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No Halloween is complete without a peek at American sculptor and artist Ray Villafane’s masterpieces. Since 2015, the two-time winner of Food Network’s Outrageous Pumpkins has been impressing visitors to Carefree, Arizona’s Enchanted Pumpkin Garden with his extraordinary 3-D pumpkin sculptures. This year was no exception....

Biologists have long believed the common ancestor of all primates was a small, deliberate animal which used its grasping hands and feet to scamper along thin branches foraging for fruits and insects. They theorized that the leaping skills came later, after the proto-primate evolved into two distinct groups — wet-nosed primates like lemurs and dry nosed primates that include monkeys, apes, and humans. However, the discovery of a perfectly preserved 52-million-year-old fossil seems to suggest that the first primate might have been leading an impressively acrobatic lifestyle, leaping from one tree to another....

Asking a patient to hum piano melodies and play an instrument while undergoing brain surgery may sound like a strange request from a doctor. However, that is precisely what a team of brain specialists, led by University of Rochester Medical Center’s Web Pilcher, requested Dan Fabbio to do as they were removing his tumor....

Hurricane Maria, which tore through Puerto Rico in late September, knocked down 95 percent of the island’s cell towers and electric poles. While cellular telephone and utility companies have been frantically trying to restore the services, approximately 80% of Puerto Rico still has no wireless service or electricity....

Sea spiders, which have inhabited Earth for over 500 million years, are fascinating creatures. The marine arthropods, which range in size from a millimeter long to as big as a dinner plate, have eight jointed legs that convene around a tiny body. Since their torsos are so small, they use their legs to conduct normal body functions such as digestion and reproduction. Now, it seems the creatures also have a unique breathing mechanism....

Earlier this year, National Geographic released a list of the world’s 21 most beautiful beaches. High among them, especially for sea-shell lovers, is Shell Beach. Located in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area in Western Australia, it is home to a 37-mile (60 km) stretch of white cockle shells....

Wildlife filmmakers know to expect the unexpected when observing animals in their natural habitat. For a PBS Nature film crew trying to stealthily capture footage of Arctic foxes in the freezing Arctic tundra that meant losing a hidden camera to the curious animals....

October is pumpkin month in the US. For most people, this means devouring the various pumpkin-filled treats or visiting pumpkin patches to pick out the perfect gourd to carve for Halloween. However, for some, it means the chance to showcase their giant produce at pumpkin weigh-offs. Though there are numerous such contests held across the country, the “Super Bowl” takes place annually at Half Moon Bay, CA, aka “The World Pumpkin Capital.”...

Aston Martin, the maker of James Bond’s preferred cars, may soon have another offering for the British secret service agent – a luxury submarine. However, this underwater craft is not reserved exclusively for Bond, but available to anyone that can afford its hefty $4 million cost....

This past weekend, over a million San Francisco Bay Area residents flocked to the city’s waterfront to watch the impressive airshows staged by the Blue Angels, the US Navy’s flight demonstration squadron that comprises aviators from both the Navy and the Marines. They were not disappointed....

In late September, Gregory Breton and his team were returning to their campsite after spending seven long hours scouting the hot, dusty, Moroccan Sahara for sand cats. Suddenly, just four kilometers away from their destination, they noticed three pairs of gleaming eyes. Upon getting closer, the researchers realized they had stumbled upon something that, to their knowledge, had never been encountered in the wild before — sand cat kittens!...

With their thick white-gray fur and black rings, snow leopards are often hard to see against the rugged mountains that they call home. However, a team of photographers that included Mike Birkhead, has managed to capture amazing footage of this elusive cat walking away unscathed, after tumbling off a steep cliff....

Earlier this year in June, a villager in Garissa County, Kenya stumbled upon a rare sight — two white giraffes! Having never seen anything like it before, he immediately ran over to inform the rangers at the nearby Hirola Conservation Center, established to protect the critically endangered hirola antelope. Cameras in hand, the troopers rushed to the area to capture the first-ever video of the extremely rare specimens, who fortunately, appeared to be in no hurry to leave....

