The moment a person dies, their body begins to break down as cells wither and bacteria invade. But how long does it take for a body to fully decompose? Although the process of decomposition starts within minutes of death, there are a number of variables, including the ambient temperature, soil acidity and coffin materials, which … Read more
Falling in love may hit your heart, but what does it do to your brain? It turns out that falling in love corresponds with the release of key brain chemicals from certain regions of the brain, Dr. Gül Dölen (opens in new tab), an associate professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of … Read more
Ancient microbes whose existence predates the rise of nucleus-carrying cells on Earth may hold the secrets to how such complex cells first came to be. Now, for the first time, scientists have grown a large enough quantity of these microbes in the lab to study their internal structure in detail, Science reported. Researchers grew an … Read more
When a glassfrog falls asleep, it vanishes. Nestled atop a lush leaf, the frog’s bright green back blends right in, while its underbelly’s reddish hue quickly grows transparent. Now, a new study in the journal Science (opens in new tab) reveals that the northern glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni) pulls off this feat by removing almost 90% … Read more
Once the stuff of science fiction, lab-grown meat could become reality in some restaurants in the United States as early as this year. Executives at cultivated meat companies are optimistic that meat grown in massive steel vats could be on the menu within months after one company won the go-ahead from a key regulator. In … Read more
There is a frozen soup of viruses, bacteria and fungal spores lurking beneath the frigid Arctic soil. Unlike the icy leftovers in the back of your freezer, some of these microbes haven’t interacted with a cell since well before ancient Egyptians built the Pyramids of Giza. As climate change continues to cook the planet, however, … Read more
Octopuses may have gained some of their exceptional intelligence from the same evolutionary process that humans went through, a new study suggests. The process involved a sudden explosion of microRNAs (miRNAs) — small, noncoding molecules that control how genes are expressed. This increase may have helped the brains of octopuses and humans to develop new … Read more
As Elton John once sang, “Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids; in fact, it’s cold as hell.” But new research suggests that Martian chill could allow bacteria to survive for up to 280 million years below the planet’s surface. The finding raises hopes that traces of ancient life — or even … Read more
Charles Darwin famously marveled at the “endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful” produced by evolution, and indeed, Earth today teems with an estimated 1 trillion species. But how long did it take those species to evolve? The answer varies widely across lifeforms, “depending on taxa [type of creature] and environmental conditions,” Thomas Smith, a … Read more
Tiny tardigrades can survive conditions that would kill most other forms of life. By expelling their body’s water and transforming into a seemingly lifeless ball called a tun, they enter a state of dried-up suspended animation in which they can survive for decades without food and water and withstand extreme temperatures, pressures and even the … Read more
