The seven wonders of the ancient world were a selection of exceptional pieces of architecture and art in the Middle East, North Africa and southern Europe. A number of ancient and medieval writers from Europe and Middle East debated and described what are today called the seven “wonders” of the world (not all writers used … Read more
Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, was the first planet to be discovered using a telescope. It is an odd world that tilts over on one side, with thin rings and dozens of moons. In 2022, Uranus was selected by planetary scientists as a top target in the solar system for exploration, and NASA … Read more
The “secret code” the brain uses to create a key type of memory has finally been cracked. This type of memory, called working memory, is what allows people to temporarily hold on to and manipulate information for short periods of time. You use working memory, for example, when you look up a phone number and … Read more
Salt crystals from Central Australia hold ancient microorganisms that became trapped 830 million years ago, new research finds. And there’s a chance that some of the microorganisms might still be alive. The single-celled organisms are locked in tiny fluid pockets — smaller than the width of a human hair — in halite, or salt, from … Read more
Encounters with UFOs have reportedly left Americans suffering from radiation burns, brain and nervous system damage, and even “unaccounted for pregnancy,” according to a massive database of U.S. government reports recently made public through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The database of documents includes more than 1,500 pages of UFO-related material from the … Read more
No, this is NOT a doorway for Martians. Although the internet erupted on Thursday after a photograph from NASA’s Curiosity rover appeared to show an “alien door,” experts are pretty sure it’s just a natural feature of the Martian landscape. “This is a very curious image,” British geologist Neil Hodgkins, who has studied the geology … Read more
Space is very, very cold. The baseline temperature of outer space is 2.7 kelvins — minus 454.81 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 270.45 degrees Celsius — meaning it is barely above absolute zero, the point at which molecular motion stops. But this temperature is not constant throughout the solar system. So-called “empty” space — though it … Read more
Dark matter, the elusive substance that accounts for the majority of the mass in the universe, may be made up of massive particles called gravitons that first popped into existence in the first moment after the Big Bang. And these hypothetical particles might be cosmic refugees from extra dimensions, a new theory suggests. The researchers’ … Read more
One side of the moon is littered with far more craters than the other, and researchers finally know why: A massive asteroid that slammed into the moon around 4.3 billion years ago wreaked havoc in the moon’s mantle, according to a new study. More than 9,000 visible craters pockmark the moon, thanks to barrage of … Read more
The unicorn is one of the most famous mythical creatures, often depicted as a white horse with a spiraling horn erupting from its forehead. It’s not hard to imagine a horse with a horn, and for much of the mythical creature’s history, people thought it actually existed. But where did this myth come from? Unicorn-like … Read more
