Science

BioRock, a new investigation on the International Space Station (ISS), is expected to help gain insight into the physical interactions of liquid, rocks, and microorganisms under microgravity conditions for biomining in space. In addition, data from this investigation can be used to inform the development of life support systems involving …

Lunar orbiters recently detected water frost on the floor of some of the south polar craters, regions that are known to be very cold and can trap water. The floor of these craters are also exposed to the space environment including incoming meteors and solar wind particles. In a paper …

A research team led by NOAA marine biologists has described a new species of pocket shark from the Gulf of Mexico. The American pocket shark (Mollisquama mississippiensis). Image credit: Michael Doosey. The newly-discovered shark species belongs to the previously monotypic genus Mollisquama. Named the American pocket shark (Mollisquama mississippiensis), the …

Most cigarette butts contain a filter made of cellulose acetate fiber, a type of a bioplastic. Around 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered every year, making them the most pervasive form of plastic pollution on the planet. A research team headed by Anglia Ruskin University’s Dr. Dannielle Green have discovered …

Our highly mobile tongues, which allow us to swallow chewed food and suckle milk as babies, may have evolutionary origins in some of our most early mammal ancestors, according to an analysis of hyoid bones in Microdocodon gracilis, a newly-discovered docodontan mammaliaform that lived 166 million years ago (Jurassic period) …

A research team led by Flinders University’s Professor Nikolai Petrovsky has completed a human clinical trial on an adjuvant vaccine designed to eliminate the risk of an allergic reaction to European honeybee stings. A European honeybee (Apis mellifera). Image credit: Charles J. Sharp / CC BY-SA 3.0. Allergic reactions to …

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered the remains of a large Neolithic-period settlement near the modern town of Motza, about 3 miles (5 km) west from Jerusalem. An aerial view of the Neolithic-period settlement near Motza, Israel. Image credit: Eyal Marco, Israel Antiquities Authority. “This is the …

From 1946 to 1958, the U.S. tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, a remote constellation of atolls in the Pacific Ocean that was then a U.S. trust territory. Two atolls, Bikini and Enewetak, were used as ground zero for the tests, which caused unprecedented environmental contamination. According to …

In a study done in rats, a moderate daily dose of resveratrol — a natural antioxidant found in more than 70 species of plants such as grapes, cranberries, blueberries, and peanuts — preserved muscle function and mitigated muscle atrophy in the animals exposed to a ground-based partial gravity analog that …

An international team of researchers has discovered a new species of tree growing in the forests of the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. Mischogyne iddii grows white flowers. Image credit: Andrew R. Marshall. The newfound tree species belongs to the genus Mischogyne (family Annonaceae, tribe Monodoreae), a group of small- to …