Betelgeuse’s companion star is 1.5 times larger than the sun. Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA Image Processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab) Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Humans have gazed up at Betelgeuse for thousands of years.Continue Reading
Experts confirmed 34 examples of orcas voluntarily approaching humans and offering them food over the last 20 years. Credit: Deposit Photos Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Orcas (Orcinus orca) don’t appear to be big fans of yachts, but some of themContinue Reading
The paint relies on passive cooling through water evaporation. Credit: Deposit Photos / Kevin Brine Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Buildings coated in a cement-based paint that “sweats” could help keep communities cool during the hottest days of the year. TheContinue Reading
The fracture is shown in various views. The skull fracture in this specimen starts at the anterior part of the frontal bone and extends diagonally to the sagittal border of the left parietal bone. Credit: International Journal of Osteoarchaeology Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tipsContinue Reading
The burial site is located near a rural road in Norway. Credit: The Arctic University Museum of Norway, UiT Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. In 2023, metal detector enthusiasts scouring Norway’s remote Senja Island stumbled across a remarkable archeological find. WhileContinue Reading
The machine only needs constant airflow to move on its own. Credit: Getty Images / Patricia Marroquin Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Engineers have harnessed the physics behind the flailing tube men to power a tiny soft “robot” capable of walking, hopping, and swimming. Plus their motion mechanism doesn’tContinue Reading
Polynomials were first conceived by the Babylonians around 1800 BCE. Credit: Getty Images Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Most people’s experiences with polynomial equations don’t extend much further than high school algebra and the quadratic formula. Still, these numeric puzzles remain a foundational component of everything from calculating planetaryContinue Reading
Deep ALMA observations of 12CO emission from fifteen protoplanetary disks reveal a stunning range of structures in the gas morphology including gaps, rings and spirals. Credit: Richard Teague / exoALMA Collaboration Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Our solar system is approximately 4.6 billion years old, but countless planetary neighborhoodsContinue Reading
Kosmos 482 was intended as a successor to Soviet probe’s like Venera 4, seen above. Credit: Sovfoto / Universal Images Group via Getty Images Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 In 1972, the Soviet Union launched a pair of space probes destined for Venus. While the USSR’s Venera 8 successfullyContinue Reading
The Late Antique Little Ice Age lasted 200-300 years, and began around 540 CE. Credit: Deposit Photos Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Exactly what caused the collapse of the mighty Roman Empire has been hotly debated practically since the fall itself. Was economic stagnation primarily to blame, or wasContinue Reading
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