Chris Packham

One of the strangest facts in computer science is that it's really hard to generate true random numbers. For a computer, anyway. I can do it just fine: 173, 401, 530. That's right off the top of my head, true randomness. ...

This week, ALMA researchers reported the discovery of oxygen in the most distant known galaxy. Geologists believe unusual structures in rock in the desert regions of Namibia, Oman and Saudia Arabia may be evidence of an unknown ...

This week, we reported on the difficulty humans experience trying to read their dogs' emotions. Researchers reported that male blue-lined octopuses paralyze females before mating with them to avoid being eaten. And physicists ...

This week, based on a genetic study, researchers issued a recommendation that bison in Yellowstone National Park should be treated as one large, interbreeding herd. Physicists proposed a new framework that derives gravity ...

Look, all somewhat positive climate news has to be placed in the context of the ongoing global climate crisis, but this week, researchers did report a new simulation suggesting that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation ...

This week, University of Ferrerra researchers reported on the evolution of European skin, eye and hair pigmentation over the last 45,000 years. A re-examination of Galileo space probe data strongly suggests that Callisto ...

How's your weekend? Have you read about the muscular neutrino? It's so great. This week, we also reported on male stick insects losing their reproductive function. Researchers are seeking cheaper approaches to creating a ...

We had a particularly great week for new research findings, in my opinion. I mean, stories like a 2% improvement in a chemical catalyst are important, sure. There are people out there in lab coats who will click on them. ...

This week, astronomers reported the discovery of a super-Earth potentially capable of sustaining life, occupying an eccentric orbit around its star that oscillates in and out of the habitable zone. The first mouse engineered ...

¡Hola, mis amigos de la ciencia! This week, researchers reported that hominins strode bipedally across Europe 500,000 years earlier than previously known. By making digital endocasts of bird skulls, researchers in Australia ...

This week, scientists with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute reported that a key current, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, has not declined over the last 60 years. An international team of geneticists found ...

This week, researchers at the Desert Research Institute reported that lead pollution likely caused widespread IQ declines in ancient Rome. An archaeological study in northern Israel challenged popular wisdom about prehistoric ...

It's the last week before Christmas and not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse model bred to exhibit characteristics of ADHD for in vivo studies of central nervous system stimulants. This week, we reported on the discovery ...

I love it when researchers observe an extra-weird particle, and this week, scientists reported the observation of a particle that only has mass when it's moving in a single direction. Good enough! An ancient DNA analysis ...

This week, researchers studying data from NASA's Dawn mission reported the identification of 11 sites on Ceres that suggest an internal reservoir of organic materials. A multidisciplinary team published an analysis of the ...