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A new reference human genome could reflect our species’ true diversity

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The current reference human genome is based on a handful of people but the new Pangenome project will incorporate DNA from hundreds of people all around the world Humans 16 March 2022 By Michael Marshall DNA sequence data Shutterstock / Gio.tto The human genome is being sequenced again – but better. A new project to … Read more

This Saber-Tooth Predator Was Likely One of The First True Carnivores

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If you’ve ever lived with a cat, you’ve probably received a painful chomp from your beloved furball’s pointy canines at least once. But 42 million years ago, your kitty’s teeth would have looked very different: Evolution was only just honing the teeth of cat-like animals to a deadly sharp tip for piercing and shredding flesh. … Read more

Huge Crater Under Greenland Glacier Surprises Scientists With Its True Age

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An enormous impact crater, hiding deep beneath Greenland’s Hiawatha glacier, is probably the result of a kilometer-wide asteroid that crashed into Earth 58 million years ago. That’s much older than scientists presumed – roughly eight million years after the infamous impact that killed off most dinosaurs.   When the Hiawatha crater was first discovered in … Read more

The True Source of Earth’s Water Could Be Wildly Different to What You Think

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Nothing on Earth can live without water. The origin of water on Earth, therefore, is the origin of life in the Solar System (and the Universe) as we know it. Figuring out where and how our world obtained its water might be key to finding life on other worlds, but the truth is we don’t … Read more

Will we ever know the true nature of ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar visitor?

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Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at SUNY Stony Brook and the Flatiron Institute, host of “Ask a Spaceman” and “Space Radio,” and author of “How to Die in Space.” Sutter contributed this article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. On Oct. 19, 2017, Robert Weryk, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii at … Read more

We Finally Know The True Extent of Space Destroying Astronauts’ Red Blood Cells

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The human body did not evolve to handle life in space, and it shows in our very blood. Since our species first started to spend extended periods of time beyond our planet, researchers have noticed a curious and consistent loss of red blood cells among astronauts.   The phenomenon is called ‘space anemia’, and until … Read more

Evolution Keeps Making And Unmaking Crabs, And Nobody Knows Why

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Our planet’s convoluted history of evolving life has spawned countless weird and wonderful creatures, but none excite evolutionary biologists – or divide taxonomists – quite like crabs.   When researchers attempted to reconcile the evolutionary history of crabs in all their raucous glory just earlier this year, they arrived at the conclusion that the defining … Read more

Do Auroras Make Sounds We Can Hear? The True Answer Is Surprisingly Complicated

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It’s a question that has puzzled observers for centuries: do the fantastic green and crimson light displays of the aurora borealis produce any discernible sound? Conjured by the interaction of solar particles with gas molecules in Earth’s atmosphere, the aurora generally occurs near Earth’s poles, where the magnetic field is strongest. Reports of the aurora … Read more

First-Ever ‘True’ Millipede With 1,306 Legs Discovered Deep Underground in Australia

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Although the name millipede comes from Latin for “thousand feet”, before now no species has been found with more than 750 legs. After the discovery of a new millipede with 1,306 legs however, this arthropod is finally living up to its name.   The new species is Eumillipes persephone – emillipes translating as “true-thousand-foot”, with … Read more