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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.

Democracy is failing in the West, scientists warn

Only 19% of young Americans think it's wrong for the military to take over the government if it's incompetent or doesn't do it's job.

A linguistic rouzy-bouzy: Researchers resurrect 30 English lost words

Don't be a losenger!

Finnish project aims to turn sawdust into fish food and tackle world hunger

Teach a man to chemically process sawdust into the building blocks of life to feed his fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

The devastating state of ocean pollution in one depressing photo

The author wishes this photo 'didn't exist'.

"Nothing" changed: ancient Indian text pushes the history of zero back 500 years

As far as modern tech and know-how is concerned, zero is the hero.

Cassini spacecraft ends 20-year-old voyage in style, crashes into Saturn

We had a good run!

Why Was Texas so Susceptible to Hurricane Harvey and How Does Climate Change Contribute?

The connection to climate change is more intricate than you'd think.

The Mars Terraformer Transfer (MATT):  what it is and how we’d use it

Terraformation need not engineer an entire planetary surface. The Lake Matthew Team introduces their audacious invention.

Follow the last 30 years of humanity shaping the planet through the eyes of Google's Timelapse

Bird's eye view.

Gravity map reveals Martian crust might be lighter than we thought

Mars may be more porous than we thought.

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.

Gemstones prove asteroid impact was the hottest event ever recorded on Earth

That spot is not a lake in cold, snow-covered Canada.

New record: on Monday, 20% of Europe's energy came from wind

Gone with the wind.

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.

Climate change might cause a coffee crisis, but there's still hope

Is it really that bad?

Bacteria shapeshift in space in response to antibiotics, becoming far more resilient

Not good news for interplanetary travel.

Volkswagen is investing 70 billion Euros into electric vehicles

Time to make amends, VW.

ISS astronaut photographs hurricanes from space -- and it's mind-bending

Like the all-seeing eye, Bresnik takes impressive photos of ungodly storms.

New AI can detect homosexuality with up to 91% accuracy -- but should it?

The backlash was intense. Harsh words were not spared.

An image is not always worth a thousand words, researchers say

Go with text if you really want to involve people.

Ugly Unicorn: Metal-tipped prehistoric ant drank the blood of its victims for dinner

Stabby stabby!

Wrapping paper-like spacecraft might one day collect junk and throw it into Earth's atmospheric shredder

This may be crazy enough to work.

Death of a dynasty: west North America lost over 95% of its monarch butterflies in 35 years

One of the continent's most dazzling displays dies with them.

Global warming will kill a third of the world's parasites, and that's not even a good thing

Parasites are a hard sell, but we would certainly gain a lot by understanding their threats.

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.

Egyptian Archaeologists find 3,500 year old multi-tomb in Luxor

You thought we found everything, didn't you?

Elon Musk shares full-body pic of SpaceX's sleek astronaut suit

Space flight just got a lot sexier.

The simple reason why climate change is affecting hurricanes

It's pretty simple math.

British archaeologists find Roman cavalry barracks loaded with weapons and valuables

It's like winning the lottery.

Researchers find warm oasis beneath Antarctica's frozen wasteland

You could wear a T-shirt in these caves under the Antarctic.

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.

People know mythical creatures better than real life beasts, study suggests

What's real, a gruffalo, or a hirola?

Hurricane Irma: 90% of the buildings on the Caribbean Island of Barbuda "destroyed by storm"

Our thoughts go to the victims.

Tapwater around the world is full of microplastics, study reveals

It's literally everywhere.

What plants can teach us about solving traffic jams

Plants too experience internal nutrient traffic jams, and they're fantastic at responding to them.

Hurricane Harvey pushed Houston's crust down by 2 cm

The 275 trillion pounds of water are taking their toll.

Popular voice assistants like Siri or Alexa easily hacked with ultrasonic commands

A rather glaring design flaw was recently discovered.

Swiss scientists say they've invented a new type of chocolate -- the first one after 80 years

I'll take my chances with it!

Hurricane Irma already being picked up by seismographs -- instruments that detect earthquakes

It might be even worse than Harvey.

Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks have been completely digitized -- and you can read them for free

It's a challenging but very rewarding read.

African wild dogs sneeze their way into democratic decisions

Bless you!

New water-based lithium-ion battery will never explode in your face

Someone send Samsung the memo.

Macaques may have just entered the Stone Age

Crack open a nutty one.

Scotland to ban petrol and diesel cars by 2032, eight years earlier than the rest of the UK

A great move for the Scotts.

Voyager-1 spacecraft: 40 years of history and interstellar flight

Despite traveling more than ten billion miles in four decades, Voyager-1 is still at it.