3+ hour, 10+ min ago  (1000+ words) Future missions to the Moon and Mars will depend on more than rockets and life-support systems " they will depend on food. But beyond Earth, there is no living soil. Astronauts will have to grow crops in lifeless, mineral-heavy dust that…...

3+ hour, 26+ min ago  (990+ words) Astronomers expect most stars like our sun to act in a calm, predictable way. Their brightness rises and falls a little over time, but the changes are small and steady. That is why one quiet-looking star in our galaxy caught…...

1+ hour, 16+ min ago  (756+ words) Researchers have uncovered that snakes have lost the gene that encodes ghrelin, a hormone that helps regulate hunger in many vertebrates. The absence of this hormonal system reframes how these animals endure months without eating and raises new questions about…...

3+ hour, 35+ min ago  (813+ words) Thousands of meteorites that crashed into Antarctica are now disappearing into the ice each year as warming has begun pushing once-visible space rocks beneath the surface. A continent that has yielded most of the meteorites known on Earth is starting…...

4+ hour, 2+ min ago  (762+ words) Researchers have found that electrons in graphene can break a long-standing rule of metal physics, separating heat flow from electrical flow by more than 200 times at low temperatures. The discovery shows that electrons in this atom-thin carbon material can move…...

4+ hour, 11+ min ago  (1064+ words) Nearly a mile beneath the ocean's surface, the seafloor looks very different from the bright coral reefs most people know. No sunlight reaches this depth. The water is cold and dark. Yet coral reefs still grow there, slowly forming large…...

3+ hour, 56+ min ago  (796+ words) Scientists have found that a lipid called phosphatidylserine helps launch the cell process that clears dead cells, microbes, and other unwanted material. The discovery changes how researchers understand the opening move in this immune response and sharpens interest in using…...

3+ hour, 47+ min ago  (782+ words) Across 117 different species of mammals, animals that were prevented from having offspring showed increased life expectancy, surviving about 10 percent longer than those that reproduced. The findings suggest that the physical demands of reproduction, including pregnancy and hormone activity, may shorten…...

4+ hour, 34+ min ago  (842+ words) Petroleum-based microplastics have been shown to trigger sustained algal blooms, explosive overgrowths of algae that can turn water green and toxic. The minute plastics wipe out the tiny animals that normally keep those blooms in check. By removing these grazers,…...

4+ hour, 17+ min ago  (800+ words) Scientists have found that a buried crater beneath the North Sea, named Silverpit, was created by an asteroid strike more than 43 million years ago. The discovery resolves a decades-long geological dispute and reframes the seabed as the preserved aftermath of…...