More than half a million hermit crabs have been killed after becoming trapped by plastic pollution on two remote islands, a new study from the University of Tasmania found. Research teams estimated that about 508,000 of the crustaceans have been killed in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean and about 61,000 on Henderson…… MORE
For two tumultuous months, Washington has been fixated on what President Donald Trump did. Now it’s time to work out what should happen to him. Four renowned law professors showed up before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to conduct an intellectual and rigorous constitutional seminar — while ducking the partisan crossfire from Democratic and…… MORE
MIT scientists are putting wind beneath policy makers’ wings, suggesting ways to modify airplane emissions, which worsen air quality and contribute to thousands of deaths annually. As this week’s COP25 climate change conference gains momentum, their findings could provide lift to the effort to avoid the disastrous global impacts of heat-trapping gases forecast by the…… MORE
As deadly bushfires continue to burn across Australia, a delegation of Canadian wildfire experts has embarked on a month-long trip to aid in the country’s crisis. The group of 21 wildfire suppression experts left Vancouver on Tuesday and are not expected to return until early January, meaning they will be thousands of miles away from…… MORE
Stars live violent lives, and the planets around them don’t always survive their brutal phases. But for the first time, astronomers have found evidence of a planet that survived a star’s transition to death. In what researchers called “one of those chance discoveries,” they found an ice giant exoplanet — a planet outside of our…… MORE
Although the sun sits at the center of our solar system, mystery has surrounded the star and its behavior. In August 2018, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe to draw closer to the sun than any satellite before. Now, the first data from the probe’s initial close passes of the sun have revealed some of…… MORE
What may have been the world’s tallest waterfall briefly formed on Greenland’s ice sheet last year, draining a meltwater lake of 5 million cubic meters of water — equivalent to 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — in just five hours. Scientists from the University of Cambridge in the UK recorded the extraordinary phenomenon through the use…… MORE
A staggering 600 million birds die every year in the United States after colliding with tall buildings. And Chicago, with its skyscrapers and location on a major migration path, is perhaps the biggest killer. But for Dave Willard, a collections manager emeritus at the city’s Field Museum, the dead birds have been an unexpected scientific…… MORE
Donald Trump is doing what he does best: Transforming a serious trip into a rolling pageant of can’t believe-your-eyes, made-for-TV moments. The reality show host-turned US President ran through his full repertoire of flattery, threats and weapons-grade disinformation at a meeting of NATO leaders in London on Tuesday. In televised scenes lasting 52, 39 and…… MORE
Much like stars and planets, black holes also fall into different categories. Astronomers have now spotted a record-breaking heavyweight black hole at the center of a galaxy known as Holm 15A. The black hole weighs 40 billion times the mass of our sun. Holm 15A is a central elliptical galaxy within the Abell 85 cluster,…… MORE
