As Earth makes its annual passage through the tail of comet C/1861 G1, or Thatcher, we’re treated to the spectacular sight of meteors burning up in the atmosphere. This is the Lyrid meteor shower, and it comes around every April. This year, the lovely team at the Giant Magellan Telescope has put together a
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Sixty-five million years ago, planet Earth was pummelled by a wave of extinction that left few marine organisms alive. Now scientists are trying to coax what’s left out of the abyss and into the limelight, baiting some ancient creatures with a rare delicacy of the past. A gross, yet fascinating new video shows a
By implanting transparent skulls into mice, scientists think they may be able to glean new insights into how the brain works as a whole – research that could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other brain disorders. “This new device allows us to look at the brain activity at the smallest level zooming in on specific neurons
The founder of MoviePass is back, and this time he’s not messing around. MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes has a new startup called PreShow, and it’s using a business model straight out of A Clockwork Orange: The company’s new app helps you score free movie tickets — as long as you sit through 15 to 20
Around 13.7 billion years ago, our Universe sprang into existence, but what was around before the Big Bang? In an episode of Star Talk released just a few weeks before his death in March 2018, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking sat down with host Neil deGrasse Tyson to talk about what exactly pre-dated the beginning of our
What do you think spiders eat? Insects? Yeah, that’s true. But their diets can actually be a lot more varied than that – and biologists have observed a spider smorgasbord that will blow your mind. In the Amazon rainforest, a team of researchers recorded spiders and other arthropods such as centipedes feasting on tadpoles,
After years of delays, SpaceX and NASA are closing in on the first experimental launch of a commercial spaceship designed to fly astronauts into orbit. The demonstration mission, called Demo-1, is scheduled to launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday at 2:49 am ET (7:49 am UTC) from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral,
Life is miraculous, and watching it unfold in real time is even more so. A new video from Netherlands-based filmmaker Jan van IJken now lets you watch a baby salamander twisting and turning as it grows in its transparent egg. Simply called Becoming, this beautiful short film follows a single salamander embryo (Ichthyosaura Alpestris)
Maggots repulse us. Despite being the innocent babes of the insect world, there’s something about these larval critters that just gets under our skin. Yes, literally too. And dangerously. But there are good reasons we should overcome our aversion. It’s becoming increasingly clear how incorporating insects into our diets stands to benefit the environment