You’ve probably learned to recognize some of the incredibly long chemical names on your face washes, scrubs, and cleansers. But do you know how they actually work? Here’s a breakdown of the science behind some of the most common active ingredients on over-the-counter acne treatments, and how they get rid of your blemishes. READ MORE

Richard Branson and Neil deGrasse Tyson think we should launch politicians into space. Not permanently, but for just enough time that they can “see Earth in a way where there are no national boundaries,” Tyson said. Branson, founder of Virgin Group, which has over 400 companies including his space venture, Virgin Galactic, was interviewed by Tyson, Director of…

Knowing a few physics principles may be the most surefire way to impress your friends. We dug up this simple trick frombrusspup’s YouTube channel that you can use to make a bottle disappear — using supplies from your local drug store. It uses properties of light to trick our eyes into thinking there’s only liquid…

When Angelina Jolie Pitt started talking about cancer, people listened. A new study published Sept. 28 in the journal Cancer found that significantly more women knew about reconstructive breast surgery following a double mastectomy after Jolie Pitt announced she had undergone the procedure. READ MORE

It doesn’t look any smaller, butDenali is now officially 10 feet shorter than we thought. The US Geological Survey set out to measure North America’s tallest mountain this summer, and found a big surprise: Though it’s still the tallest mountain in North America, Denali is only 20,310 feet high. The last measurement, at 20,320 feet,…

A new study has concluded that antibacterial soap is no better than regular soap. It adds to a quickly growing stack of research demonstrating that old-fashioned soap is just fine. This new analysis compared soap containing triclosan (one of the most popular antibacterial ingredients) with regular soap both in lab tests and on people’s hands. The researchers exposed people…

Solar energy is a seriously underrated resource. More power from the sun hits the Earth in a single hour than humanity uses in an entire year, yet solar only provided 0.39% of the energy used in the US last year. Visionaries like Elon Musk think that solar will become the biggest energy source by 2031,…

In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have distractions keeping us up at night, or end up hitting the snooze button repeatedly in the morning. But these days, with hectic work and family schedules and essentially unlimited hours of shows to stream, a good night’s sleep can be hard to come by. But luckily, a few simple lifestyle…

When you drop a Slinky, what falls to the ground first: the top, the bottom, or everything all at once? Derek Muller, who created the popular YouTube channelVeritasium, first took on this puzzling physics question in a2011 video. At the Google Science Fair on Monday, which Muller hosted, he repeated this demonstration on stage —…

There’s one simple fact that may just change your thoughts on renewable power. In a single hour, the amount of power from the sun that strikes the Earth is more than the entire world consumes in an year. READ MORE