I can’t see the moon from my bedroom window. But I do like to go onto my patio to watch it rise majestically over … Read More → "Buzz Aldrin on his lunar home, the Eagle"

Subjects in the study, led by Oxford’s Roi Cohen Kadosh, were given math questions while being subjected to either real or fake electrical shocks that fluctuated in power. The study kept the shocks going for five days, during which the 25 test subjects also received mathematics lessons. While the two groups started off equally skilled, by the end of five days of training and shock therapy, the subjects who were being jolted were … Read More → "Want to be better at math? A jolt of electricity to the brain might do the trick"

If you thought current media-darling Curiosity is where all the martian action is right now, think again. Its elder sibling, Opportunity, is still rolling up there too. In fact, it’s just wheeled its way into a little page of NASA history: the longest distance one of its vehicles has traveled on a body beyond Earth. A recent short (by our standards) trip of 263 feet took its total to 22.22 miles … Read More → "Opportunity breaks 40-year old NASA space-drive record, reminds Curiosity who’s boss"

These little things look exactly like flowers—and that’s because they’re meant to. But in real life you’d never be able to spot them, because they are in fact microscopic crystals grown on the surface of a razor blade.

The images—which take a starring role on … Read More → "These aren’t flowers – they’re microscopic crystals"

When Lyndon Baty was born six weeks premature with a life-threatening condition, polycystic kidney disease (PKD), doctors gave him two years to live. Now aged 17, Lyndon requires constant medical attention. PKD has prevented his body from developing at a normal rate, and he’s unable to attend school or do many of the things most teenagers take for granted. Lyndon’s condition hasn’t stopped him from going to school, though; he attends classes, and socializes with other … Read More → "Robot helps house-bound boy attend school"

The incredible interior of the iconic Barcelona church Sagrada Família is revealed in these wide-angle photos by photographer Clement Celma. Construction of the Sagrada Família, known formally as the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, was started in 1882. In 1883 Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí took over the project, radically redesigning the church … Read More → "Wide-angle interior shots of Sagrada Família in Barcelona"

Water and electricity: historically, not a great combo! But Antonin Fourneau, a French artist and engineer, combines both to remarkable ends in his installation, Water Light Graffiti, which landed in New York this week.

The surface of Water Light Graffiti is dotted by thousands of LEDs, each ringed by a sensor that triggers … Read More → "Water-activated LED wall: sounds dangerous, looks beautiful (video)"

According to a joint World Health Organization/UNICEF report issued this week, an estimated 768 million people relied on unimproved drinking-water sources in 2011, with 185 million of these relying on surface water to meet their daily drinking-water needs. WHO and UNICEF have set a 2030 target for everyone to have access to a safe drinking-water supply and new water-purifying “nanoscavengers” developed by researchers at Stanford University could help achieve this goal.

There are … Read More → "Nanoscavengers could be the next-gen water purifiers"

Over the weekend, Nature released a paper that describes the genome of a fascinating creature with a rather unglamorous name: the bladderwort. These plants live in swampy or liquid environments and find it hard to get sufficient nutrients there, so the plants have turned carnivorous in order to survive. The bladders that give the group of related species its name are actually feeding organs. When an … Read More → "Carnivorous plant has deleted most of its junk DNA"

It’s not quite as exciting as free-falling from the edge of space, but a group of 80 Lego enthusiasts in Denmark, led by Henrik Ludvigsen, now hold the Guinness Record for the world’s longest plastic toy train track—an honor that will certainly look fantastic on a resume.

Inspired … Read More → "The world’s longest Lego railway includes 2.5 miles of track"