A ‘Self-Aware’ Fish Raises Doubts About a Cognitive Test
Quanta Magazine · 15 minA report that a fish can pass the “mirror test” for self-awareness reignites debates about how to define and measure that elusive quality.
Science
Curated by our editorsStories to fuel your mind
The radical coral rescue plan that paid off
BBC · 8 minWhen Hurricane Iris hit southern Belize in 2001, the country's magnificent corals were destroyed. But within 10 years, a radical restoration project brought the reef back to life.
The miracle of the commons
Aeon · 16 minFar from being profoundly destructive, we humans have deep capacities for sharing resources with generosity and foresight.
How to Rewrite the Laws of Physics in the Language of Impossibility
Quanta Magazine · 12 minChiara Marletto is trying to build a master theory — a set of ideas so fundamental that all other theories would spring from it. Her first step: Invoke the impossible.
What Happens to Your Body When You Die in Space?
Popular Science · 12 minAnd should colonists on Mars be allowed to eat each other?
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How Radio Astronomy Reveals the Universe
Quanta Magazine · 7 minRadio waves, longer and less energetic than visible light, give astronomers access to some of the most obscure physics in the cosmos. If you ask an astronomer to choose the single most exciting picture in all of astronomy, many of us will point to a familiar orange ring.
Scientists Might Have Just Stumbled Upon a New Kind of Physics
Popular Mechanics · 3 minScientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have recorded some highly unusual data that could point to an entirely new force of nature, which would mean a whole new area of physics. The secret lies in an elusive, unstable particle called a B meson, which isn’t biodegrading according to plan.
Scientists unlock mysteries of world's oldest 'computer'
BBC · 2 minimage copyrightProf Tony Freeth / UCLA 2,000-year-old device often referred to as the world's oldest "computer" has been recreated by scientists trying to understand how it worked.The Antikythera Mechanism has baffled experts since it was found on a Roman-era shipwreck in Greece in 1901.
'Unique' petrified tree up to 20m years old found intact in Lesbos
The Guardian · 4 minFirst came the tree, all 19.5 metres of it, with roots and branches and leaves. Then, weeks later, the discovery of 150 fossilised logs, one on top of the other, a short distance away. Nikolas Zouros, a professor of geology at the University of the Aegean, couldn’t believe his luck.
If Aliens Exist, Here’s How We’ll Find Them
Nautilus · 14 minTwo esteemed astrophysicists peer into the future of space exploration.
There is no dark matter. Instead, information has mass, physicist says
Big Think · 6 minResearchers have been trying for over 60 years to detect dark matter. There are many theories about it, but none are supported by evidence. The mass-energy-information equivalence principle combines several theories to offer an alternative to dark matter.
NASA’s bold bet on Starship for the Moon may change spaceflight forever
Ars Technica · 16 min"It is transformational to degrees no one today can understand."
The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats
The Guardian · 6 minÁngel León made his name serving innovative seafood. But then he discovered something in the seagrass that could transform our understanding of the sea itself – as a vast garden.
Why Oumuamua, the Interstellar Visitor, Looks Eerily Familiar
The New York Times · 8 minA piece of an extrasolar Pluto may have passed through our cosmic neighborhood, a new study suggests.
An Entire Group of Whales Has Somehow Escaped Human Attention
The Atlantic · 23 minThe only way to give them the space they need might be to seek them out.
Black Holes May Not Be Black. Or Even Holes.
Popular Mechanics · 4 minWhat if black holes, those all-consuming gravitational behemoths of the cosmos, aren’t actually black at all—or even holes, for that matter? Instead, a new theory suggests black holes may be dark stars with hearts of extremely dense, exotic matter.
Scientists may have solved ancient mystery of 'first computer'
The Guardian · 4 minFrom the moment it was discovered more than a century ago, scholars have puzzled over the Antikythera mechanism, a remarkable and baffling astronomical calculator that survives from the ancient world.
Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries
Quanta Magazine · 13 minBy digging out signals hidden within the brain’s electrical chatter, scientists are getting new insights into sleep, aging and more.
The cosmic chasm
Aeon · 17 minOne afternoon in February 2016, I watched in rapt attention as a team of scientists unveiled the first definitive evidence for the existence of gravitational waves – ripples in space and time, produced by a pair of massive black holes crashing together 1.3 billion light-years away from Earth.
Lab-grown black hole analog behaves just like Stephen Hawking said it would
Live Science · 4 minIn 1974, Stephen Hawking theorized that the universe's darkest gravitational behemoths, black holes, were not the pitch-black star swallowers astronomers imagined, but they spontaneously emitted light — a phenomenon now dubbed Hawking radiation.
Sperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack information
The Guardian · 3 minA remarkable new study on how whales behaved when attacked by humans in the 19th century has implications for the way they react to changes wreaked by humans in the 21st century.
The Mysterious Math of Perfection
Quanta Magazine · 13 minEnter the world of perfect numbers and explore the mystery mathematicians have spent thousands of years trying to solve.
How Do Astronauts Spend Their Weekends in Space?
Smithsonian Magazine · 5 minJust like us mere Earthlings, they work regular hours, with plenty of free time to unwind.
Researchers achieve world's first manipulation of antimatter by laser
Phys.org · 3 minAn artistic illustration of the movement of an antihydrogen atom in the ALPHA magnetic trap, before (grey) and after (blue) laser cooling. The images show various lengths of the antihydrogen's track.
Meet the swirlon, a new kind of matter that bends the laws of physics
Live Science · 3 minFish school, insects swarm and birds fly in murmurations. Now, new research finds that on the most basic level, this kind of group behavior forms a new kind of active matter, called a swirlonic state.