Marina Koren, Atlantic
For about four days, the radio waves would arrive at random. Then, for the next 12, nothing.Then, another four days of haphazard pulses. Followed by another 12 days of silence.The patternthe well-defined swings from frenzy to stillness and back againpersisted like clockwork for more than a year.
David Cox, Leaps
In October 2006, Craig Mello received a strange phone call from Sweden at 4:30 a.m. The voice at the other end of the line told him to get dressed and that his life was about to change.Shortly afterwards, he was informed that along with his colleague Andrew Fire, he had won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Bob Yirka, Phys.org
A trio of theoretical physicists at the Pennsylvania State University has calculated the upper limit for the possible quantization of timethey suggest 1033 seconds as the upper limit for the period of a universal oscillator. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, Garrett Wendel, Luis Martnez and Martin Bojowald outline their theory and suggest a possible way to prove it.
Isaac Schultz, Atlas Obscura
The naming of many saber-toothed speciesthe most famous being the genus Smilodon, or the saber-toothed catsounds like a bit of a macabre joke. The pearly grins of these prehistoric predators might have been the last sight of any creatures that got close enough to appreciate them.
David Robson, BBC Future
Nestled in a grassy valley of north-western Namibia, Opuwo may seem like a crumbling relic of colonial history. With a population of just 12,000, the town is so small that it would take less than a minute to drive from the road sign on one side of town to the shanty villages on other. Along the way, you would see a hotchpotch collection of administrative offices, a couple of schools, a hospital and a handful of supermarkets and petrol stations.
Steven Novella, Neurologica
It's always disappointing (not surprising, but disappointing) when a purely scientific question unnecessarily becomes a political or social one. Whether or not to wear a face mask during an historic pandemic should be purely a question of risk vs benefit does it work, and is there any downside?
Courtney Sexton, Smithsonian
Ears back. Body trembling. Hiding in the bathtub or crawling under the bed. The telltale signs of a scared pup are familiar to dog owners, and they're especially common in summer, when fireworks and thunderstorms can heighten dogs' anxiety levels. But while the sight of a sparkler sends some dogs tail-tucked and running, others remain unfazed by booms and bangs.
Dharna Noor, Gizmodo
Lighting usually lasts for a couple seconds at most. Except for when it really, super doesn't. On March 4, 2019, there was a lightning flash in Argentina that lasted for 16.73 seconds.Again, a lightning flash went on for almost 17 seconds! That's almost the length of the chorus of Raspberry Beret! It's three times the length of some hardcore songs!
Chris Lee, Ars Technica
Gravity is, at heart, a mystery. Yes, we can talk about curvature of space-time and perhaps make analogies with stretched rubber sheets. But we don't know why mass causes space-time to curve.To put it another way, in our theory of gravity, matter is the scenery and space-time is both cast and stage crew.
Andrew Joseph, Stat
If the country wants to crank up its Covid-19 testing capacity into the millions the range that could be required for safer reopenings of businesses and universities experts say it's time to ramp up a technique known as pool testing.
John Kinnear, Conv
Modern medicine rightly emphasises the importance of science. The focus, however, too often displaces our attention from the real point of healthcare to care. This is nicely captured by William Osler's (1849-1919) admonition to attend to the patient rather than their disease a sentiment treated as a quaint bromide by the unwary practitioner.
