The process for this discovery started with the revelation that some of Galileo’s documents held at the University of Michigan and at Morgan Library in New York City were in fact counterfeits made by the infamous forger Tobia Nicotra in the early 20th century. Professor Nick Wilding of Georgia State University, who discovered the counterfeit, demonstrated that the filigree of the paper that the texts were written on cannot predate the 18th century.

Researchers at Cardiff University have identified a peculiar twisting motion in the orbits of two colliding black holes, an exotic phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity. Their study, which is published in Nature and led by Professor Mark Hannam, Dr. Charlie Hoy and Dr. Jonathan Thompson, reports that this is the first time this effect, known as precession, has been seen in black holes, where the twisting is 10 billion times faster than in previous observations.

In October 2018, a small star was ripped to shreds when it wandered too close to a black hole in a galaxy located 665 million light years away from Earth. Though it may sound thrilling, the event did not come as a surprise to astronomers who occasionally witness these violent incidents while scanning the night sky.

A beautiful blue flaw in a gem-quality diamond from Botswana is actually a tiny fragment of Earth’s deep interior—and it suggests our planet’s mantle contains oceans’ worth of water. The flaw, technically called an inclusion, looks like a fish eye: a deep blue center surrounded by a white haze. But it’s really a pocket of the mineral ringwoodite from 660 kilometers down, at the boundary between the upper and lower mantle.

Earth is “well-hidden” to extraterrestrial observers using photometric microlensing to hunt for habitable planets that might support life, an international team of researchers has concluded. The findings could also help to narrow down the best areas of the galaxy to target in our own searches for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

Fire ants will change shape of the raft to reduce drag and adapt to fluid flows.

Corneas made from pig collagen have restored sight for people who were previously legally blind or visually impaired. Two years after the operations, none of the recipients have reported serious complications or adverse side effects.

Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin sent a letter to colleagues in Massachusetts with a secret message: an encryption key to unlock a text file of L. Frank Baum's classic novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The twist: The encryption key was hidden in a special ink laced with polymers, They described their work in a recent paper published in the journal ACS Central Science.

In retrospect, perhaps toasting the success of a new medication he helped invent with several shots of vodka in Moscow was not a good idea. However, it was too late to go back. English research scientist Stewart Adams was faced with the consequences of his actions: a serious hangover.

Blood pressure is one of the most important indicators of heart health, but it's tough to frequently and reliably measure outside of a clinical setting. For decades, cuff-based devices that constrict around the arm to give a reading have been the gold standard. But now, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have developed an electronic tattoo that can be worn comfortably on the wrist for hours and deliver continuous blood pressure measurements at an accuracy level exceeding nearly all available options on the market today.

Researchers trained robots on artificial intelligence exhibited racist and sexist behavior, bringing concerns for the future of automation.

Pterosaurs not only had feathers, but also were flamboyantly colorful, scientists say. That could mean that feathers — and vibrant displays of mate-seeking plumage — may have originated as far back as the common ancestor of dinosaurs and pterosaurs, during the early Triassic Period around 250 million years ago.

The first world found orbiting a pulsar is rarer than previously believed, deepening the mystery of how planets survive around violent dead stars.

Astrophysicists have discovered the fastest known star which is racing around the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The star, designated S4716, completes an orbit around the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) in just around four years.

The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted evidence of a white dwarf star devouring rocky and icy material from its own system, suggesting that water and other volatiles might be common in the outer reaches of planetary systems.

The medieval bubonic plague was first recorded in the 14th century.

Astronomers have searched for extraterrestrial civilizations in planetary systems for sixty years, to no avail. In the paper published by International Journal of Astrobiology, Cambridge University Press, and titled "Migrating extraterrestrial civilizations and interstellar colonization: Implications for SETI and SETA...

Showing signs of stress could make us more likeable and prompt others to act more positively towards us, according to a new study by scientists at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Portsmouth.

Two decades worth of observations revealed unexpected cooling of the solar system's most distant planet Neptune amid its astronomical summer. Neptune is orbiting 30 times farther away from the sun than Earth with one year lasting 165 Earth years. The ice giant's seasons, too, last much longer than those on Earth — more than 40 Earth-years each.

Over the past five years or so we've seen some important breakthroughs demonstrating how enzymes can be used to break down common plastics, such as the PET used for everything from drink bottles to shampoo containers. In pursuit of a circular economy for plastic waste, scientists have now discovered a new enzyme that further breaks down one of the key plastic building blocks left behind by this process, leaving simple molecules that can be repurposed for use in new products.