Science

Being curious about something actually changes the way the brain behaves, preparing it to learn something new. In fact, a piqued interest doesn’t just ready the brain for the immediately relevant learning material, but also enable our brains to better absorb incidental information too.

An estimated 35,000 pacific walrus have been spotted ashore on a beach in north-west Alaska. Unlike seals, the mammals cannot swim indefinitely and are now coming ashore in record numbers as they struggle to find sea ice for resting in the Artic.

Sharks may be many things in the popular imagination, but they are not generally noted for their sociability. But that could be about to change after new research has found that sharks possess distinct “social personalities” and that most, though by no means all, are actually quite sociable.

Have you seen an Eastern Hog-nosed Snake? Scott Gillingwater, Species at Risk Biologist with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) is asking for the public’s help in protecting this harmless snake. This Threatened species is protected provincially and federally. Scott wants people to report observations of Eastern Hog-nosed Snakes by contacting him at gillingwaters @ thamesriver.on.ca or 519-451-2800 ext …

A fire that broke out Thursday morning in the personnel quarters of a natural gas platform in Cook Inlet forced the rig’s crew to flee in a helicopter and sent a plume of black smoke billowing into the sky.

Mysteries of the deep come alive as satellite data bring thousands of uncharted sea mountains and new clues about deep ocean structures into focus

A drone captured breathtaking footage of an Iceland volcano erupting, getting so close to the molten lava that a GoPro camera attached to the drone melted.

An Australian researcher is combining the brain of a rat and the eyes of a human to make an intelligent robot that can see where it is and where it needs to go. On a computer, at least.

New data obtained by NASA’s GRAIL mission reveals that the Procellarum region on the near side of the moon — a giant basin often referred to as the “man in the moon” — likely arose not from a massive asteroid strike, but from a large plume of magma deep within the moon’s interior.

Earlier this year, we reported on a mysterious “ghost” object that had suddenly appeared and then disappeared on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Now, new observations by the Cassini team show this elusive feature is back again.

The Thai government apparently has been distressed lately about the lack of uniformity at restaurants serving dishes purported to represent authentic Thai cuisine. The answer to the problem: Taste-testing robots.