When most people picture city parks or public walkways, they imagine neatly trimmed lawns, flowerbeds, and maybe a few ornamental trees that look nice but don’t do much beyond shade. In New Zealand’s Top of the South region, though, public…
If you’ve ever stepped outside after a thunderstorm or opened a brand-new book and taken a deep breath, you already know how powerful smells can be. They’re little time machines for our memories and clues about the world around us.…
Most of us take breathing for granted. Inhale, exhale, repeat—it’s the background soundtrack of being alive. Yet, for centuries, cultures around the world have discovered that manipulating the breath can do far more than keep us alive. It can change…
For decades, scientists imagined Mars as a relatively simple planet on the inside—layered like a clean slice of cake. First the crust, then the mantle, and finally the core. But new research suggests this neat picture isn’t quite right. Instead,…
Glow-in-the-dark plants bright enough to illuminate streets might sound like the opening scene of a futuristic movie. Picture wandering through a city where glowing trees replace streetlights, or imagine sitting in a park where flowers shimmer in neon colors instead…
When you hear the word breathing, chances are you think of humans, animals, or maybe even plants swaying in the breeze as they exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. Breathing, in our everyday understanding, belongs to the living. Rocks, crystals, and…
Imagine losing your sight not because your brain can’t process images, but because the “front window” of your eye—the cornea—has become cloudy or scarred. For millions of people worldwide, that’s exactly the case. Until now, the main solution has been…
Imagine looking up at the night sky and seeing glowing curtains of color — not just in the Arctic or Antarctica, but everywhere, even over the tropics. It sounds beautiful, but for humans living 41,000 years ago, this wasn’t just…
When NASA sent the InSight lander to Mars back in 2018, the main mission was simple: listen to the Red Planet’s “heartbeat.” By planting a super-sensitive seismometer on the dusty Martian surface, scientists hoped to capture vibrations from quakes and…
We’ve all heard that music can soothe the soul—but now science shows it might also keep your brain younger for longer. A new study reveals that learning to play a musical instrument can act like a lifelong shield against age-related…
