Science
Discover facts about science. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Science
Potato plants formed tubers aboard a 1995 space shuttle.
Potato plants formed tubers aboard a 1995 space shuttle. Researchers flew plant cuttings on Columbia and compared the resulting tubers with Earth-grown…
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Using oxygen to release energy also creates reactive molecules that can damage cells.
Using oxygen to release energy also creates reactive molecules that can damage cells. The body constantly repairs that damage and controls those molecules,…
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A tick can survive the wash but lose to the dryer.
A tick can survive the wash but lose to the dryer. Clothes washing does not reliably remove the danger of live ticks. The CDC recommends ten minutes on high…
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Army ants can get caught following a trail in circles.
Army ants can get caught following a trail in circles. Separated workers can follow one another's chemical trail into a rotating mill. A navigation rule that…
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Ants do not have lungs and instead breathe through a network of tiny tubes called tracheae that distribute oxygen directly to their cells via spiracles on the sides of their bodies.
Ants do not have lungs and instead breathe through a network of tiny tubes called tracheae that distribute oxygen directly to their cells via spiracles on the…
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A land snail can seal itself away from a dry spell.
A land snail can seal itself away from a dry spell. Some snails close the shell opening with a protective layer and greatly reduce their activity during hot,…
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A frilled shark's pregnancy has been estimated at more than three years.
A frilled shark's pregnancy has been estimated at more than three years. Researchers inferred the long duration from the slow development of embryos, rather…
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Oxytocin's reputation as a 'love hormone' misses a complication: stronger attachment to your own group is not the same as kindness to everyone.
Oxytocin's reputation as a 'love hormone' misses a complication: stronger attachment to your own group is not the same as kindness to everyone. Some…
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A familiar cow can make separation less stressful.
A familiar cow can make separation less stressful. Researchers have measured behavior, heart activity and stress hormones when cattle are isolated and…
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Frogs can use their eyes to help swallow dinner.
Frogs can use their eyes to help swallow dinner. As a frog swallows, its eyes can retract into the roof of its mouth and help move food backward. Experiments…
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Astronomers found a raspberry-aroma molecule in a star-forming cloud.
Astronomers found a raspberry-aroma molecule in a star-forming cloud. Ethyl formate was detected in Sagittarius B2 by its characteristic radio emissions. The…
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Horseshoe crab blood turns a bacterial warning into a clot.
Horseshoe crab blood turns a bacterial warning into a clot. Cells in the crab’s blue blood react to endotoxins from certain bacteria, forming a clot around…
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A physicist won a prize for asking whether cats are liquid.
A physicist won a prize for asking whether cats are liquid. Marc-Antoine Fardin used cats settling into containers to playfully explore rheology, the study of…
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Colobopsis explodens is a fascinating species of Southeast Asian ant whose minor workers possess specialized, oversized glands full of a toxic, sticky secretion that they deploy through suicidal altruism.
Colobopsis explodens is a fascinating species of Southeast Asian ant whose minor workers possess specialized, oversized glands full of a toxic, sticky…
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The Moon is borrowing momentum from Earth's spin.
The Moon is borrowing momentum from Earth's spin. Tidal interactions gradually slow Earth's rotation and transfer angular momentum to the Moon's orbit, moving…
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Tyrannosaurus rex actually lived closer in time to the invention of the smartphone than it did to the existence of the Stegosaurus, completely ruining every childhood dinosaur toy battle you ever orchestrated.
Tyrannosaurus rex actually lived closer in time to the invention of the smartphone than it did to the existence of the Stegosaurus, completely ruining every…
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Certain species of bamboo hold the world record for the fastest growing plants on Earth, capable of shooting up an astonishing thirty-five inches in a single twenty-four hour period.
Certain species of bamboo hold the world record for the fastest growing plants on Earth, capable of shooting up an astonishing thirty-five inches in a single…
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Felines are entirely incapable of tasting sweetness because they suffer from a genetic mutation that deactivated their sweet taste receptors millions of years ago.
Felines are entirely incapable of tasting sweetness because they suffer from a genetic mutation that deactivated their sweet taste receptors millions of years…
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An Oregon fungus is bigger than the mushrooms you can see by thousands of acres.
An Oregon fungus is bigger than the mushrooms you can see by thousands of acres. A vast Armillaria individual in Malheur National Forest covers about 2,385…
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Fire ants can split sleep into hundreds of tiny naps.
Fire ants can split sleep into hundreds of tiny naps. In an artificial-nest study, workers averaged about 253 sleep episodes a day, each roughly a minute…
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A bee’s tiny hairs can pick up a flower’s electric field.
A bee’s tiny hairs can pick up a flower’s electric field. Researchers found that weak electric fields move the hairs on a bumblebee’s body and trigger nerve…
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Some female turkeys can produce offspring from eggs that were never fertilized.
Some female turkeys can produce offspring from eggs that were never fertilized. This rare process, parthenogenesis, uses only the mother's genetic material,…
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Some oysters change which sex cells they produce.
Some oysters change which sex cells they produce. In sequential hermaphroditic species, an oyster can produce sperm during one phase and eggs during another.…
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A cockroach's head is not its only control center.
A cockroach's head is not its only control center. Insects breathe through openings along the body, and nerve centers outside the head control many movements.…
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