Science

The chunky aluminum die is perfect for roleplaying games and chemistry class. The post Giant 120-sided ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ dice highlights every element appeared first on Popular Science.

The "miniature masterpiece" will go on display during an upcoming exhibition focused on the legacy Rome left in the highlands the empire dubbed Caledonia

In many species of wild animals, males have flashier features than females to help them attract mates. But scientists have long noticed that humans seem to be an exception, with women often being considered the "fairer sex"

Most of nature – including humans – is symmetrical, and as creations reflect their creators, many robots we create today feature this symmetry, with the general assumption that symmetry is best. Researchers at Duke University have challenged that assumption with Argus, a sea-urchin-like robot that ditches conventional symmetry altogether.Continue ReadingCategory: Robotics, EngineeringTags: Duke University, locomotion, Omni-Directional

Researchers at Kanazawa University, in collaboration with Diamond and Carbon Applications (Germany), have developed a buried-growth process for nitrogen–vacancy (NV) centers in diamond using microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD). By employing nitrogen-radical selective etching, which simultaneously enhances metal-mask durability through nitridation, the team enabled a continuous etching–growth sequence within a single MPCVD process.

Farmed oysters are mixing with and potentially adding to populations of wild oysters—a once-abundant species in New York's estuaries and rivers that has declined drastically over the last century. A new study, published in the journal Molecular Ecology, offers genetic evidence and the first documented proof that farmed eastern oysters are adding to and breeding with wild eastern oyster populations in the western and central Long Island Sound.

Could wound healing dressings adhere better, and could drug delivery patches become more sophisticated? A KAIST research team has developed a technology that leverages natural ingredients derived from plants to increase the strength of a seaweed-based hydrogel (a gel material that contains a large amount of water while maintaining its shape) by more than fivefold, while also controlling its adhesiveness and degradation rate.

Ocean currents are not just horizontal motions that flow from side to side. There are also vertical currents that act like deep-sea elevators, pushing heat and carbon down into the deep, while bringing up vital nutrients and dissolved gases to the surface.

Solar flares are the most explosive energy-release events in the solar corona, leading to intense particle acceleration, plasma heating and bulk plasma motions on short timescales. Core questions during solar flares remain unresolved, including how and where particle acceleration occurs, and how energized electrons propagate through coronal magnetic structures.

Archaeologists excavating Maya sites at Kaxil Uinik and Ayiin Winik in Belize have discovered the first reported Late Postclassic altar in the region, along with additional evidence that Postclassic Maya people continued to visit abandoned locations. The study, published in Latin American Antiquity, indicates that these activities fit into a broad pattern of Postclassic veneration of earlier Maya civilization after its decline.

NASA named the astronauts who will launch on its Artemis 3 mission next year to test docking procedures in Earth orbit ahead of a planned moon landing in 2028.

The world's tropical rainforests are edging towards collapse. But knowing how to stop deforestation isn't enough to drive action. The challenge is aligning all the pieces of the puzzle to initiate substantial change. Now our research suggests the key is to persuade enough people to make the system tip in the right direction.

A study led by a UAB research team of Biological Anthropology has analyzed the genome of 54 newborns with the aim of tracking the genetic history of their culture since it developed in the Early Iron Age until the start of the Roman period, some 2,700 to 2,100 years ago.

Set your alarm for June 10 as Saturn shines beside a bright crescent moon in the predawn sky.

Archaeologists working at the ancient Maya site of El Palmar in Campeche, Mexico, have discovered what may be the earliest known Long Count calendar date in the Maya lowlands. It is carved into a stone monument and is interpreted as Aug. 31, AD 180, in our modern calendar. The finding could reveal insights into how the earliest Maya rulers used time to stake their claim to the throne.