The SETI Institute’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence is back on track, thanks to more than $200,000 in donations from thousands of fans.In April, the institute had to put its big ear for hearing E.T.’s radio call, the 42-antenna Allen Telescope Array in
Since Darwin’s time, scientists have speculated the planet might be expanding or contracting. Even with the acceptance of plate tectonics half a century ago, which explained the large-scale motions of Earth’s outermost shell, the accusations persisted; some Earth and
Scientists at NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Auke Bay Laboratories have identified the mysterious orange goo that washed up on beaches in northwest Alaska last week. They believe it’s millions of microscopic eggs filled with fatty droplets.But the mystery
Antiprotons appear to ring the Earth, confined by the planet's magnetic field lines. The antimatter, which may persist for minutes or hours before annihilating with normal matter, could in theory be used to fuel ultra-efficient rockets of the future.Charged particle
A massive patch of bright orange material washed up on the Alaskan coast, and has scientists baffled. The substance, which experts don’t believe is man-made, could possibly be algae, but a kind no one has seen before.A strange orange substance raining down from the
The drought in Texas has gotten so severe municipal water managers have turned to a once untenable idea: recycling sewage water. Water for the town’s 27,000 residents comes through the Colorado River Municipal Water District, which has broken ground on a plant to
The world’s largest database on plants’ functional properties, or traits, has been published. Scientists compiled three million traits for 69,000 out of the world’s 300,000 plant species. The achievement rests on a worldwide collaboration of scientists from 106
For migratory birds and sea turtles, the ability to sense the Earth's magnetic field is crucial to navigating the long-distance voyages these animals undertake during migration. Humans, however, are widely assumed not to have an innate magnetic sense. A research…
Mysterious and gigantic jets of lightning that shoot up to near the edge of space have now been observed in unprecedented detail, revealing just how much charge they pack and how they form. More than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth's surface, extreme…
The scientific process, as any experienced researcher can attest, provides a kind of road map through the forest of the natural world. By developing hypotheses and designing methods by which to test them, we use the scientific process to make the abstract world more
