Science

The effects of climate change could awaken hundreds of volcanoes worldwide – which in turn could worsen the effects of climate change. According to recent models predicting changes in the magma beneath Patagonia’s glaciers, the retreat of ice has the power to shake subglacial volcanoes out of their slumber. The world isn’t at imminent risk of volcanic bombardment, but the …

In the last year, there has been a surge in proteins developed by AI that will eventually be used in the treatment of everything from snakebites to cancer. What would normally take decades for a scientist to create — a custom-made protein for a particular disease — can now be done in seconds. For the first time, Australian scientists have …

The July full moon put on a magnificent show on July 10, rising low over the southern horizon to the delight of stargazers and astrophotographers worldwide. Read on for a roundup of the best photos of the lunar show. July’s full moon is known as the ‘Buck Moon’, in reference to the male deer — called bucks in the U.S. …

Sled dogs have been performing a vital role for people living in the Arctic for 9,500 years. In fact, the ubiquity of these dogs across the polar region is a testament to their significance. While there are various breeds of sled dog today, one breed is not only the oldest among them, it may well be the oldest dog breed …

Octopuses have gotten a reputation for being cunning camouflagers and intelligent creatures. But some are known for a more ominous reason: They’re deadly. One group — the blue-ringed octopus (genus Hapalochlaena) — is especially dangerous. But what makes this creature so lethal? Blue-ringed octopuses carry a killer concoction called tetrodotoxin (TTX), a potent neurotoxin that can paralyze living things, including …

According to a study, eight Pacific sleeper sharks (Somniosus pacificus) appeared during an experiment in the South China Sea, marking the first known occurrence of the species in this region. The sharks were drawn to a cow carcass dropped 1,629 meters (5,344 feet) deep into the sea as part of a study on the processes that unfold when large animals …

Sixty years ago, NASA’s Mariner 4 captured groundbreaking views of the Red Planet, leading to a steady stream of advances in the cameras used to study other worlds. In 1965, NASA’s Mariner 4 mission brought Mars into American living rooms, where TV sets showed fuzzy black-and-white images of a cratered landscape. The spacecraft took 21 complete pictures — the first …

Sign up for the Starts With a Bang newsletter Travel the universe with Dr. Ethan Siegel as he answers the biggest questions of all. Although we don’t often think about it, the world of science is split in two. We have theorists, on the one hand, who strive to tease observable, measurable predictions out of our best models and ideas …

Sen. Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas, proposed sending $9 billion to the National Science Foundation. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Signs that Congress intends to push back on the Trump administration’s wholesale slashing of federal budgets emerged during a Senate meeting Thursday that kicked off the annual appropriations process. Since January, the Trump administration has sought to significantly downsize the federal government via …

On Sunday morning US billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Dror 1 communications satellite into space from Cape Canaveral in Florida. SpaceX and IAI are joining forces in a second effort to launch a communications satellite into orbit after the fiasco of their previous attempt in 2016, when the Falcon 9 …