Roll-out solar panels that unfurl like a carpet electrify tiny British island
The system can fit 10 times as much power output than traditional panels in a given container.
Musk’s argument that we live in a simulation doesn’t hold water, quantum physicists say
The blue pill or the red pill?
World’s first molecular robot could usher in a whole new age of miniaturization
Nanoscience just got a whole lot more interesting.
Scientists add asphalt to lithium batteries that charge up to 20 times faster
You could say these researchers took a faster road.
Cassini’s farewell photo of Saturn’s dark side
An eerily view of Saturn.
Meteorites may have seeded life in Darwin’s ‘warm little ponds’
The primordial soup theory for the origin of life comes back in the spotlight.
Methane bubbles may have kept Mars warm enough for liquid water billions of years ago
Burping methane may have bought Mars some extra time before it turned into a wasteland.
Raccoons solve ancient Greek puzzle showing they can understand water displacement
They're as wise as crows in this respect. A tasty treat helped, of course.
Powerful solar storm sparks the brightest Auroras on Mars we’ve recorded
The aurora was triggered by a solar storm which doubled radiation levels on the planet's surface.
Some sharks and rays live twice as long as we thought
The implications could be important for fish stock estimates.
Some galaxy types are brighter due to ‘hungrier’ black holes, and this could fundamentally change how we study galaxies
We've been looking at some galaxies wrong all along.
Modern humans emerged up to 350,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought
That moment when you realize you've grown really old.
Elon Musk proposes landing rocket on Mars by 2022. The same system will also get you anywhere on Earth in less than 30 minutes
The serial entrepreneur is at it again with yet another audacious claim.
Marine biologist finds gaping blue hole in Great Barrier Reef using Google Maps
He dived into the blue hole himself and inside found striking coral species.
Bed bugs love your dirty laundry, and this has helped them travel the globe
Human laundry is a magnet for bed bugs.
Ancient cosmic collissions between small bodies could explain quirk of early solar system formation
Early Earth could have lost as much as 40% of its mass during collisional growth.
Another iceberg, quadruple the size of Manhattan, breaks free from Antarctica
Not good. No, not good at all!
Why we can’t remember things before age 3-4
Ever tried really hard to pinpoint your very first memory? Doctors say it has something to do with hippocampus overload.
Shock therapy partially wakes man out of 15-year-old vegetative state
Even in total darkness, someone is still there.
Eco-designer turns landfill waste into ‘plasma rock’ — a sustainable, all-purpose material
Landfill waste is given a second life by blasting it with plasma hotter than the sun. Now that's a project...
Fish can have individual personalities too, new study says
Some Trinidadian guppies are far braver than others.
Neanderthal and modern humans shared long childhoods
Yet another sign that the two species from the same Homo genus were very similar to one another.
Mysterious high-energy cosmic rays fire from outside the galaxy
The brightest cosmic rays don't seem to be from the same neighborhood.
You don’t need a brain to sleep, and we have snoozing jellyfish to prove it
Sleep could be as old as life itself.
Newly-described hermit crab species makes permanent homes out of coral — a first
This hermit crab is no hobo.
The Milky Way might not be your typical spiral galaxy but is it unique?
The Milky Way just got an ego boost.
Biologists find genetic master switch for the butterfly’s wing color
Only two genes code both the canvas and paintbrush for the intricate butterfly wing patterns.
Artificial muscle lifts 1,000 times its own weight, brings us closer to humanoid bots
A step closer to forging our new robotic overlords.
Ancient frog with a big appetite may have preyed on small dinosaurs
It bit with the force of wolves or female tigers.
Not too big and not too small: when faced with extinction, it pays off to be just the right size
Big and small animals are the most threatened by extinction.
After exploring Venus’ dark side, scientists find unexpected weather
Strange things happen in the dark.
Scientists just turned light-based information into readable soundwaves
It's like storing lightning in thunder.
Odd Jupiter-sized exoplanet is hot enough to melt metal but paradoxically pitch-black
It's the 'blackest' planet we've found.
What a biologist learned after letting an electric eel zap him
It's like getting tasered -- nine times. At the same time. Professor Catania has the measurements to prove it.
The devastating state of ocean pollution in one depressing photo
The author wishes this photo 'didn't exist'.
Cassini spacecraft ends 20-year-old voyage in style, crashes into Saturn
We had a good run!
Main asteroid belt might be a dump for planetary leftovers, new theory proposes
A strikingly different take on the asteroid belt's origin.
Elephants increasingly become more nocturnal to evade poachers
The intelligent animals have responded to poaching by shifting their foraging patterns.
The first water map on the moon shines hope for human colony
There's less water than in Earth's driest deserts. But that's still a lot more than we used to hope.
Bacteria shapeshift in space in response to antibiotics, becoming far more resilient
Not good news for interplanetary travel.
New AI can detect homosexuality with up to 91% accuracy — but should it?
The backlash was intense. Harsh words were not spared.
Wrapping paper-like spacecraft might one day collect junk and throw it into Earth’s atmospheric shredder
This may be crazy enough to work.
Burger-flipping robot will grill meat in 50 fast food restaurants
This will set you back $100k.
U.S. News rankings driving economic inequality on campus
Top universities admit more 1% earners than the bottom 60% combined.
What’s the difference between Alzheimer’s and Dementia?
Dementia is a syndrome while Alzheimer's is a disease. More key differences between the two after the jump.
Elon Musk shares full-body pic of SpaceX’s sleek astronaut suit
Space flight just got a lot sexier.
International drug treaties need an urgent revamp as more countries legalize cannabis
Drug control treaties had their time and place. A scholar now argues these are massively outdated.
What plants can teach us about solving traffic jams
Plants too experience internal nutrient traffic jams, and they're fantastic at responding to them.
Popular voice assistants like Siri or Alexa easily hacked with ultrasonic commands
A rather glaring design flaw was recently discovered.
New water-based lithium-ion battery will never explode in your face
Someone send Samsung the memo.