Mice sent to the International Space Station returned with more muscle than they had when they arrived thanks to a new treatment. Muscle loss in space affects humans as well as mice, and this new treatment could help prevent muscle loss during long trips in space. Trips to Mars could be more bearable if humans …
Researchers are setting out to explore one of the ocean’s greatest mysteries: A type of sinkhole in the ocean floor known as a “blue hole.” Blue holes are huge caverns beneath the seafloor that are carved out by some unknown force, though scientists believe there may be freshwater springs within them. The expedition is being …
Researchers studying aging have discovered that cells tend to follow one of two aging pathways. The way each individual cell ages is determined early on, and scientists can predict how a cell will age based on early observations. The scientists hope that their work can lead to therapies that may delay aging in humans. Human …
A new study into the flight characteristics of condors — the largest soaring birds on Earth — finds that they rarely flap their wings once airborne. Condors are capable of flying for over a hundred miles without flapping their wings once. This incredibly efficient flight ability was honed over countless generations. Humans like to think …
When it comes to vehicles that have a serious impact on the environment, we all immediately think of gas-burning cars and trucks, but passenger aircraft can have a significant impact on the environment as well. One way that passenger jets can impact our planet is in producing those wispy white lines called contrails that we …
Earth is a very special place. Over billions of years, life has evolved to take on many different forms on our planet, withstanding some of the harshest conditions imaginable. But despite the ability of life to “find a way,” some tiny corners of our planet remain entirely inhospitable to life in any form, and a …
Back in late June, NASA revealed that sensors on its Curiosity rover were returning alarmingly high readings of methane that came seemingly out of nowhere. Determining where that methane came from — and whether the process responsible for it are geological or biological — is now a major area of research for scientists. A new …
When you’re handling some of the world’s most deadly viruses and bacteria, safety should always be a top priority, but apparently the staff of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, didn’t get that memo. The Centers for Disease Control has now shuttered the facility and forced …
When you get a small cut or scrape you probably reach for an ordinary bandage, which is typically nothing more than an adhesive strip holding a tiny patch of sterile padding. It’s a simple design that has stood the test of time, but researchers from Harvard’s Wyss Institute think they’ve come up with something even …
Autonomous cars may very well be our future, but we’re not there yet. Not only is the technology lacking, but many would-be passengers just don’t feel confident in the ability of a machine to get them around safely, even if a self-driving car is better at avoiding accidents than a human driver. Figuring out how …
