Once upon a time there lived an ivory carver named Pygmalion. He wouldn't have stood out from the crowd if he hadn't become satiated with women. After that, he apparently fell into depression, which led to him remaining alone for…
An artist's impression of the Earth/Sun Lagrange points. L1 is the final destination of the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. (Image courtesy of NASA's Conceptual Imagery Lab/Christopher Kim) Some NASA missions are designed to address very specific needs, but all of them…
Huntington's disease is an inherited disorder that causes brain cell death. Clinical trials suggest a new gene therapy may help slow the disease's progression. (Photo: KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images) In the first groundbreaking clinical trials, gene therapy…
A diamond from deep within the Earth. (Photo: Yael Kempe and Yakov Weiss) A pair of diamonds formed hundreds of kilometers deep in Earth's plastic mantle contain inclusions of materials formed under completely opposite chemical conditions—a combination so unusual that…
Previously, the word “carbide” was known to almost all schoolchildren and workers. This name meant calcium carbide (CaC₂) – a chemical substance that, when interacting with water, releases flammable acetylene gas. The reaction was accompanied by a characteristic hissing sound,…
Scientists say Amazonian trees are absorbing more CO2 from the atmosphere and growing thicker as a result. (Image credit: Christian Vinces/Getty Images) A new study shows that trees of all sizes in the Amazon rainforest are getting fatter due to…