Science & Tech

The merger of two black holes and the gravitational waves that ripple outward as the black holes spiral toward each other. The black holes-which represent those detected by LIGO on Dec. 26, 2015-were 14 and 8 times the mass of the sun, until they merged,

What’s really going on inside those terrifying faraway entities?

LIGO/T. Pyle

Illustration of human head with brain waves (medicine, medical, anatomy).

Are There Really Right-Brained and Left-Brained People?

The notion that the right half of the brain is the creative half and the left half is the analytical half and that our individual traits are determined by which half is dominant is widespread in popular psychology.

Spotlight: Invasive Species

You probably encounter an invasive species every day and don't even notice. They can be cute like a rabbit, stunning like lantana, or as tiny as bacteria. And they're doing a real number on the planet, costing the global economy more than $423 billion each year, according to a new report.

Human eyelashes under magnifcation. Colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of human eyelash mites

Name That Magnified Object!

Can you figure out what these common items are when they're extremely magnified?

3d illustration of small intestines, human body, anatomy

Guess the Body Part Quiz

Taking this quiz requires guts.

Name That Thing: Science

Do you know the difference between a protractor and a compass?

Close up of the eye of a horned owl. (genus Bubo) bird raptor. Cropped version of Asset ID:

Guess the Animal Eyes Quiz

Can you tell these creatures just by looking at their peepers?

What causes the seasons?

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Paricutin Volcano, Mexico, in eruption at night. 1947.

7 Wonders of the Natural World

Nickel-iron meteorite, from Canyon Diablo, Arizona.

Meteorites

Coral

Reed frog on the inside of a pink lily flower (hyperolius sp)

Life

With the tornado in the background in Goshen County, Wyoming on June 5, 2009, the National Severe Storms Laboratory Field Command Vehicle helped coordinate operations in the field during the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment

Tornadoes

Milky Way galaxy in night sky. (space, stars, center, astronomy, telescope)

The Solar System

Biology

6 Cell Organelles

A quick refresher course in biology!

Thermal image portrait of mid adult woman with raised hands

How Does the Human Body Maintain Its Temperature?

Human body temperature is regulated by the hypothalamus in the brain.

H1N1 influenza virus particles. Colorized transmission electron micrograph. Surface proteins on surface of the virus particles shown in black. Influenza flu

10 Ways of Looking at Cells

Learn about 10 cutting-edge microscopy tools that scientists are using to explore the internal structure of cells.

pulmonary veins and arteries, circulation, cardiovascular system, human anatomy, (Netter replacement project - SSC)

13 Questions About How the Human Body Works Answered

Blood, brains, lungs, skin, and more.

Astronomy

9 Ghostly Planets

Were they ever out there to begin with?

Solar system illustration. (planets; sun)

Why Are Planets Round?

There are a lot of strange things in the universe, so why are planets round instead of every shape imaginable?

Galaxy clusters like Abell 2744 can act as a natural cosmic lens, magnifying light from more distant, background objects through gravity. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope may be able to detect light from the first stars in the universe if they are gravitationally lensed by such clusters. (astronomy, space exploration, galaxies)

How Fast Is the Universe Expanding?

Learn why the Hubble constant doesn’t seem to be very constant.

Infinite space background with silhouette of telescope. This image elements furnished by NASA.

Telescopes: Seeing Stars

For the last 400 years, telescopes have changed our view of the universe.

Mathematics

al-Khwārizmī

Al-Khwārizmī, Muslim mathematician and astronomer whose major works introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and the concepts of algebra into European mathematics. Latinized versions of his name and of his most famous book title live on in the terms algorithm and algebra. Al-Khwārizmī lived in Baghdad,

Unusual Counting Systems

In everyday life we use a base-10 counting system, but that is not something that has always been used in history.

Euclid

Euclid, the most prominent mathematician of Greco-Roman antiquity, best known for his treatise on geometry, the Elements. Of Euclid’s life nothing is known except what the Greek philosopher Proclus (c. 410–485 ce) reports in his “summary” of famous Greek mathematicians. According to him, Euclid

Aryabhata

Aryabhata, astronomer and the earliest Indian mathematician whose work and history are available to modern scholars. He is also known as Aryabhata I or Aryabhata the Elder to distinguish him from a 10th-century Indian mathematician of the same name. He flourished in Kusumapura—near Patalipurta

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