Could a spill by the cook fire have been popcorn’s eureka moment?
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Corn has its roots in Mexico about 9,000 years ago.
Some planets, such as Saturn, have more than a hundred moons, while others, such as Venus, have none.
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It’s not a competition, but if it were, Saturn would be winning.
Heat waves can get dangerously hot, especially when it’s also humid.
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The answer depends in part on where you live. If it’s extremely hot and humid, the health risks are much higher.
Construction underway at China’s Lingdingyang Bridge.
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Underwater construction is a complex and difficult task, but engineers have developed several ways to build underwater … mostly by not building underwater at all.
Hunting for life on other worlds isn’t easy.
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It’s hard to look for something you’ve never seen before – and that might not even exist. But you have to start somewhere.
Biases against certain groups of people can escalate into acts of violence if left unchecked.
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It can be easy to mistake feelings like fear and anger as hate. When biases are acted out in harmful ways, however, speaking up can help stop hate from getting worse.
Thinking builds neural networks, which is why practice improves performance.
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Eating right, exercising, playing sports, reading and journaling are just a few of the ways you can keep your brain in top shape.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, in yellow, holds the world’s speed record for humans.
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
Your sprinting skills have a lot to do with genetics, but your brain also plays a big role.
I feel a song coming on …
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Only male crickets have wing structures that produce sound, but females are very good at following the signal.
The number zero was a relatively recent and crucial addition − it allows numbers to extend in both directions forever.
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Here’s a game: Tell a friend to give you any number and you’ll return one that’s bigger. Just add ‘1’ to whatever number they come up with and you’re sure to win.
Thousands of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, are in this 2022 photo taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI
Now out in space for more than two years, the James Webb Space Telescope is a stunningly sophisticated instrument.
The Punch Powertrain Solar Team car from Belgium competes in the 2017 World Solar Challenge near Kulgera, Australia.
AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert
It’s common to see solar panels on rooftops and fields, but they aren’t widespread on cars − yet.
Dig into soil and you’ll find rock dust but also thousands of living species.
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Rock dust is only part of the story of soil. Living creatures, many of them too tiny to see, keep that soil healthy for growing everything from food to forests.
U.S. airlines carry more than 800 million passengers per year.
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People have been flying airplanes for well over a century. Engineers know how to balance all the forces at play, but still aren’t exactly sure how some of the physics of flight actually works.
The reason trees need sunlight is the same reason their leaves are green.
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Trees – and all plants – harvest sunlight to gain the energy they need to live and grow.
The queen, on the right with a larger, darker body, is bigger than the worker bees in the colony and lives several times longer.
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A queen’s main job in the hive is to lay eggs and pass genes on to offspring. But many bee species do just fine without queens or big colonies.
Some parts of the U.S. see well over 100 inches (2.5 meters) of snow per year.
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There are an infinite number of paths an ice crystal can take before you touch it.
Leap Day is coming.
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Humans have synced their calendars to the sun and moon for centuries, but every so often, these systems need a little correction.
Can you detain someone you just saw break the law?
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Stopping someone against their will can be false imprisonment or even kidnapping. There are laws that determine who is acting as a hero and who is acting as a vigilante.
Your blood’s natural limit to how much oxygen it can hold means you can’t stockpile it.
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Inhaling air is how you get the oxygen your body needs to turn your food into energy. Other living things use different strategies.