Imagine a habitable planet orbiting a distant star. You’re probably picturing a variation of Earth. Maybe it’s a little cloudier, or covered in oceans. That image may very well be completely off-base. There is good reason to think that the first potentially life-bearing worlds that are now being detected around other stars probably look very different than Earth. Rather, these planets are more likely to look like giant eyeballs whose gaze is forever fixed on their host stars.

Last week, amateur Polish photographer Bartosz Wojczyński combined an amazing 32,000 images to create a super high-resolution image of the moon. It took only 28 minutes to take the photos from his balcony in Piekary Śląskie, but the total file size for the photos was a whopping 73.5 gigabytes. Wojczyński spent 5-6 hours combining the images.

Reality is real, but what you see, that's all in your head.

In a new study, published in Nature this week, a research team led from Uppsala University in Sweden presents the discovery of a new microbe that represents a missing link in the evolution of complex life. The study provides a new understanding of how, billions of years ago, the complex cell types that comprise plants, fungi, but also animals and humans, evolved from simple microbes.

A tiny North Dakota town was evacuated Wednesday after a train carrying crude oil derailed and 10 cars burst into flames, local authorities said. It is the latest in a string of explosive oil train derailments that have raised concerns about the large volume of crude moving across America's tracks.

New York City is filled with commuters, so on any given day you're bound to find discarded MetroCards in the subway and even in the city streets. Most pedestrians wouldn't think twice about these yellow and blue cards that litter the urban setting, but New York-based artist Nina Boesch not only notices them, but she utilizes their limited color palette for her own impressive artworks that pay homage to the Big Apple.

Jupiter is famous for its Great Red Spot, but the stormy planet may also be responsible for keeping the inner solar system calm.

Microsoft has made its RoomAlive technology free for anyone to use. Have a few spare projectors?

I’m at Princeton where Ed Snowden is due to speak by live video link in a few minutes, and have a discussion with Bart Gellmann... By Ross Anderson

A review of Matthew B. Crawford's The World Beyond Your Head

Researchers say it may be possible to slow and even reverse aging by keeping DNA more stably packed together in our cells. In a breakthrough discovery, scientists report that they have found the key to keeping cells young. In a study published Thursday in Science, an international team, led by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte at the Salk Institute, studied the gene responsible for an accelerated aging disease known as Werner syndrome, or adult progeria, in which patients show signs of osteoporosis..

Depression doesn’t just change your mentality—it also leaves marks on your DNA, report scientists from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (WTCHG). The finding was so surprising that the scientists initially met it with skepticism and admit that they required a substantial amount of convincing to believe it was not merely a coincidence.

In the dark corners of our galaxy, there are billions of rogue planets roaming around, starless — can they support life?

Three-dimensional images you can see without special glasses have been created with a clever user of lasers and graphene.

The physicist took a break from speaking about his work as one of the world's leading scientists to answer a question from one upset fan during a talk at Sydney Opera House at the weekend.

New report details perverse policies that are driving more people into hopeless, inescapable poverty.

Gene Wolfe’s science fiction is neither operatic nor scientifically accurate; his fantasy works are not full of clanging swords and wizardly knowledge.

Asthma could be cured within five years after scientists discovered what causes the condition and how to switch it off. In a breakthrough which could change the lives of Britain’s five million sufferers, researchers at Cardiff University and Kings College London identified which cells cause the airways to narrow when triggered by irritants like pollution.

The typical American consumes more than 100,000 words a day, and remembers none of them. When everybody’s reading, but nobody’s smarter, what value has the word?

An introduction to the limited species deep sea collection for the preservation of Earth life.

At Bell Labs, Eric Betzig describes his very indirect path to scientific success.

It took a lot of fossil fuels to forge our industrial world. Now they're almost gone. Could we do it again without them?

Fine Art Bodypainting, Nature-Art, Performance

The weather glossary explains the different weather words used in weather reports, forecasts and readings.

The question of being is the darkest in all philosophy.” So concluded William James in thinking about that most basic of riddles: how did something come from nothing? The question infuriates, James realized, because it demands an explanation while denying the very possibility of explanation. “From nothing to being there is no logical bridge,” he wrote. In science, explanations are built of cause and effect. But if nothing is truly nothing, it lacks the power to cause.

Each year, dozens of Canadian Aboriginal women are murdered or disappear never to be seen again.

Ellie Lobel was ready to die. Then she was attacked by bees. Christie Wilcox hears how venom can be a saviour.

By Yvette d’Entremont

Conservative groups are fleeing from arguments that made them sound like flat-Earthers.

Why plant one tree when a drone can shoot pregerminated seed pods at the ground without you lifting a finger?