Pregnancy isn’t just biology, it’s a full-blown sci-fi war epic! Tens of millions of sperm launch themselves into battle, only for nearly all of them to die in a fortress of acid, mucus, and immune cells. The survivors then face the ultimate boss fight: an egg that’s 10,000 times bigger and armed with enough mitochondria […]
What happens if a city-flattening asteroid is spotted just two weeks before impact? Kurzgesagt takes us through every wild idea scientists have considered: painting space rocks, blasting them with nukes, even pulling off a Hollywood-style Armageddon mission, and why most of them won’t work. But there’s hope: new “cosmic bullets” made of tungsten could actually […]
Scientists absorb data on monitors in mission control for NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. NASA/Bill Ingalls, CC BY-NC-ND Ari Koeppel, Dartmouth College NASA’s search for evidence of past life on Mars just produced an exciting update. On Sept. 10, 2025, a team of scientists published a paper detailing the Perseverance rover’s investigation of a distinctive rock […]
Earth rises over the Moon, as seen by the Apollo 8 astronauts. Bill Anders/NASA Stephen DiKerby, Michigan State University Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. “Is the Moon getting farther away from Earth?” – Judah, 9, […]
Visitors get the sensation of floating above Manhattan at the Summit at One Vanderbilt. These rooms are built with low-iron glass, made with ultrapure silica sand. Benno Schwinghammer/picture alliance via Getty Images Aki Ishida, Washington University in St. Louis The word “local” has become synonymous with sustainability, whether it’s food, clothes or the materials used […]
Think vaccines are perfect? They actually work too well, and that’s the problem most people don’t notice. Millions of lives saved, diseases nearly wiped out… and now most of us don’t even remember how bad they used to be. Survivorship bias at its finest. From measles to polio, tetanus to smallpox, this video lays out […]
Weather forecasts help farmers figure out when to plant, where to use fertilizer and much more. Maitreya Shah/Studio India Paul Winters, University of Notre Dame and Amir Jina, University of Chicago For farmers, every planting decision carries risks, and many of those risks are increasing with climate change. One of the most consequential is weather, […]
Meet the sunfish: nature’s way of proving that evolution sometimes just… gives up halfway through! This car-sized, jelly-filled, parasite hotel is basically a giant floating head with fins. It eats the least nutritious food in the ocean, grows like a cursed Pokémon, and stares at you with the blank expression of a Windows 95 screensaver. […]