NASA’s regularly scheduled International Space Station livestream gave viewers a brief, unintended scare last night. At 6:28PM EST on June 12, an unidentified speaker appeared to begin directing ISS crewmembers to treat a commander suffering from severe decompression sickness whose “prognosis… is relatively tenuous.”  “Check his pulse one more...

A group of Australian scientists studying marine life off the coast of Queensland caught quite a surprise–a tiger shark that had vomited a spiky hedgehog-like animal called an echidna. Former James Cook University PhD student Nicolas Lubitz and his team saw the chance regurgitation during a tagging trip in May 2022 and the discovery is believed to be...

This feature was originally featured on The Conversation. As flowers bloom and temperatures climb, many are eager to get back outside. But while the Sun may be shining, there is a dark side that can make the great outdoors not so great. Gangs of germs are lurking in the woods, in the soil, in the water and in your food, ready to rain on...

A group of Australian scientists studying marine life off the coast of Queensland caught quite a surprise–a tiger shark that had vomited a spiky hedgehog-like animal called an echidna. Former James Cook University PhD student Nicolas Lubitz and his team saw the chance regurgitation during a tagging trip in May 2022 and the discovery is believed to be...

We are made of stardust. It’s a cliché and a miracle. The elements in your body formed in the furnaces of ancient stars and after you die, they will appear in distant oceans and eroding cliff faces.  There is power in deeply considering these concepts, writes Dr. Alan Townsend, author of the moving new memoir This Ordinary Stardust: A Scientist’s...

You can’t just use an alarm clock when you’re a heavy sleeper. You need one that is the sonic equivalent of getting dragged out of bed and thrown into a cold pond. It can’t be too loud, however, since you most likely have neighbors or roommates who you want to be respectful of. We’re not expecting you to be the most bright-eyed and bushy-tailed person...