Science

Researchers have long wondered how horses evolved from a five-toed ancestor to the single-toed animal we know today. While it is largely believed that they simply evolved with fewer digits, Professor Nikos Solounias from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine pose a new theory that suggests …

Bigger honeybee colonies actually have quieter combs than smaller ones, according to a team of researchers at Cornell University, Ithaca. Larger honeybee colonies have quieter combs. Image credit: Seagul. “The surprising result was that — and at first I thought something must be wrong — when there are more bees …

NASA’s Juno probe spent years en route to the gas giant, and the main observation phase hasn’t gone completely smoothly. The probe is in a longer orbit of Jupiter, meaning it makes a close approach of the planet only once every 53 days. Still, the images we’re getting are really …

Smoking only about one cigarette per day carries a risk of developing coronary heart disease and stroke much greater than expected — around half that for people who smoke 20 per day, according to a review of 55 publications from 141 cohort studies, published online in the journal BMJ. There …

Each presidential administration works to put its own stamp on America’s space program. In the Trump administration’s case, that reportedly involves cutting back on funds for the International Space Station and diverting them into funds for lunar exploration. The proposal isn’t entirely a surprise; Vice President Pence announced the Trump …

Non-tailed double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses infect bacteria and dominate water samples from the world’s oceans. They have long escaped analysis because they have characteristics that standard tests can’t detect. However, scientists from MIT and elsewhere have now managed to isolate and study representatives of these elusive viruses. Thin-section electron microscopy …

A new study, conducted before and after the 2004 closure of a coal-burning power plant in China, found children born before the closure had shorter telomeres — specialized sections of DNA that allow chromosomes to be faithfully copied during cell division — than those conceived and born after the plant …

Martian dust storms play a role in the ongoing process of gas escaping from the top of the planet’s atmosphere, according to a new study using observations by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Two 2001 images from the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor show a dramatic change …

There was some concern over the weekend that SpaceX would need to postpone its Falcon Heavy test program because of the US government shutdown, but the company got back on track very quickly after the budget impasse was (temporarily) solved early this week. SpaceX has successfully test fired the Falcon …

Duke University Professor Jennifer Groh and co-authors have found that keeping the head still but shifting the eyes to one side or the other sparks vibrations in the eardrums, even in the absence of any sounds. Surprisingly, these vibrations start slightly before the eyes move, indicating that motion in the …