Hard Science

Scientists solve the mystery of why 2000-year-old Roman concrete still stands strong.

Just by looking at satellite images, AI can predict your income bracket, and tell us what wealth and poverty look like from space.

New research on Uranus’ magnetosphere could help scientists learn about distant systems, and refine the ways they search for alien life.

An interactive periodic table with pictures makes it easy to see how each element is used.

A new study looks at how to make a successful smile.

Watch what it might look like to travel from the sun to Jupiter at the speed of light.

Is race a trivial quality of humans, or of deep social importance? Who gets to decide whether race exists or not?

Scientists film a closeup of DNA replication for the first time, leading to unexpected observations.

The iconic physicist warns that we’d better find another planet in the next 100 years, or humanity is screwed.   

A popular physicist shares why he believes that the deepest nature of reality is hidden from us.

Elon Musk publishes a visionary paper on his company’s plans to colonize space.

Has CRISPR co-creator Jennifer Doudna invented the Pandora’s Box of genetic engineering, or can CRISPR be used for the forces of good?

Groundbreaking research finds that the human brain creates multi-dimensional neural structures.

The clash of tectonic plates beneath us is just part of life on Earth—unless, of course, there is human interference like in the American Midwest.

Designed by two MIT professors, this build-it-yourself kit teaches kids to “think with their hands” in an effort to bolster STEM skills early on.

Astronomers make the first direct observation of a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

If people who experience near-death experiences have less fear of death, could an out-of-body experience through virtual simulation lead to the same result?

An Australian dog was accepted to the editorial board of numerous scientific journals and asked to peer review papers.

Can genius be reproduced from extracted DNA? Introducing the Leonardo Project.

There’s something all of us—physicists included—are getting wrong about dark matter, says Neil deGrasse Tyson.

NASA announces the details of its mission to the sun, set to launch in 2018.

NASA space probes discovered a protective barrier created by human communication technology.

A new study discovers why whales grew to be the largest animals on our planet.

Scientists are going into old science books to see if there’s anything they’ve overlooked or can improve upon. 

A new study by planetary scientists proposes a giant new space object which could have formed the Earth and the moon.

High school junior Caitlin is worried. She wants to be a scientist but is struggling with it a little bit in school—is there hope for her career?

The Cassini-Huygens telescope has spent the better part of the last two decades finding out more about our galaxy than we could possibly dream of. Here’s 14 of the coolest things it has found out. 

How we remember time is vastly different to how we experience it, says neuroscientist Dean Buonomano.

Is our existence base reality—or are we pawns in a matrix? Cognitive scientist Joscha Bach explains how we might be able to tell.

Sam Harris talks with David Deutsch about how modern people are already living like astronauts.