I am a geneticist, which, last time I checked, is a perfectly upstanding profession. I mean my mother-in-law still speaks to me, so that must be a good thing, right?
And yet, when I reveal that I study the genetics of body weight and that your genetics can be the driving cause of obesity, I…
Pluto might be small and distant, but it keeps surprising scientists. After the New Horizons spacecraft zipped past it in 2015, we got our first real look at its icy landscape and unexpectedly active atmosphere. But even with those discoveries, one question lingered in scientists’…
With the Atlantic hurricane season already underway, millions of people are anxiously eyeing the forecasts, scanning the horizon for signs of a brewing storm.
This year is expected to be another intense season. Ocean temperatures remain staggeringly high, and conditions in the Pacific are primed…
You might not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but apparently Australia’s sulphur-crested cockatoos are never too old to teach themselves. New research showcases that the Australian-based birds have not only taught themselves to open garbage bins, but they’ve also learned…
Kauffman argues that biological evolution is thus constantly creating not just new types of organisms but new possibilities for organisms, ones that not only did not exist at an earlier stage of evolution but could not possibly have existed. From the soup of single-celled organisms that…
Most cultures have stories and myths detailing the end of days, from the eventual fate of humans to what will happen to our world and any other realms inhabited by their respective deities. These legends often promise the arrival of a reorganised existence after the cataclysm, a paradise.
But…
A study from Japan has identified potential genes behind cat purrs, and the discovery could help us understand why our furry companions make these contented rumblings.
Despite humanity’s long relationship with domestic cats (Felis catus), the purr remains mysterious, and its purpose is still…
A study published in 2023 suggests that nearly 1 million years ago, humanity almost ceased to exist. This potential mass extinction event was discovered by researchers when they began analyzing the genetic data of 3,145 modern humans. The researchers suggest that the ancient population…
Astronomers have discovered a massive black hole jet that is three times bigger than the Milky Way. The jet is known as Quasar J1601+3102, and it was first spotted by astronomers using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). Researchers estimate that the jet spans nearly 200,000 light-years,…
New reports out of the NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggest that the carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in Earth’s atmosphere haven’t been this high in millions of years. It’s a striking discovery that raises even more questions about the current state of our ongoing…