Hungry caterpillars eat plastic pollution
IFL Science introduces us to “plastivores” — a species of waxworm caterpillars (often thought of as beehive pests) that get fat gorging themselves on plastic […]
Science
Shrooms ease cancer-patient depression for two years.
Science Daily looks at an American Cancer Society study that found psilocybin mushrooms can help lift depression symptoms in cancer patients for as long as […]
Why fund weird science.
American Scientist provides a spirited defense against funding cuts for research into oddball subjects … by listing a lot of strange projects that suddenly led […]
Looking Denisovans in the face for the first time.
Cell reconstructs a prehistoric face, thanks to DNA analysis of an unusual skull that proved to be the first-known skull of a Denisovan, the other […]
Science Art: Cyamus boopis, Lütken, 1895.
Cyamis boopis is one of the cyamidae better known as a whale louse. This particular species is from Scandinavia, as illustrated in the book An […]
USDA finds what caused America’s biggest bee die-off.
Science shares research that identifies a massive killer of honeybees — a virus that’s carried by pesticide-resistant mites: U.S. beekeepers had a disastrous winter. Between […]
Science Art: Figures preparing the Sutton Hoo ship for burial, Craig Williams
This is an illustration from the British Museum’s Sutton Hoo Collection, studying the grave (and buried treasures) of a “Very Important Person” laid to rest […]
Eating sea otters is giving wolves mercury poisoning.
Mongabay reports on a survey of data going back 25 years that show Alaskan coastal wolves have changed their diet from deer to sea otters […]
Science Art: Detail from Tinsley Laboratories ad, 1966.
That’s a closeup of the Surveyor-1 satellite printed above an image of the Gemini orbital capsule, with the words “WE GAVE” (image of Surveyor-1) “a […]
Honda has entered Space Race 2.0
The Verge reports on a new competitor to Blue Origin, SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic in the reusable rocket game – one with a slightly longer […]
Gigantic, ghostly crustaceans could live over half the ocean floor.
New Scientist plumbs the depths in search of foot-long white shrimp-like creatures that might be one of the most populous creatures on the bottom of […]
China’s undersea station.
Someone in China hasn’t watched Kristen Stewart in UNDERWATER… or so Sustainability Times leads me to believe. They’re reporting (rather breathlessly) on a “deep-sea space […]
Science Art: Harpagolestes immanis, by Ryan Somma.
This is a picture of a mesonychid, a family of prehistoric creatures known as “wolves with hooves.” I got the idea to post this from […]
Science Art: Transit of Venus in 2012.
This is Venus, moving in front of the Sun. Technically, I suppose it’s a lot of Venuses, or a chain of a lot of pictures […]
Wild cockatoos use public water fountains
Smithsonian shares some unusual observations from Australia, where wild cockatoos have learned to operate the controls of water fountains in public parks to get a […]