Chemistry
The 'Ghost' Haunting This South Carolina Town Might Have an Earthly Explanation, Scientist Says
In a new research article, a seismologist argues that earthquakes are the reason for the mysterious lights associated with a local urban legend in Summerville
How Do Polar Bears Keep Ice Off Their Fur? New Study Reveals the Secret—and It Could Improve Technology
The de-icing properties of polar bear sebum could fuel new innovations, scientists say, potentially unlocking alternatives to harmful “forever chemicals” used in ice-resistant coatings today
Scientists Who Found Mysterious 'Dark Oxygen' on the Ocean Floor Plan a New Expedition, Hoping to Settle Disputes
Last year, the team made headlines when it published a paper describing how metal lumps at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean seemed to produce oxygen without sunlight
Ape-Like Human Ancestors Were Largely Vegetarian 3.3 Million Years Ago in South Africa, Fossil Teeth Reveal
Scientists suggest meat consumption was pivotal to humans' development of larger brains, but the transition probably didn't start with Australopithecus, according to a new study
Scientists Drill 1.7 Miles Into Antarctic Ice, Revealing 1.2 Million Years of Climate History
Researchers say a collected sample is the longest continuous record of Earth’s past climate from an ice core
Did Venus Have Oceans? This Surprising New Study Suggests Not, a Theory That Could Upend the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
The astronomers behind the research looked to the output from the nearby planet's toxic volcanoes for clues
The World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster Exposed 500,000 People to Toxic Gas and Claimed Thousands of Lives
A web of technical failures, human errors and corporate malpractice in Bhopal, India, culminated in an unthinkable tragedy on this day in 1984
Scientists Are Trying to Crack the Recipe for the Perfect Plant-Based Eggs
With new ingredients and processes, the next generation of substitutes will be not just more egg-like, but potentially more nutritious
This New, Yellow Powder Quickly Pulls Carbon Dioxide From the Air, and Researchers Say 'There's Nothing Like It'
Scientists say just 200 grams of the material could capture 44 pounds of the greenhouse gas per year—the same as a large tree
Discover the Origins of a Psychedelic Drug Synthesized by a Swiss Chemist Who Claimed It 'Found and Called Me'
Five years after he created LSD in a lab on this day in 1938, Albert Hofmann accidentally underwent the first acid trip in human history, experiencing a kaleidoscope of colors and images in a sleepy Swiss city
A Simple Chemical Shift Explains Why Parrots Are So Colorful, Study Suggests
Unlike other birds, which get pigments from their diets, parrots produce their own—but scientists never fully understood the underlying mechanisms, until now
Scientists' Work on Protein Structure, Which Governs All Aspects of Life, Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry
David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper revealed how amino acids shape protein structure, a finding that could aid in drug discovery
World's First Ultra-Precise Nuclear Clock Is Within Reach After Major Breakthrough, Researchers Say
The technology, enabled by thorium atoms, could keep time more accurately than atomic clocks and enable new discoveries about gravity, gravitational waves and dark matter
Europeans Were Using Cocaine in the 17th Century—Hundreds of Years Earlier Than Historians Thought
Scientists identified traces of the drug in the brain tissue of two individuals buried in the crypt of a hospital in Milan
Anus-Breathing Animals and Pigeon-Guided Missiles: Ig Nobel Prizes Reward Unusual but Valuable Science
The annual award ceremony featured costumes, songs and paper airplanes as scientists recognized comedic research across ten disciplines
How Large Gold Nuggets Form in Quartz Crystals During Earthquakes
Quartz, which can generate electricity, attracts large chunks of gold when stressed and squeezed by seismic shaking, according to a new study
The Long, Strange History of Teflon, the Indestructible Product Nothing Seems to Stick to
Chemists accidentally discovered the material in 1938, and since then it has been used for everything from helping to create the first atomic bomb to keeping your eggs from sticking to your frying pan
Asteroid That Ended the Dinosaurs Came From Beyond Jupiter, Study Finds
Metal isotopes delivered to Earth by the asteroid reveal it's consistent with space rocks formed in the outer solar system
Meteorite Strikes Are the Primary Creator of the Moon's Thin Atmosphere, Study Finds
Researchers examined lunar soil samples collected during the Apollo missions to determine which weathering processes contribute most to replenishing the moon's atmosphere
Was This Renaissance Alchemist Ahead of His Time?
New research suggests that Tycho Brahe isolated tungsten nearly 200 years before the metal was identified as an element
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