Scientists can finally explain why some massive stars appear to dance around in the sky even though they are not actually moving: The stars have unusually bubbly guts that cause their surfaces to wobble, thus changing the amount of light they give off, according to a new study. The dancing stars are known as red … Read more
Could a brain ever exist on its own, divorced from or independent of a body? For a long time, philosophers have pondered such “brain-in-a-vat” scenarios, asking whether isolated brains could maintain consciousness when separated from their bodies and senses. Typically, a person’s experiences are characterized by a web of interactions between the human brain, body … Read more
In 2012, a shriveled white star in a nearby galaxy reached the end of its life and exploded in a violent, thermonuclear supernova. Such explosions — known as type 1a supernovas — are a common end for billions of stars in our universe, typically resulting in the utter obliteration of the old star at the … Read more
Death comes for all, but aging doesn’t — at least for some animal species. Two new studies published Thursday (June 23) in the journal Science found that turtles and tortoises have remarkably slow rates of aging. In captivity, without the stress of finding food and avoiding predators, some may not age at all. “That is … Read more
It’s springtime on Mars and the mysterious polygons are in bloom, a new image from the orbiting High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HIRISE) camera shows. Recorded on March 30, 2022, the image reveals a patchwork of white zig-zags cracking across the Martian soil at high latitudes, with occasional sprays of black and blue mist fanning out … Read more
Humans have been expressing thoughts with language for tens (or perhaps hundreds) of thousands of years. It’s a hallmark of our species — so much so that scientists once speculated that the capacity for language was the key difference between us and other animals. And we’ve been wondering about each other’s thoughts for as long … Read more
Jupiter’s innards are full of the remains of baby planets that the gas giant gobbled up as it expanded to become the behemoth we see today, scientists have found. The findings come from the first clear view of the chemistry beneath the planet’s cloudy outer atmosphere. Despite being the largest planet in the solar system, … Read more
Physicists have created a system of two connected time crystals, which are strange quantum systems that are stuck in an endless loop to which the normal laws of thermodynamics do not apply. By connecting two time crystals together, the physicists hope to use the technology to eventually build a new kind of quantum computer. “It … Read more
A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a vast cloud of electrically charged particles from the sun’s upper atmosphere or corona that’s heated to enormous temperatures and launched with a huge burst of speed by the energy released in a solar flare. These hot blobs of plasma can have spectacular effects on planets that lie in … Read more
Whether you call our planet the Earth, the world or a terrestrial body, all of these names have an origin story deep in history. Like many names of solar system objects, Earth’s original namer is long lost to history. But linguistics provide a few clues. Ertha is an approximate spelling for “the ground” (meaning, … Read more
