and weighed well over a ton, thriving in the swampy jungles…
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Looking at the sky means looking at several different pasts.
Looking at the sky means looking at several different pasts. Sunlight takes about eight minutes to reach Earth; light from other stars takes years or far…
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Fulgurites are hollow glass tubes that form instantly when lightning strikes a sandy beach or desert, generating localized temperatures of up to fifty thousand degrees Fahrenheit to melt the silica in the ground.
Fulgurites are hollow glass tubes that form instantly when lightning strikes a sandy beach or desert, generating localized temperatures of up to fifty…
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