Human disturbance hits narwhals where it hurts — the heart
Imagine you are a narwhal. You are cruising through chilly Arctic water when you sense a threat. Most animals, when alarmed, either lash out at their attacker or flee. You,...
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Scientists DNA tested nine “yeti” samples. They didn’t find Bigfoot.
In a new genetic analysis, yeti bones, fur and other biological material turned out to be bear parts.
Oil and gas industry is causing Texas earthquakes, a “landmark” study suggests
An unnatural number of earthquakes hit Texas in the past decade, and the region's seismic activity is increasing. In 2008, two earthquakes stronger than magnitude 3 struck the state. Eight...
Sheep learned to recognize photos of Obama and other celebrities, neuroscientists say
Of the roughly 1.1 billion sheep on Earth, roughly 1.1 billion have no idea who Barack Obama is. But there are at least eight sheep who can recognize the former...
Check out this feathered dinosaur with a raccoon-like “bandit-mask”
The first feathered dinosaur ever found is still spilling its secrets. Sinosauropteryx was uncovered two decades ago, when a farmer in northeastern China unearthed a remarkable fossil while digging a...
Scientists detect gravitational waves from a new kind of nova, sparking a new era in astronomy
Some 130 million years ago, in a galaxy far away, the smoldering cores of two collapsed stars smashed into each other. The resulting explosion sent a burst of gamma rays...
Three Americans win Nobel Prize in physics
Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne have won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics. The three are members of the LIGO-Virgo detector collaboration that discovered gravitational waves....
Mutant butterflies reveal the genetic roots of colorful wings
Engineered mutant butterflies give a glimpse deep into the genetic roots of wing patterns, an international team reported Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Trump nominates Oklahoma politician and climate skeptic to run NASA
President Donald Trump recently announced his pick for administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Rep. James Bridenstine, R-Okla., a former pilot whose goals for our solar system include...
The “extremely flammable” chemical behind the fire in the flooded Texas plant
Early Thursday, while Texas wrestled with Hurricane Harvey's aftermath, a powerful reaction belched fire and black smoke from a chemical factory in Crosby, Texas, 30 miles northeast of Houston.