A standard optical illusion triggers specific neurons in the visual system of mice. “Illusions are fun, but they are also a gateway to perception,” says Hyeyoung Shin, assistant professor of neuroscience at Seoul National University. Shin is the first author of a new study in Nature Neuroscience that has…
The ship wasn’t designed to withstand the powerful ice compression forces—and Shackleton knew it In 1915, intrepid British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew were stranded for months in the Antarctic after their ship, Endurance, was trapped by pack ice, eventually sinking into the freezing depths of the…
A close examination of this year’s military contracts reveals some interesting things. Around this time each year, the US Space Force convenes a Mission Assignment Board to dole out contracts to launch the nation’s most critical national security satellites. The military announced this year’s launch orders Friday, and SpaceX…
Scientists may have additional tools to produce psilocybin to use for medical purposes. Magic mushrooms have been used in traditional ceremonies and for recreational purposes for thousands of years. However, a new study has found that mushrooms evolved the ability to make the same psychoactive substance twice. The discovery…
Ordering DNA for AI-designed toxins doesn’t always raise red flags. On Thursday, a team of researchers led by Microsoft announced that they had discovered, and possibly patched, what they’re terming a biological zero-day—an unrecognized security hole in a system that protects us from biological threats. The system at risk…
Ants carry lactic and acetic acid bacteria that help coagulate milk, as well as formic acid to acidify it. Fermenting milk to make yogurt, cheeses, or kefir is an ancient practice, and different cultures have their own traditional methods, often preserved in oral histories. The forests of Bulgaria and…
“We fully intend to recover the New Glenn first stage on this next launch.” There’s a good bit riding on the second launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. Most directly, the fate of a NASA science mission to study Mars’s upper atmosphere hinges on a successful launch. The…
Who needs peer review? Plan offers easier grants to schools that agree to limits. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration had offered nine schools a deal: manage your universities in a way that aligns with administration priorities and get “substantial and meaningful federal grants,”…
Goodall’s immersive studies of chimpanzees in Africa redefined what it means to be human. Legendary primatologist Jane Goodall, whose immersive field research living among chimpanzees in the 1960s essentially redefined the relationship between humans and animals, has died at the age of 91. According to the Jane Goodall Institute…
Giant sloths are extinct in part because they were tasty and nutritious. The extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna may be people’s fault after all, according to a recent study. A team of archaeologists recently examined animal bones at sites dating to the waning years of the last Ice Age. Their…
