Science
Discover facts about science. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Science
Jack Hills zircons suggest Earth had water 4.4 billion years ago
The clue is in the zircon’s oxygen: different forms of oxygen, called isotopes, occur in a pattern that suggests the source rocks had met liquid water. That…
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Roman pollution is frozen in Greenland's ice
Silver smelting in Roman times released lead particles that winds carried across great distances, including to Greenland. As snow piled up, it trapped the…
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Neutron-star pasta is stronger than steel
Deep inside a neutron star, gravity crushes matter until atomic nuclei are squeezed into tangled shapes nicknamed nuclear pasta. Simulations suggest this…
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Titin proteins unravel like springs under muscle stress
When a muscle stretches, parts of the giant protein titin unfold one by one, absorbing energy instead of letting the tug hit all at once. They act like tiny…
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Venus displayed a wave larger than a continent
Japan's Akatsuki spacecraft observed a bow-shaped atmospheric feature stretching about 10,000 kilometers in 2015. It stayed over the highlands while…
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Gold nanoparticles can reveal a single molecule
A molecule tucked between close gold nanoparticles scatters light much more strongly because the tiny gap boosts the light around it. Raman spectroscopy…
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In a test tube, shorter RNA could win an evolutionary race
Sol Spiegelman's experiments supplied RNA with copying machinery and repeatedly transferred material into fresh reaction mixtures. Variants that replicated…
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Muons make cold fusion possible at room temperature
A muon can take an electron’s place around hydrogen nuclei. Because a muon is much heavier, it orbits closer and pulls the nuclei near enough to fuse without…
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A flaw can turn a diamond into a magnetic sensor
A tiny gap beside a nitrogen atom gives a diamond a sensitive spot: nearby magnetic fields can change how that defect responds to light. Researchers shine…
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How fungi make antibiotics without ribosomes
Ribosomes usually read a copied gene message to assemble proteins, but some fungal antibiotics take a different route. Large enzymes choose amino acids and…
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Why your heart ends up on the left
The heart’s left-right position is set while an embryo is developing. Tiny moving cilia create a one-way flow of fluid, helping orient signals that tell the…
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Ebola's genetic changes leave clues to an outbreak's route
Researchers compare the virus's RNA sequences alongside the dates and locations of cases. Shared mutations help identify related viral lineages, much like…
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How X-rays revealed insect brains in amber
Amber hides the insect inside, so researchers scan it from several angles rather than cutting it open. A computer assembles those X-ray views into a…
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Satellites spot stressed plants before they turn brown
A stressed plant may still look green, even as its leaves begin reflecting light differently. Satellites with hyperspectral cameras scan hundreds of narrow…
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Cosmic rays reveal when a rock saw daylight
Cosmic rays make beryllium-10 in quartz exposed at Earth’s surface. Once the rock is buried, the ground shields it and largely stops new beryllium-10 from…
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Nylon-factory waste became a bacterial meal
Researchers found bacteria that break down small molecules left over from nylon manufacturing. Their enzymes act like chemical scissors, cutting bonds in…
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How molecular handedness shapes life
Molecular handedness means a molecule comes in two mirror-image forms that cannot be lined up perfectly, much like left and right hands. Living proteins are…
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How fossil pollen reveals ancient droughts
Plants leave clues about dry conditions in the chemistry of their pollen. The hydrogen can reflect the water the plant used, while carbon can show how the…
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Stem cells can choose their fate by feeling a surface
A stem cell tests its surroundings by pulling on them. A soft surface gives way; a stiff one pushes back, and that feedback can influence the cell’s…
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A pine forest can supply ingredients for clouds above it
Trees release vapors that react in the air and help form tiny particles. Those particles can grow into surfaces on which water droplets gather. CERN's CLOUD…
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A single molecule can make liquid crystals spin
Liquid-crystal molecules tend to line up, so one molecule’s motion can tug the pattern around it. In some systems, ultraviolet light turns a linked molecular…
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Dying stars make radioactive technetium
Technetium has no stable version: every atom eventually breaks down. So finding it in an old, giant star is like spotting a fresh footprint—the star must have…
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How North Korean posters use color to shape perception
The saturated colors in North Korean travel posters do more than decorate a scene: bright skies and vivid reds give it a polished, nostalgic mood. That makes…
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The meteorite people heard before it struck
The sound of a meteor should lag behind its light because sound crawls through air more slowly. But reports of hissing before impact may have another…
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