Spinal Implant Enables Paralyzed Man With Severed Spine to Walk Again

In 2017, Michel Roccati was in a motorbike accident that left his lower body completely paralyzed. In 2020, he walked again, thanks to a breakthrough new spinal cord implant. The implant sends electrical pulses to his muscles, mimicking the action of the brain, and could one day help people with severe spinal injuries stand, walk, … Read more

Mysterious Link Between Vitamin D And COVID-19 Reaffirmed in ‘Striking’ New Findings

Israeli scientists said they found “striking” differences in the chances of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 when they compared patients who had sufficient vitamin D levels prior to contracting the disease, with those who didn’t.   A study published Thursday in research journal PLOS One found that about half of people who were vitamin D deficient before getting COVID-19 … Read more

Chimps Use Insects to Soothe Each Other’s Wounds in Never-Before-Seen Behavior

In 2019, Alessandra Mascaro, a volunteer and budding evolutionary biologist for The Loango Chimpanzee Project, noticed something no other primatologist in Africa had reported before.   In the forests of Gabon, while following and filming a female chimpanzee Suzee and her son Sia, Mascaro noticed Suzee clamp something tiny between her lips, before applying the … Read more

Astronomers Spot The Youngest Pair of Asteroids Ever Discovered in The Solar System

A pair of asteroids orbiting the Sun formed less than 300 years ago, a new study has revealed. This makes them the youngest pair of asteroids ever discovered in the Solar System, by a factor of 10. The discovery could tell us more about how asteroids crumble, while raising some intriguing new questions.   “It’s … Read more

New Study Shows We Have No Idea What Megalodon Really Looked Like

Earth’s oceans were once home to an absolutely fearsome predator. We know it only from teeth and vertebrae in the fossil record, but these tell us that megalodon (Otodus megalodon) was absolutely colossal. Many of those teeth are as big as your hand. Megalodon, we can only conclude, was the largest shark ever to swim … Read more

Scientists Have Named an ‘Alien’ Predatory Flatworm After COVID

COVID-19 has infected every part of our lives over the last two years. The ways we work, engage with our surroundings, and see family and friends have all been drastically altered during the ongoing pandemic.   By far the worst have been the deaths of all the loved ones the disease has taken from us. … Read more

13,000 Years Ago, a Firestorm Covered 10% of Earth’s Surface, Triggering an Ice Age

At a point some 12,800 years ago, a tenth of Earth’s surface suddenly became covered in roaring fires. The firestorm rivalled the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it was likely caused by fragments of a comet that would have measured around 100 kilometers (62 miles) across.   As dust clouds smothered Earth, they … Read more

Archaeologists Find 40 Beheaded Roman Skeletons With Skulls Between Their Legs

About 40 beheaded skeletons were among 425 bodies found in a late Roman cemetery uncovered by archeologists in southern England. The team of around 50 archeologists made the discovery during an excavation at Fleet Marston, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, on the route of the multi-billion pound high-speed rail link that is currently under construction, HS2 said.   … Read more

Earth’s Ancient ‘Supermountains’ May Have Been Crucial For Life as We Know It

Once, there were giants. Mountain ranges that rivaled the Himalayas in height used to stretch thousands upon thousands of kilometers across the seams of merging supercontinents, billions of years in the past.   Like the teeth of decrepit old gods, they’ve long been worn down to their roots by time and decay. But in those … Read more

Even Dying Stars Could Give Birth to Brand New Planets, Says Study

When young stars coalesce out of a cloud of molecular hydrogen, a disk of leftover material called a protoplanetary disk surrounds them. This disk is where planets form, and astronomers are getting better at peering into those veiled environments and watching embryonic worlds take shape. But young stars aren’t the only stars with disks of … Read more