The ‘Slow And Silent’ Part of The San Andreas Fault May Still Be an Earthquake Threat

California is a land divided by a 1,287-kilometer-long (800 miles) rupture known as the San Andreas Fault. Running north to south through the state close to several major cities, it has been responsible for some of the US’s most devastating earthquakes.   There are regions in the state’s heart that haven’t experienced the fault’s full … Read more

Neuroscientists Find Part of The Brain That Responds Specifically to Singing

The capacity to engage with and comprehend music spans nearly every human society. While other creatures also display musical behaviors (think bird song, humpback whale calls, or bonobo vocalizations), our musical cognition appears to be evolutionary distinct within the animal kingdom.    A new study has given us more insight into the brain’s relationship with music, finding that … Read more

Record-Breaking Supernova Is Part of a New Class of Objects

The night sky is filled with blips and flashes, a constantly changing sea of lights. Some of these changes are from Earth-bound happenings such as aircraft flying overhead, but some are from distant sources in space. Astronomers hunt for these fleeting phenomena, known as astronomical transients, by observing the sky regularly and looking for differences … Read more

In One Part of Europe, Soil Is Rapidly Degrading. It’s a Warning to Us All

In the Mediterranean region, the soil is degrading, and land is turning to desert faster than anywhere else in the European Union, according to a new analysis. Experts warn that the combined effects of unsustainable land practices and climate change have depleted a finite resource to a critical point.   A recent publication by a … Read more

We’ve Found The Part of The Brain That Helps Us Say Words How We Intend To

While it might feel as though we do it without thinking, getting words from our brain and out of our mouths in an intelligible way is actually an incredibly complex process – and scientists just made a new discovery about a key part of it.   Our brains are always adjusting what we’re saying based … Read more

NASA Just Announced Where ISS Will Plunge to Its Death in Early 2031

NASA says it plans to plunge the vestiges of the International Space Station (ISS) into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo in early 2031, after passing the baton to commercial space stations.   In an updated transition report just delivered to Congress, the space agency detailed the endgame for the space station, which … Read more

Ancient solar storm smashed Earth at the wrong part of the sun’s cycle — and scientists are concerned

An extremely powerful solar storm pummeled our planet 9,200 years ago, leaving permanent scars on the ice buried deep below Greenland and Antarctica. A new study of those ancient ice samples has found that this previously unknown storm is one of the strongest outbursts of solar weather ever detected and would have crippled modern communications systems … Read more

Fossil Analysis Reveals This Well-Armored Dinosaur Was Probably Sluggish And Deaf

Reanalyzing fossils can often lead to new discoveries, as has been the case with a study of an 80 million-year-old Late Cretaceous Struthiosaurus austriacus skull. A new analysis reveals the dinosaur was likely sluggish in its movements and was probably largely deaf as well.   Researchers used a high-resolution 3D scan of a partial braincase section … Read more

Satellite images show epic snowstorm that shut down part of Interstate 95

A band of snow blankets the United States northeast in a new satellite photo showing the huge storm stranding motorists on Interstate 95 in Virginia. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the storm, which dumped more than 14 inches (36 centimeters) of snow on parts of southern Virginia and southern Maryland. Motorists … Read more

What if Math Is a Fundamental Part of Nature, Not Something Humans Came Up With?

Nature is an unstoppable force, and a beautiful one at that. Everywhere you look, the natural world is laced with stunning patterns that can be described with mathematics. From bees to blood vessels, ferns to fangs, math can explain how such beauty emerges.   Math is often described this way, as a language or a … Read more