ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

What do Mars and Iceland have in common? These days, not so much. But more than 4.5 billion years ago, it's possible the Red Planet had a crust comparable to Iceland today. This discovery, hidden in the oldest martian fragments found on Earth, could provide information about our planet that was lost over billions of years of geological movement and could help explain why the Earth developed into a planet that sustains a broad diversity of life and Mars did not.

A team successfully transplanted two genetically engineered pig hearts into recently deceased humans in June and July, marking the latest advances toward addressing the nationwide organ shortage and developing a clinical protocol that would provide an alternative supply of organs for people with life-threatening heart disease.

Purple sea urchins are munching their way through California's kelp forests at a speed and scale that have stunned scientists, fishermen and divers alike. But the kelp forests have long been home to red and purple urchins, so it's clear the three species can get along. Researchers sought to determine what factors disrupt this harmony.

The first ever exoplanets were discovered 30 years ago around a rapidly rotating star, called a pulsar. Now, astronomers have revealed that these planets may be incredibly rare.

Plants protect themselves from environmental hazards like insects, drought and heat by producing salicylic acid, also known as aspirin. A new understanding of this process may help plants survive increasing stress caused by climate change.

Fossil research has revealed an exquisite merger of art and science: a long-stemmed flower of a newly described plant species encased in a 30-million-year-old tomb together with a parasitic wasp.

In 2019, astronomers observed the nearest example to date of a star that was shredded, or 'spaghettified,' after approaching too close to a massive black hole. That tidal disruption of a sun-like star by a black hole 1 million times more massive than itself took place 215 million light years from Earth. Luckily, this was the first such event bright enough that astronomers could study the optical light from the stellar death, specifically the light's polarization, to learn more about what happened after the star was torn apart.

What if you could power the smart thermostats, speakers and lights in your home with a kitchen countertop? Stones, such as marble and granite, are natural, eco-friendly materials that many people building or renovating houses already use. Now, in a step toward integrating energy storage with these materials, researchers have fabricated microsupercapacitors onto the surface of stone tiles. The devices are durable and easily scaled up for customizable 3D power supplies.

Frequent players of video games show superior sensorimotor decision-making skills and enhanced activity in key regions of the brain as compared to non-players, according to a recent study.

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at the asteroid Bennu, scientists discovered something surprising: The asteroid's surface wasn't smooth like many were expecting but was covered in large boulders. Now, a team of physicists think they know why.

Scientists revealed new research based on a cache of fossils that contains the brain and nervous system of a half-billion-year-old marine predator from the Burgess Shale called Stanleycaris. Stanleycaris belonged to an ancient, extinct offshoot of the arthropod evolutionary tree called Radiodonta, distantly related to modern insects and spiders. These findings shed light on the evolution of the arthropod brain, vision, and head structure.