How many ancient cousins did early man have? Exciting new fossils discovered east of Lake Turkana confirm that there were two additional species of our genus – Homo – living alongside our direct human ancestral species, Homo erectus, almost two million years ago. The finds, announced in the prestigious scientific journal Nature on August 9th,…

Iapetus is the third largest moon of Saturn, and eleventh-largest in the Solar System. it is an odd one due to its steep topography. Giant ice avalanches on Iapetus provide clues to similar extreme slippage elsewhere in the solar system. “We see landslides everywhere in the solar system,” says Kelsi Singer, graduate student in earth…

Rat poison used on illegal marijuana farms may be sickening and killing the fisher, a rare forest carnivore that makes its home in some of the most remote areas of California, according to a team of researchers led by University of California, Davis, veterinary scientists. Researchers discovered commercial rodenticide in dead fishers in Humboldt County…

A study lead by researchers from Brigham and Women’s hospital (BWH) shows an association between increased concentrations of phthalates in the body and an increased risk of diabetes in women. Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals that are commonly found in female personal care products such as moisturizers, nail polishes, soaps, hair sprays and perfumes. They…

Once upon a time 10 miles per gallon for a car was fairly normal. The 2013 Honda Fit EV (Electric vehicle), has received a combined adjusted Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mile-per-gallon-equivalency rating of 118 MPG(equivalent), and an unprecedented low consumption rating of just 29 kilowatt hours (kWh) per 100 miles. With an EPA rated annual…

Maharishi University of Management’s new Sustainable Living Center, which opened recently, has the distinction of being one of the few net-zero energy buildings in the country—it will produce as much if not more energy than it uses. Sustainable Living Center To Be “Net-Zero Energy Building” The building is designed to eventually be completely off the…

A new study analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggests that the lake, known as Ontario Lacus, behaves most similarly to what we call a salt pan on Earth. A salt pan is formed where liquid pools were. A salt pan would be a lake or a pond if it were located in a climate…

New research at Concordia University is bringing the world one step closer to cleaner energy. It is now possible to extend the length of time a battery like enzyme can store energy from seconds to hours, as shown in a study published in the Journal of The American Chemical Society. Concordia Associate Professor László Kálmán…

Depending on the mass of the star, this lifetime ranges from only a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the age of the universe. How a star will vary. Some explode like a Supernova. Others collapse into white dwarf or a…

Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun once every 87.97 Earth days, completing three rotations about its axis for every two orbits. Mercury is similar in appearance to the Moon: it is heavily cratered with regions of smooth plains, has no natural satellites and no substantial atmosphere.…