1462 Items Tagged

Science

Computer-generated image of Le Grand K.

Saint-Cloud, France

Le Grand K

The former global standard for the exact mass of one kilogram sits under lock and key outside Paris.

Snapdragons (<em>Antirrhinum majus</em>) in the curious hybrid zone of the Pyrenees.

Searching for Special Snapdragons in the Spanish Pyrenees

A rare "hybrid zone" of interbreeding flowers is luring curious biologists year after year.

Lindsay Patterson August 23, 2018

A watercolor painting of the iron cannons that make the ship's preservation tricky.

Scientists Have Found a New Way to Keep Shipwrecks in Shape

Step one: acquire magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.

Matthew Taub August 21, 2018

This fragment of a mummy mask from the Egyptian Museum in Turin shows a mummification scene, dating to between 332 B.C. and 30 B.C. New research suggests that deliberate mummification rituals date back thousands of years further.

Found: A Mummification Recipe From Prehistoric Egypt

New research shows ancient embalmers were using resins and gums far earlier than we thought.

Jessica Leigh Hester August 16, 2018

Ronald Heisser's scientific spaghetti-bender.

Science Can Now Break a Strand of Spaghetti Into Just Two Pieces

Also, you're not supposed to break spaghetti.

Matthew Taub August 14, 2018

A western basilisk lizard—one of nearly 500* types of Ecuadorian reptiles that have gotten the lightbox photo treatment from Tropical Herping.

Glamour Shots of Reptiles, Brought to You by Science

"All right Mr. Herpetologist, I'm ready for my close-up."

Cara Giaimo August 2, 2018

The bake-a-fossil technique turned a fresh lizard foot crispy and brown.

How to Make a Fossil in a Single Day

The recipe calls for fresh feathers or lizard feet, clay, heat, and a whole lot of pressure.

Jessica Leigh Hester July 25, 2018

Cougar Gold Cheese

This canned cheddar is made using a secret 70-year-old bacteria culture.

Tower of the Winds.

Tower of the Winds

An ancient octagonal weather station named for the eight Greek gods of wind.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Z Machine

The most powerful laboratory radiation source in the world pulses with 1,000 times the electricity of a lightning bolt.

The oak is visible on the right of this illustration of <em>Argo Navis</em> from <em>Uranographia</em>, by Johannes Hevelius, 1690.

The Lost Constellation Meant to Honor a King’s Escape

The oak tree that sheltered Charles II once had a place in the night sky.

Jessica Leigh Hester July 9, 2018

Hawaii's Mauna Loa (left) is often treated as a proving ground for missions to Mars (right).

How Comparisons Help Us Understand the Universe

Jessica Leigh Hester July 3, 2018

The skull of the newly-discovered gibbon.

Found: A Mysterious Extinct Gibbon in an Ancient Chinese Tomb

It's thought the animal may have been kept as a pet.

Natasha Frost June 22, 2018

Radkan Tower

A sophisticated astronomical tower built by one of the greatest Persian scholars of the Islamic Golden Age.

Hundreds of strands of Pele's hair intertwined on the surface of a pahoehoe flow at Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaii from an eruption in the 1980s.

Why a Hawaiian Volcano Is Sprouting Golden 'Goddess Hair'

The gossamer strands are beautiful, but potentially dangerous.

Natasha Frost June 15, 2018

A photo of mechanic Joseph David, made by biologist Louis Boutan.

How a 19th-Century Biologist Became an Underwater Photography Pioneer

A deep dive into the "submarine landscapes" of Louis Boutan.

Anika Burgess June 14, 2018

Study subject, dinner, or both?

The Many Reasons Biologists Eat Their Study Subjects

Snacking on specimens from raw monkey to bee vomit can help scientists figure stuff out.

Cara Giaimo June 14, 2018

Actual lightning is more complex than what usually appears on canvas.

Why Is It So Hard to Paint Lightning?

Capturing lightning on a canvas is just as difficult as it sounds.

Jessica Leigh Hester June 8, 2018