Category: 9. Sci/Tech

Humans can effortlessly talk about an infinite number of topics, from neuroscience to pink elephants, by combining words into sentences. This is thanks to compositionality: the ability to combine meaningful units into larger structures whose…

Humans love to take liberties when we talk about our heights. But Afruca tangeri fiddler crabs don’t have that luxury. Looking and listening in on the members of this species as they tried to attract mates, a team of researchers found that the…

A promising new material created from plants could help replace the single-use plastics that dominate our everyday lives. Developed by researchers in Japan, this cellulose-based paperboard is durable, waterproof, and fully…

One of the most important parts of living a healthy lifestyle is getting a good night’s sleep. Quality sleep can prevent illness, reduce stress, and enhance cognitive function, just to name a few. 

A research team working with the Baycrest…

Black holes — the supermassive gravitation forces at the center of most galaxies — actually spend much of their time dormant, or essentially asleep. Astronomers have now spotted one not only waking up but appearing to hit the celestial…

Every April, as winter’s grip finally loosens and the nights grow a little warmer, Earth drifts through a centuries-old cloud of cosmic dust. That’s when the Lyrid meteor shower — one of the oldest known and most reliable meteor showers of…

By the time you’ve read this sentence, lightning could have struck Earth as many as 270 times. That may sound like a lot, but according to the UK’s Met Office, there are about 44 lightning strikes every second. Put another way, that’s about…

The color purple has long been a symbol of royalty, creativity, and mystery. But according to science, it’s also something else: a figment of our imaginations. While it looks just as real as red or blue, purple is actually an optical…

About 13,000 satellites currently orbit Earth, roughly 10,000 of which are operational. But that number is set to skyrocket, with a staggering 50,000 new satellites on track to join them by 2030.

The dramatic increase is due to the rise in…