Science

On the island of New Caledonia, a simple, unassuming species of fern has been identified as having the longest genome of any living organism known. It is 50 times longer than a human’s, 7% longer than the previous world record-holding species for longest genome, and 20% longer than the record-holding animal….

Reprinted via EarthTalk®, From the Editors of E – The Environmental Magazine Could plain old beach sand be the next frontier in renewable energy? In the ongoing quest for sustainable energy solutions, innovative technologies are necessary to implement renewable sources like solar and wind power. One such potential breakthrough revolves around…

When a meteorite smashed into Mars eleven million years ago, pieces of the Red Planet hurtled into space—and some of them landed on Earth in the form of meteorites, depositing unparalleled evidence of the planet’s makeup. Now, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have released a report…

People with spinal cord injuries in the future could be healing their nerve connections with a device that uses red light and near-infrared light pointed at the exact source of damage. The novel therapeutic approach, invented by scientists at the University of Birmingham, involves delivering light directly to the site of…

As with many things, a discovery from ancient Egypt has put a time stamp on the development of something: cancerous tumor removal from the brain. A man living sometime between 2,686 BCE and 2,345 BCE was nearing 40 when he developed malignant brain tumors, scarring on his cranial walls revealed. But…

Using nothing other than light, Canadian scientists have developed an organic smart material that can either soak spilled oil out of water, or repel it. The material can be used in this way like a sponge to quickly clean up marine oil spills before the oil reaches the shoreline and mixes…