What Was It Like to Be an Executioner in the Middle Ages? By Emma Bryce The image of the hooded executioner is iconic, but it tells us only a small part of the story.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg Just Completed Another Cancer Treatment, and She's Good to Go. By Kimberly Hickok This isn't the first time the "Notorious RBG" has bounced back from health scares.
Alien Oceans Could Hold Way More Life Than Earth’s Waters Ever Did, New Research Suggests By Brandon Specktor Alien worlds that favor strong ocean currents could be overflowing with life.
There Are Now Nearly 200 Cases of Severe Lung Illnesses Tied to Vaping By Yasemin Saplakoglu One patient has reportedly died from a severe lung illness linked to vaping.
A Rail Gun the Size of Manhattan Could Reveal the Secrets of the Higgs Boson By Paul Sutter A giant linear collider the size of Manhattan could finally help us find new physics, scientists argue.
Sending Even a Tiny Message Through a Black Hole Would Make It Evaporate By Mara Johnson-Groh Sending a carrier pigeon across the cosmos would probably be a more reliable way to send a message.
Physicists Finally Narrowed Down the Mass of the Tiniest 'Ghost Particle' in the Universe By Rafi Letzter A new paper uses data about the structure of the entire universe to measure the mass of one of its smallest, hardest-to-study components.
We'd Better Retreat from the Coasts While We Still Can, Scientists Urge Amid Climate Crisis By Brandon Specktor Do it now or do it later, with much, much worse outcomes.
Here's Why Drugs That Work So Well in Mouse Brains Often Fail Miserably in Humans By Yasemin Saplakoglu Mice and humans have the same kinds of brain cells and wiring. But the similarities may stop there.
Magnetars Can Crack Themselves Open and Bombard Earth with Gamma-Ray Flares, New Theory Suggests By Rafi Letzter Three giant gamma-ray flares have been detected in the last 40 years. A new paper on magnetars cracking themselves open could explain why.
Ancient Skeletons with Alien-Like Heads Unearthed in Croatia By Yasemin Saplakoglu Archaeologists have unearthed three ancient skeletons in Croatia — and two of them had pointy, artificially deformed skulls.
Asteroid That's Nearly the Height of the World's Tallest Building Is Flying by Earth Soon By Laura Geggel This asteroid nearly rivals the height of the world's tallest building.
Biblical War Revealed on 2,800-Year-Old Stone Altar By Owen Jarus The altar reveals new details about a rebellion against the Kingdom of Israel.
Astronomers Create 8 Million Baby Universes Inside a Computer and Watch Them Grow. Here's What They Learned. By Tim Childers "UniverseMachine" churns out millions of unique universes to study dark matter and the evolution of galaxies.
Scientists Are Building a Real-Life Version of the Starship Enterprise's Life Scanner By Adam Mann A novel method relying on biochemistry could provide an unambiguous signal of life on other worlds.
A Man Accidentally Swallowed a Fish Bone. It Tore a Hole Through His Intestine. By Rachael Rettner People swallow fish bones all the time. But it's rare for fish bones to pierce a hole through the intestine, as was the case for one man in Japan.
The Titanic Shipwreck Is Collapsing into Rust, First Visit in 14 Years Reveals By Brandon Specktor The wreck of the Titanic is rapidly disintegrating into the sea, but our hearts will go on.
We Could Detect Extraterrestrials Because They May Glow, Scientists Say By Yasemin Saplakoglu Whole planets may be covered with glowing red, blue and green life-forms.
We May Finally Know Where Vicious 'Black Widow' Pulsars Come From By Rafi Letzter These little "redback" and "black widow" stars have intensely magnetic poles, which could help explain how they eat their twins.
Teen Has 3-Pound Hair Ball Removed from Her Stomach By Rachael Rettner A teen girl in India who secretly ate her own hair ended up having a giant hairball removed from her stomach.
