For mathematicians, there is not much in the world whose reasoning cannot be substantiated with calculation. The beings that are in love with numbers and associations, view the world through a numerical lens, as a puzzle to be solved with the right method. While many mathematicians have graced the world with shocking methods, theorems and…
Forecasts for the tropical Pacific have shifted noticeably over the past month, with climate scientists now placing greater confidence in the arrival of a particularly powerful El Niño later this year. While these events are part of a natural climate cycle, their effects rarely stay confined to the Pacific Ocean. Changes in ocean temperatures can…
PC: W. M. Keck Observatory For decades, dark matter has been treated as the unseen framework around which galaxies take shape. Even the smallest galaxies are generally thought to be wrapped inside vast halos of it, with the invisible material outweighing the stars by a wide margin. That assumption has been challenged before by two…
Few natural experiences are as universally loved as the earthy scent that rises after the first drops of rain hit dry ground. Petrichor, what most people describe as the smell of fresh rain, but the rain itself has almost no scent. Instead, what your nose detects is a remarkable chemical called geosmin, produced by soil-dwelling…
The pink light visible in recent timelapse footage from the International Space Station is not a camera effect or a reflection from Earth. Instead, it comes from a small plant-growing facility tucked inside the station’s Columbus laboratory, where astronauts have been tending crops as part of an ongoing experiment into how plants behave beyond our…
Typical children going to an elementary school in Japan mostly spend their free time studying, playing baseball or reading all the manga they can get their hands on. But Jo Nagai, a ten-year-old resident of Kobe, Japan decided to spend his spare time hand-raising swallowtail butterflies. Identified with the bright dots that outline their wings,…
An aerial view of the San Andreas Fault crossing the Carrizo Plain in California (Getty images) Scientists have discovered hidden movements beneath California’s San Andreas Fault with the help of artificial intelligence, revealing a type of slow fault slip that had largely gone unnoticed till now. The researchers say these silent movements may play a…
This endangered British butterfly has 20% less genetic diversity, study finds The British swallowtail butterfly is the UK’s only native swallowtail and largest native butterfly. It may look similar to other swallowtails found across Europe, but its DNA tells a different story.A new study has found that the British swallowtail, also known as Papilio machaon…
For years, scientists thought Greenland sharks were basically blind. These deep-sea creatures live in the freezing dark waters of the Arctic and often have parasites clinging to their eyes, so it seemed obvious that their vision was pretty much gone. But a new study from researchers at the University of California, Irvine, says that assumption…
The clock or the calendar is not truly required for you to be on time. According to a recent experiment conducted by a physicist, time emerges and changes by itself, regardless of the ticking hands or flipping pages. According to a study published on June 11 in the journal Physical Review Research, Giovanni Barontini, a…
Elon Musk has laid out another far-reaching vision for SpaceX, saying the company could return humans to the Moon within the next few years and eventually move thousands of people beyond Earth. Speaking during an interview with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Musk described plans that would go far beyond short astronaut missions, including permanent settlements…
Carl Friedrich Gauss (Image: Wikipedia) Most people assume that if an idea sounds complicated, it must also be profound. Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians in history, was not convinced. “When a philosopher says something that is true then it is trivial,” he observed. “When he says something that is not trivial then…
