When it comes to the topic of women in science, Marie Curie usually dominates the conversation. After all, she discovered two elements, was the first women to win a Nobel Prize, in 1903, and was the first person to win a second Nobel, in 1911. But Curie was not the first female scientist. Many other...

Last month (Aug 2011), at the 14th International Mars Society Convention in Dallas, Texas, the message was clear: it is imperative that we send a manned mission to Mars. The slogan was: “Mars or Bust.” This may sound dramatic, but as highlighted by Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin during...

Astronomers can be their own worst enemies. Just a few days ago we were encouraged to take our binoculars outside and point them above the end stars of handle of the Plough to see an exploding star, a supernova, in the galaxy M101, 21 million light years away. This is the brightest supernova in Britain’s...

As Comet Elenin approaches the earth, the 10th planet controversy heats up. A gnostic school in Washington State issues an advisory to its students to be prepared by September 15. Does the Comet conceal a greater menace to earth? It was first Zecharia Sitchin, a scholar who studied ancient Sumerian legends,...

Gav punches Dan right in the gut, proving the point that every part of the human body is flappy if you look at it in slow motion. And also because it was fun… for Gav. Shot at 2500fps (100x slower than real time) You may also like:Ten Historic Female Scientists You Should Know To Make Mankind...

Karen Masters (University of Portsmouth, UK) presented the new map May 25, 2011 in a press conference at the 218th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. “The 2MASS Redshift Survey is a wonderfully complete new look at the local universe — particularly near the Galactic plane,”...

Scientists previously assumed that interaction networks without central control, known as self-directed networks, have universal properties that make them efficient at spreading information. Just think of the local grapevine: Let something slip, and it seems like no time at all before nearly everyone...

Since the first Model T automobiles rolled off the assembly line in Detroit, most safety equipment in cars has had the goal of protecting the driver in a crash. Bryan Reimer and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, take a different approach: They...

By combining high pressure with high temperature, Livermore researchers have created a nanocyrstalline diamond aerogel that could improve the optics for something as big as a telescope or as small as the lenses in eyeglasses. Aerogels are a class of materials that exhibit the lowest density, thermal...

Butterflies inhabit every continent except Antarctica. Flitting from flower to flower, they assist in pollination. People are awed by their fragile beauty but more importantly, butterflies indicate the health of the environment. Cold-blooded, butterflies are dependent upon temperature, just as are rodents,...

Scientists have developed a new process that condenses diesel fuel exhaust into water. If implemented on the battlefield, it would allow soldiers to produce drinkable water from burnt fuel in tanks, generators, and Humvees, freeing them from carrying quite so many heavy water-filled containers. “Theoretically,...