Because days are inexplicably becoming longer, we might need the unprecedented negative leap second, but it could break the internet. — Keeping our calendars in sync with the Earth has always been problematic. Any system we create, inevitably needs to be periodically adjusted to lineup with reality. The old Julian calendar needed an extra month added when Roman priests thought necessary. The Gregorian calendar, which is used today by most of…

Some insects can “smell” cancerous cells, possibly leading to new devices for early detection. — Nothing beats a natural nose. Since the early 1980s, researchers have been trying to develop electronic noses, devices that can detect unique airborne chemical signatures, yet anything on the market or even in the lab can’t compete with evolution. Anything produced by humans just can’t match the complexity produced by…

After standing strong for more than 300 years, Newton’s law of universal gravitation might need an update. — Newton published the law of universal gravitation in his 1687 Naturalis Principia Mathematica, and it quickly became one of the most important stones on which physics is built. It explains just about everything we can see, from the flight of a ball through the air to the movement of planets…

We just can’t figure out dark matter. It solves a lot of cosmological mysteries, yet it continues to elude some of our best predictions. — Dark matter gets its name because it doesn’t interact with electromagnetic fields, meaning it doesn’t produce or reflect light. Though we can’t detect it directly, astrophysicists are fairly certain it exists due to its gravitational influence. Even back in 1884, Lord Kelvin looked at the velocity of stars near the…

As a response to a recent wave of book banning, Chaz Stevens wants to ban the Bible. He might have a point. — Banning books in the US isn’t new. As far back 1637, well before US independence, the Puritans banned the book New English Canaan. Written by Thomas Morton, a minor-celebrity activist with a particular interest in protecting Native Americans, his 3 volume book caused outrage among the Puritanical governments for its…

Ernie Chambers isn’t crazy. He just had something to say about religion and the court system. — Ernie Chambers has spent most of his life fighting for disenfranchised groups. In 1980, he played a role in ending South African apartheid by pushing American organizations to divest from South Africa, namely by selling their Kruggerrands; in 1986, he promoted the idea of making university athletes state employees to…

In the last century, nearly half the American population has been exposed to toxic levels of lead, collectively reducing our IQ by 824 million points. — Way back in 1921, famous General Motors inventor Charles Kettering was searching for a solution to his ‘knocking’ problem. The inventor of the starter motor a decade before, Kettering needed to find a new fuel mixture to reduce engine knocking, a destructive phenomenon in which fuel ignition happens at suboptimal…

Researchers from Dartmouth can now use AI to analyze a person’s social media history to determine the likelihood of having an emotional disorder. — All of our insightful, angry, funny and/or pointless social media comments are public information, easily obtained, and in the hands of artificial intelligence, can paint a sorely needed picture of our mental health. 3 researchers from Dartmouth College developed a new AI model that can aggregate, label, analyze, and find…

A majority of pro-life Americans are willing to help friends and family get an abortion, while opposing it for others. — A new study published in the journal Science Advances demonstrates glaring hypocrisy among American conservatives. On one hand, they’ve made access to abortions more difficult, demonized those that get or perform abortions, and are working hard to reverse the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. …