Our galaxy’s black hole may be something else entirely. In the summer of 2014, astronomers watched with giddy anticipation as a cloud of gas, known as G2, swung dangerously close to a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Sparks didn’t fly, nor did a feeding frenzyContinue Reading
There is a healthy population of about 300 white sharks in the region. The great white shark population off Northern California’s coast is healthy and growing, a new study finds. A survey of the great whites (Carcharodon carcharias) off the northern coast finds a stable adult population and a slightContinue Reading
Under the watchful eyes of scientists, stem cells in lab dishes assembled themselves into tiny heart “organoids,” roughly the size of sesame seeds, and began “beating” like real miniature hearts. To guide the stem cells into these structures, the research team exposed the cells to a suite of proteins andContinue Reading
An average season is more active than it used to be. Prepare for some dark and stormy nights (and days). This year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1 and lasts until Nov. 30, will bring another wave of higher- than-average storm formation, following in the footsteps of 2020’s record-shatteringContinue Reading
Something incredible is happening right now that takes place just once every 17 years: Brood X cicada nymphs are wriggling out of the soil to climb the nearest trees, where they will transform into red-eyed, black-bodied adult cicadas by the billions. If you live in the eastern United States, you’reContinue Reading
The giant berg is roughly 1,700 square miles. An enormous iceberg, a little bigger than the state of Rhode Island, has broken off of Antarctica. The finger-shaped chunk of ice, which is roughly 105 miles (170 kilometers) long and 15 miles (25 kilometers) wide, was spotted by satellites as itContinue Reading
New cases of mucormycosis, a potentially fatal fungal infection, continue to crop up among COVID-19 patients in India, but many regions are facing shortages of the drug used to treat the disease. Mucormycosis, also called “black fungus,” typically strikes people with weakened immune systems, such as those with diabetes andContinue Reading
Corrective motions in mouse tongues mirror limb adjustments seen in primates. Precise control of the tongue is often vital in life, from the way frogs capture flies to human speech (SN: 1/31/17). But much remains unknown about how the brain controls the tongue, given how its quick motions are difficultContinue Reading
Ventilation, filtration and few other tricks help, but no solution works for all. As restaurants, bars, businesses and schools reopen and mask requirements drop for the fully vaccinated, some people are asking how to bring in customers and students while still preventing COVID-19 infections from spreading. Some scientists and engineersContinue Reading
Most of the galaxy’s disk was in place before a major collision 10 billion years ago. Much of the Milky Way’s characteristic disk (seen edge-on in this image from the Gaia spacecraft) was already in place 10 billion years ago, when an interloper galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus/Sausage collided with it. Continue Reading