On September 6, the sun let its presence be felt by unleashing two massive solar flares. The first eruption, classified as an X2.2 flare, the strongest since 2008, occurred at 5:10 a.m. ET. Shortly after, at about 8:02 a.m ET, the star spewed out a bigger, and more spectacular, X9.3 flare — the most powerful on record since December 2006....

A team of astronomers, led by Alexander Boetticher of the University of Cambridge have stumbled upon what is being touted as our galaxy’s smallest known star. According to experts, EBLM J0555-57Ab, (57-Ab), which is slightly larger than Saturn, is the smallest possible size for a star. Boetticher says, “Had this star formed with only a slightly lower mass, the fusion reaction of hydrogen in its core could not be sustained, and the star would instead have transformed into a brown dwarf."...

Tony Stark, aka Ironman, constantly seen manipulating 3D holographic images and floating displays projected in mid-air from his phone or tablet. Unfortunately, the rest of us are not as fortunate because the current computer-generated holograms are too bulky to be integrated into our personal devices. However, if a team of researchers from Australia's RMIT University and the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) is right, we may all soon be able to mimic Ironman, at least, when it comes to playing with 3D holograms....

Tired of having to choose between dark, milk, or white chocolate? Then you may want to try the pink-hued ruby. Created by Swiss chocolatier Barry Callebaut, the all-natural confection is the first new variety to come to market since Nestlé introduced the world to white chocolate in 1930....

Fans of fidget spinners, 2017’s must-have toy, spend copious amounts of time spinning the three-pronged device with a flick of their finger. That’s because the addictive toys can rotate on their own, for only a few minutes at the most. However, if a Japanese company has its way, users will be able to relax and watch the gadget whirl for over 12 minutes with just one flick....

Most toys are fads that last a few years, or even months, before they get replaced by the next craze. However, the Slinky – the pre-compressed coil of wire, or plastic, which can “walk” on its own – has been entertaining children and nostalgic adults for over 70 years! It is therefore not surprising to hear that every August 30, fans across the U.S. celebrate this iconic toy with a National Slinky Day!...

Innovations like 3-D printing have enabled scientists to make significant progress in manufacturing various bioengineered organs and tissues. However, the one organ that has been hard to replicate is the human heart. That’s because current technology is unable to replicate the network of tiny blood vessels that transport oxygen inside a tissue as dense as the human heart muscle....

Earlier this month, millions of Americans were treated to a rare spectacle: a total solar eclipse that was visible from coast-to-coast. While Florence, a massive asteroid that will zip past our planet on September 1, will not overshadow the stunning event, it will make history of its own. According to Paul Chodas at the Center for Near Earth Object (NEO) Studies, the space rock is the largest to pass this close to our planet since the first near-Earth asteroid was discovered over a century ago....

Hurricane Harvey, which began as a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, August 23, rapidly escalated to a Category 4 storm as it made its way towards Southern Texas. As expected the powerful hurricane, which packed 130mph winds, made landfall near the city of Rockport on August 25 at about 10:00 pm local time, causing widespread destruction. Three hours later, it made a second landfall on the northeastern shore of Copano Bay, this time as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds!...

On Monday, August 21, millions of Americans across the country donned their protective eyeglasses to watch the highly anticipated total solar eclipse. Though the eclipses, which occur about every 18 months, are not rare, this one was historic. It was not only the first total solar eclipse visible from the mainland U.S. in more than 38 years, but also the first to be seen coast to coast in almost a century....

For the past four years, the Minato Mirai district of Yokohama, Japan, has been bringing Pokémon’s most famous character to life with a Pikachu Outbreak Festival. The event, which features numerous fun activities, including colorful parades with thousands of people dressed in Pikachu costumes, began in 2014 to promote an upcoming Pokémon movie. It was such a success that its sponsors, The Pokémon Company, decided to make it an annual, week-long extravaganza....