Science News

Unless you're touring Hogwarts or an old haunted mansion, you expect portraits and photos to stay still. Well, thanks to the latest in digital-animation technologies, that may no longer be the case.

Superconductors carry electricity with perfect efficiency, unlike the inevitable waste inherent in traditional conductors like copper. But that perfection comes at the price of extreme cold--even so-called high-temperatu...

By firing a set of thrusters that have been gathering dust for more than 3 decades, NASA has extended the lifetime of the Voyager 1 mission by a few years

Nearly 75 years ago, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Erwin Schrödinger wondered if the mysterious world of quantum mechanics played a role in biology. A recent finding by Northwestern University's Prem Kumar adds further ...

The Breakthrough Prize in mathematics was awarded to two researchers who showed that polynomial questions with many variables have a finite number of solution types.

If dark matter isn't heavy and interacts even weakly with normal matter, we should drag our detectors out from underground to catch it

It's an evolutionary U-turn: a group of egg-laying lizards evolved from live-bearing ancestors, which are in turn descended from even older egg-layers

Many women experiencing menopause have mood swings, forgetfulness and weight gain. Could an implant be a safer alternative to hormone replacement therapy?

The classical view of a robot as a mechanical body with a central "brain" that controls its behavior could soon be on its way out. The authors of a recent article in Science Robotics argue that future robots will have in...

Proteins, the ubiquitous workhorses of biochemistry, are huge molecules whose function depends on how they fold into intricate structures. To understand how these molecules work, researchers use computer modeling to calc...

There are now only two viable populations of Sumatran tigers left in the wild, so if the cats are to be saved those areas have to be protected

How do people with psychosis interpret their hallucinations?

Everyone wants to know the future, but how exactly? Authors Julia Rose West and Alida Draudt aim to help people better see the future and take action to shape it. In their book, What the Foresight, West and Draudt make t...

Ever since its invention, the laser has been an invaluable tool in physics. It is expected that an atom laser - with the light waves replaced by the quantum waves of atoms - could have similarly important applications, f...

Archaeologists aren't sure what the runes spell out.

A team of researchers from the French Aerospace Lab and at the Côte d'Azur Observatory working on France's MICROSCOPE satellite project has further confirmed the equivalence principle by recreating Galileo's free-fallin...

Whether drinking beer, eating ice cream or washing the dishes, it's fair to say that many people come across foam on a day-to-day basis. It's in everything from detergents to beverages to cosmetics. Outside of everyday l...

President Trump declared his intent to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Here's a historical look at why that move is so controversial.

The classic sparkling wine that has rung in countless new years with a bang may have more to its bubbles. Champagne is notable for its iconic cork popping, but the bubble acoustics also play a key role in determining how...

If you holler at someone across your yard, the sound travels on the bustling movement of air molecules. But over long distances your voice needs help to reach its destination--help provided by a telephone or the Internet...

The sea cave has been feared since ancient times as a place of the dead and the scene of at least one gruesome act of execution or human sacrifice.

For dog owners, the following scenario may be all too familiar: You get home from a long day of work only to find your favorite slippers in tatters on the floor, scattered pieces of foam torn from the sofa cushions and t...