Astronomy

Complex organic molecules that could be the precursors to the building blocks of life as we know it have been discovered in a disk of gas and dust swirling around an infant star.

Find out “what’s up” in the August sky. We’ll track down four planets before dawn; have some fun with New Moons; peek at some Perseids; and gaze at the center of our galaxy. So load up on the bug juice, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.

The post August Podcast: Planets Dance at Dawn appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The discovery that brain ageing may be driven by jammed-up protein factories could lead to better ways to help us stay sharp as we get older

The recoded bacterium uses only 57 of the 64 possible genetic codes, freeing up seven to be used for different purposes

The Trump administration is attempting to argue that greenhouses gases don’t endanger people to reverse regulations limiting these harmful emissions – climate scientists are pushing back

Check out Scientific American’s fiction and nonfiction book recommendations for July

Around 8 million years ago, an ancestor of modern tomatoes in South America hydridised with a plant called Etuberosum, and this reshuffling of genes gave rise to the potato

People who consume some artificial sweeteners are less likely to respond to certain cancer therapies, potentially because of the impact on their gut microbiome

A stroke of lighting that lasted more than 7 seconds and flashed across 829 kilometres is officially the longest ever recorded

Several researchers who have been critical of Colossal Biosciences’ plans to revive extinct animals say they have been targeted by online articles trying to discredit them

Meteors from the