Science

As a slight arachnophobe, I'm a bit surprised to discover that I find the above photo of live newborn lynx spiderlings stunning -- and the subjects rather adorable. Stunning and adorable are in the eye of the beholder, of course, but I do know that Walter Piorkowski's photo suddenly makes me feel a bit more comfortable with creepy crawlies.

It happens every year when Nikon announces the results of its annual Small World Photomicrography Competition, which celebrates the art of photography shot through a light microscope. Science becomes exquisite (unexpectedly at times) as photomicrographers turn their tiny lenses on the likes of bat embryos, algae, larva, stinging nettles, and ladybug legs. Even insidious cancer cells become visually mesmerizing. … Read more

The U.S. Air Force said today that an experimental test in August of its hypersonic X-51A Waverider failed due to a fin inadvertently unlocking and sending the aircraft into a corkscrew that ended in a crash into the Pacific Ocean.

At the time, the Air Force said only that the August flight had ended with the crash, but didn't reveal what had been at fault. But in a conference call today, X-51A program manager Charlie Brink explained what he and his colleagues have learned over a couple of months of investigation.

The August flight was the third of … Read more

U.S. Marines may have a reputation for persevering in primitive conditions and dealing with whatever comes their way, but they like their electricity just like everyone else.

Yet bringing fuel-guzzling generators with them when on forward deployment is inefficient work, requiring carting around heavy loads of diesel and taking a toll on the local environment.

But not for much longer. Today, the Office of Naval Research awarded Raytheon a contract to develop a hybrid power generator for the Marines, a system that when completed should help Marines in the field consume as much as 40 percent less fuel than … Read more

Pick one: "Evolution of nanostructural architecture in 7000 series aluminum alloys during strengthening by age-hardening and severe plastic deformation," or "A super-alloy is born: The romantic revolution of Lightness & Strength." I'm betting you're going for the romantic revolution.

"A super-alloy is born" is the interpretive dance version of a Ph.D. thesis by Peter Liddicoat, a materials scientist at the University of Sydney in Australia. It's also the grand prize winner of Science magazine's Dance Your Ph.D. contest. The contest challenges Ph.D. students in the sciences to create interpretive dance videos to explain their theses.… Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--If you've ever wanted a chance to bust a myth like a real MythBuster, your time has come.

Starting tomorrow, MythBusters fans can try their hand at a number of myths and see some of the artifacts behind a number of the hit Discovery Channel show's greatest hits at MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition at the Tech Museum here.

From testing whether you're more likely to get wet by running or walking in the rain to whether it's really possible to pull a tablecloth off a table without destroying everything on it to a … Read more

Countless childhood dreams dissolved today upon the news that the calculated half-life of DNA figures out to around 521 years, all but invalidating the chances of a real-life "Jurassic Park."

The DNA fact-finding project involved a team of palaeogeneticists testing 158 leg bones belonging to three species of extinct giant moa birds ranging from 600 to 8,000 years old.

After running a series of comparisons between the age of the various bones and DNA degradation within each specimen, the researchers estimated that DNA's half-life works out to about 521 years after being kept in a swamp with an average temperature of 13.1 Celsius (55 Fahrenheit). Even a more ideal preservation temperature of minus 5 Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) would only result in readable DNA from specimens up to 1.5 million years old, meaning there is no possible way we can see a 65-million-year-old T-Rex waving its tiny arms about in this time frame. … Read more

When I interviewed Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka back in 2008, I had an inkling he'd win the Nobel Prize one day for his work on stem cells. I didn't pay any mind to his appearance or background.

Yamanaka shared the Nobel in physiology or medicine this week with Britain's John Gurdon for their groundbreaking work on changing adult cells into stem cells, which can become any type of cell in the body.

It turns out that Yamanaka defied the odds. He was born in September, he's 50, bespectacled, and Japanese. According to a historical survey of Nobel laureates by the BBC, which goes back to 1901, those aren't favorable characteristics. … Read more

The "Indiana Jones" film saga contains a plethora of real-world archaeology and stunning cinematography, an epic score by John Williams, and cunning characters. Perhaps the greatest charm of the movies, however, falls upon the main protagonist played by Harrison Ford.

To celebrate the legacy of the films more than 30 years after the Indiana Jones franchise debuted with "Raiders of the Lost Ark," National Geographic and Lucasfilm teamed with X3 Productions on the Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology exhibition, which is set to open October 12 at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, Calif. The exhibit runs through April 21, 2013, and features an extensive collection of film props, set designs, models, and concept art used in the films. … Read more

If you've ever wondered what makes your ponytail sway from side to side, you're not alone. Researchers who unraveled the mysterious math behind human ponytails have been recognized with an Ig Nobel prize for their contribution to science.

As I predicted they would back in February, Joseph Keller, Raymond Goldstein, Patrick Warren, and Robin Ball took home the humorous accolade for their study in Physical Review Letters, which describes a hairy equation governing locks.

The Ig Nobels are handed out in a ceremony at Harvard University and honor research that first makes you laugh, and then makes you think. … Read more