A Perfect Solar Storm (Video)

On 23 July 2012, two eruptions on the sun known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) burst from an active patch of sunspots on the far side of the sun, which is monitored by a probe that circles the sun ahead of Earth in the same orbit. Emerging about 15 minutes apart, the CMEs quickly merged into one shock wave of charged particles that washed over the probe’s sensors just 18.6 hours later

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Should you take a pill for every ill?

Should you take a pill for every ill? Or can the food we eat help us win the disease war?

Watch this short animated film and decide for yourself because the only person who can transform your health is you.

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ScienceShot: A New Type of 'Quasicrystal'

In 1982, Daniel Shechtman, an Israeli materials scientist, was first to spot a new type of irregular crystal, known as a quasicrystal. Unlike conventional crystals that have a regular repeating pattern to their member atoms, in quasicrystals the pattern is ordered but doesn’t repeat. Since Shechtman’s discovery, hundreds of quasicrystals have been discovered, most of which are alloys of two or three metals
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Silk Screws Repair Broken Bones

Metal screws have been used to repair fractures and broken bones for years, but they aren’t perfect; they lead to an increased risk of infection and poor healing

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Top 10 Science stories for 2013

#1

New Signs of Long-Gone Life on Mars by Adam Hadhazy A spectacular nail-biter of a landing was just the beginning. This was the year Mars’ rover Curiosity proved its worth by giving researchers unprecedented access to the Red Planet.

#2

Supreme Court Strikes Down Gene Patents by Lisa Raffensperger The Supreme Court’s decision in June that genes can’t be patented has far-reaching consequences for research and medicine — and for every one of us.

#3

Carbon Dioxide Hits 400 ppm — Does It Matter? by Tom Yulsman In May, the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere crossed this long-hyped threshold, setting off a storm of media coverage. But how significant is the milestone?

#4

Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the Never-Ending End of Privacy by Sharon Weinberger The unprecedented government surveillance that surfaced in the summer brought the perennial clash between technology and privacy to a new level.

#5

Scientists Make Progress in Growing Organs From Stem Cells by Kat McGowan Liver buds and brain organoids are among this year's life-saving advances in growing spare human parts.

#6

Voyager 1 Goes Interstellar by Adam Hadhazy More than three decades after it left our planet, Voyager 1 entered a realm where no Earthborn spacecraft has gone before.

#7

Two Elusive Prime Number Problems Solved by Julie Rehmeyer After centuries of flummoxing number crunchers, two mathematical puzzles about prime numbers were cracked this year.

#8

Extracting Family Trees From Ancient Genomes by Breanna Draxler New techniques and very old bones overcome the limits of genome sequencing for prehistoric horses, ancient cave bears, and even our own early ancestors.

#9

Childhood Obesity Reversed by Jeff Wheelwright For years, health professionals have been urging better nutrition and more exercise for children. Are we finally listening?

#10

Amplituhedron May Shape the Future of Physics by Shannon Palus This multidimensional shape can simplify certain quantum equations — and possibly also revolutionize physics.

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Warning: Your open-plan office can make you ill

Don’t blame other commuters if you catch a cold this winter: blame the people who designed your office. According to a study, workplace layout has a surprising effect on rates of sick leave. After crunching the numbers, the researchers found a 'significant excess risk' of short sick-leave spells in three types of open-plan office
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Usain Bolt's superhuman speed would give him the power of flight on Saturn's moon Titan

We all know Usain Bolt is one of the fastest people on Earth. Now, students have shown his superhuman speeds would actually allow him to fly like a bird on one of Saturn’s moons while wearing a wingsuit. The world-record holding sprinter has reached top speeds of 12.27 meters per second, which would be fast enough for him to take off on Titan while wearing a regular wingsuit. Theoretically, the Olympic athlete would then be able to soar above the planet – without any need for propulsion
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Find Along Chilean Highway Suggests Mass Stranding of Whales Millions of Years Ago

In 2010, workers widening a remote stretch of highway near the northwestern coast of Chile uncovered a trove of fossils, including the skeletons of at least 30 large baleen whales. The fossils—which may be up to 9 million years old—are the first definitive examples of ancient mass strandings of whales, according to a new study

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Google Glass Could Help Track Disease

Google Glass, the tech giant’s experimental eyewear-based computer, may soon give epidemiologists a faster and more reliable way to track infections and other diseases
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