Rethink
- Health & Medicine
How much water should you drink a day? It depends on several factors.
A study of more than 5,000 people in 23 countries finds that individual water need varies widely depending on physical and environmental factors.
- Space
A proposed space telescope would use Earth’s atmosphere as a lens
One astronomer has a bold solution to the high cost of building big telescopes.
- Health & Medicine
Thick calluses don’t make feet any less sensitive
Bare feet that develop thick calluses are just as sensitive as shoe-clad feet, a study in Kenya finds.
- Animals
Nearly 200 Great Barrier Reef coral species also live in the deep sea
There are more coral species lurking in the deep ocean that previously thought. That could be good news for their shallow water counterparts.
- Health & Medicine
An eye disorder may have given Leonardo da Vinci an artistic edge
An analysis of portraits believed to portray Leonardo da Vinci offers evidence that the artist had exotropia, in which one eye turns outward.
- Astronomy
We may not have found aliens yet because we’ve barely begun looking
A new calculation says SETI searches have combed the equivalent of a hot tub out of Earth’s oceans looking for extraterrestrial intelligence in space.
- Genetics
A recount of human genes ups the number to at least 46,831
A new estimate of the number of human genes adds in some RNA-producing genes.
- Life
Inked mice hint at how tattoos persist in people
Tattoos in mice may persist due to an immune response, challenging currently held beliefs about how the skin retains tattoos.
- Genetics
Bones show Dolly’s arthritis was normal for a sheep her age
Cloning didn’t cause the famous sheep to age prematurely.
- Animals
3-D scans of fossils suggest new fish family tree
Analysis of specimens from China implies ray-finned fishes evolved later than previously thought.
- Animals
Fossil find suggests this ancient reptile lurked on land, not in the water
An exquisitely preserved fossil shows that an ancient armored reptile called Eusaurosphargis dalsassoi wasn’t aquatic, as scientists had suspected.
- Animals
Beetles have been mooching off insect colonies for millions of years
The behavior, called social parasitism, has been going on for about 100 million years.
