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Why does cotton wrinkle?
A cool, dry cotton fiber springs back after being bent. A warm, damp cotton fiber doesn't. Moisture and temperature make the difference.
2 years, 4 months ago
A tarantula with the blues
Blue jays, poison dart frogs, and peacocks—each of these animals is distinct for their same vibrant color. But have you ever seen a blue spider?
2 years, 4 months ago
When is yellow really yellow?
Why a mix of red light and green light looks yellow, in this Moment of Science.
2 years, 4 months ago
Male mammals aren't always bigger than females
Evolutionary biologists thought it was a general rule among mammals that males are bigger, but that's not always the case.
2 years, 4 months ago
Robert Hook found a surprise in cork
The 17th-century English physicist Robert Hooke was curious about the remarkable properties of cork -- its ability to float, its springy quality, its…
2 years, 4 months ago
A summer night mystery: heat lightning
One of the more mysterious pleasures of a warm summer evening is the spectacle of lightning from distant thunderstorms, flickering silently on the ho…
2 years, 4 months ago
Why one rotten apple can spoil the barrel
Learn about the role that ethylene plays in ripening fruit with today's A Moment of Science
2 years, 4 months ago
Speedy snails
Over the past 100,000 years, a snail species has done what it normally takes a species millions of years to do: give live birth.
2 years, 4 months ago
Rediscovered in a museum drawer
The distant past is poorly known, and paleontologists find fossil evidence for new large animals all the time.
2 years, 4 months ago
The fruit that grows on trees, literally
Jabuticaba is a fruit native to Brazil. It’s the size and color of a plum, with a white pulp and several seeds
2 years, 4 months ago