Tim Friede has been bitten by snakes hundreds of times — often on purpose. Now scientists are studying his blood in hopes of creating a better treatment for snake bites. Friede has long had a fascination with reptiles and other venomous creatures. He used to milk scorpions’ and spiders’ venom as a hobby and kept dozens of snakes at…
As lawmakers take aim at hard-to-recycle plastic and foam, a California packaging company is introducing a new shipping cooler made of woven paper fibers that could transform how temperature-sensitive products like pharmaceuticals and laboratory reagents are moved across the world. The introduction of the new “RecyCoolers” containers, which are made of recyclable paper and fiber,…
Halley’s comet swings near Earth every 75 years. But debris left by the comet leads to two major meteor showers every year including the Eta Aquarids. When this meteor shower lights up the night sky, “you’ll know that Earth is crossing the path of the most famous comet,” said Shauna Edson of the Smithsonian’s National Air and…
A Soviet-era spacecraft meant to land on Venus in the 1970s is expected to soon plunge uncontrolled back to Earth. It’s too early to know where the half-ton mass of metal might come down or how much of it will survive reentry, according to space debris-tracking experts. Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek predicts the failed spacecraft will reenter around May 10. He…
Ronan the sea lion can still keep a beat after all these years. She can groove to rock and electronica. But the 15-year-old California sea lion’s talent shines most in bobbing to disco hits like “Boogie Wonderland.” “She just nails that one,” swaying her head in time to the tempo changes, said Peter Cook, a behavioral…
HINESVILLE, Ga. — From an altitude of 9,000 feet, NASA scientists soared over hundreds of acres of burning brush this month at Fort Stewart Army base, monitoring the flames as they spread and engulfed the land. This time, the blaze was a controlled one, set intentionally to clear the area in what’s known as a…
When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the government’s new autism findings this month, he painted a grim and highly controversial picture: Not only was autism becoming more prevalent, he said, but “most cases now are severe.” The notion that severe symptoms are becoming more common isn’t substantiated by scientific evidence. Rather, new…
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Tuesday said uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s planned pharmaceutical tariffs is deterring the company from further investing in U.S. manufacturing and research and development. Bourla’s remarks on the company’s first-quarter earnings call came in response to a question about what Pfizer wants to see from tariff negotiations that would push the company to increase investments…
When an earthquake rips along the Cascadia Subduction Zone fault, much of the U.S. west coast could shake violently for five minutes, and tsunami waves as tall as 100 feet could barrel toward shore. But that’s just the start of the expected horrors. Even if coastal towns in Northern California, Oregon and Washington withstand that…
During Antarctica’s warm season, the sleek Norwegian passenger ship known as the MS Fridtjof Nansen departs regularly from Argentina for its journey south across the turbulent Drake Passage, down to the Antarctic Peninsula. The cruise carries wealthy adventurers, bucket listers and, increasingly, polar scientists looking to gather data as public funding for Antarctic research vanishes…
