Thank goodness for the Earth's crust: It is, after all, that solid, outermost layer of our planet that supports everything above it. But much of what happens below that layer remains a mystery, including the fate of sections of crust that vanish back into the Earth. Now, a team of...
Mussels could serve as a global bioindicator for microplastic pollution, as the creatures don’t move and reside on the seabed where plastic ends up. And a new study from the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) uncovered plastic in 76.6 percent of individual blue mussels they tested. Reuters pointed to...
The thin, slippery layer of cartilage between the bones in the knee is magical stuff: strong enough to withstand a person's weight, but soft and supple enough to cushion the joint against impact, over decades of repeat use. That combination of soft-yet-strong has been hard to reproduce in the...
Google is celebrating the 190th birthday of the chemist and writer Julius Lothar Meyer with a Doodle depicting him experimenting in the lab to a backdrop of his vertical display of elements. Meyer was the son of a doctor from Varel in Germany. He qualified in medicine himself in 1854...
For fans of the TV show Game of Thrones, dire wolves are often seen as mysterious iconic legends. Now, for the first time, an international team led by Durham University and colleagues in Australia, Germany and the US, have analysed ancient DNA from dire wolves to reveal a complex history...
A dramatic death is predicted for the sun in 10 billion years time as our parent star morphs into a planetary nebula, say UK scientists. Our sun is still in its glory years at the ripe age of 4.5 billion years. In about 10 billion years, the sun’s core will...
A new scenario based on computer simulations accounts for all of the observed characteristics of the first known interstellar object to visit our solar system. Since its discovery in 2017, an air of mystery has surrounded the first known interstellar object to visit our solar system, an elongated, cigar-shaped body...
A team of scientists believe they have discovered the first evidence of an alien protein from a meteorite that struck earth almost 30 years ago. Meteors sowed seeds of life on earth Space experts argue that meteorites containing hemolithin protein might have played a crucial role in sowing seeds of life...
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel’s NRGene said on Tuesday it was working with a team of researchers from Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands as well as commercial partners to create multi-genome mapping of potatoes. NRGene has completed the assembly of three commercial varieties of potatoes, which...
The Shigir Idol was discovered by gold prospectors in 1894, but dating it proved a little problematic and controversial. Now, it is believed to be one of the oldest samples of art at 11,600 years old. Early analysis showed that it was made entirely of larch wood and was constructed...