A Joke That Led To A 1000 Year Old Discovery
It started as an offhand joke between colleagues, but what French researcher Victor Gysembergh actually stumbled upon turned out to be one of the most remarkable manuscript discoveries in recent memory. While casually searching an online archive for ancient texts in the central French city of Blois, Gysembergh spotted something that made him look twice: […]
Scientists May Have Found a Way to Actually Reverse Osteoporosis
Scientists may have found a new way to not just slow osteoporosis but actually reverse it, and the discovery centers on a single cell receptor that acts like an on and off switch for bone building. Researchers from the University of Leipzig in Germany and Shandong University in China identified a receptor called GPR133 as […]
The Greatest Wildlife Comeback Story Belongs To The Vultures
For most of the twentieth century, a bird with a nearly ten-foot wingspan was completely missing from the skies above the Alps, wiped out by hunters who mistakenly believed it was a danger to livestock and children. The bearded vulture, one of the most dramatic birds on Earth, was shot to extinction across the entire […]
This Texas Vending Machine Sells Original Art For One Dollar
Somewhere in Austin, Texas, a perfectly ordinary-looking vending machine is about to make someone’s day in a completely unexpected way. Drop in a dollar or two, press a button, and instead of a bag of chips, out comes a tiny original work of art the size of your palm. That is the idea behind Austin […]
Chickpeas May Become The First Food Ever Grown On The Moon
The Moon is not exactly famous for its lush growing conditions, but scientists at the University of Texas at Austin just took a meaningful step toward making lunar farming a reality. Researchers successfully grew and harvested chickpeas using simulated moon dirt for the very first time, a significant leap forward for NASA’s long-term plans to […]
A Study Of 207,000 People Just Revealed The Power Of Forgiveness
Forgiving people is genuinely good for your health. A sweeping new study involving more than 207,000 people across 23 countries found that individuals who make a regular habit of forgiving others tend to enjoy measurably better wellbeing across nearly every area of life, from mental and emotional health to their relationships and sense of purpose. […]
12-Year-Old Just Achieves Nuclear Fusion In His Living Room
Most kids his age were playing video games, but Aiden McMillan of Dallas, Texas spent four years quietly working toward something that professional scientists spend entire careers chasing. At just 12 years old, the seventh-grader has successfully achieved nuclear fusion at home, making him the youngest person in history to ever build a working fusion […]
Bumblebees Can Breathe Underwater?!
Most people assume bees are creatures of the air, zipping between flowers on warm sunny days, but scientists just discovered something that completely turns that picture on its head. Bumblebee queens, it turns out, can actually breathe underwater, and the whole finding began with a lab accident that nobody saw coming. A conservation biologist studying […]
The 98th Academy Awards May Be The Most Exciting In Years
This is it. The 98th Academy Awards are upon us, and if you’re not buzzing with anticipation, you haven’t been paying attention. This year’s race has everything: a genuine underdog story, a record-shattering frontrunner, and zero certainty about who walks away with the big prize. At the center of it all is the supernatural thriller […]
Artist Builds Reinterpretation of Mona Lisa From 100,000 Pieces Of Trash
Standing four stories tall on the side of an apartment building in El Salvador, a massive new mural is stopping everyone who walks by dead in their tracks, and not just because of its enormous size. The artwork is a reimagined Mona Lisa with a distinctly Latin American face, and every single inch of it […]