The Columbian

Science & Technology

Workers celebrate May 16, 2017, the successful trial extraction of natural gas from combustible ice trapped under the seafloor on a drilling platform on the South China Sea. Commercial development of the globe’s vast reserves of a frozen fossil fuel known as combustible ice has moved closer to reality after Japan and China successfully extracted the material from the seafloor.

China, Japan extract combustible ice from seafloor

May 19, 2017, 9:41am Life

BEIJING -- Commercial development of the globe's huge reserves of a frozen fossil fuel known as "combustible ice" has moved closer to reality after Japan and China successfully extracted the material from the seafloor off their coastlines. Read story

An illustration of the dinosaur Beibeilong on its nest.

Baby Louie gets proper name

May 18, 2017, 5:42am Life

In 1996, National Geographic made Baby Louie into a 66-million-year-old child star. Read story

Plastic piling up in Arctic Ocean

May 18, 2017, 5:10am Life

Plastic trash is now so ubiquitous that researchers have found hundreds of tons of it floating in the Arctic Ocean. Read story

Gray platter: Stanford team grows brain in a dish

May 11, 2017, 6:00am Life

Stanford scientists have grown and assembled parts of a human brain in a dish. Read story

Stephen Hawking just moved up humanity’s deadline for escaping Earth

May 5, 2017, 9:03am Life

In November, Stephen Hawking and his bulging computer brain gave humanity what we thought was an intimidating deadline for finding a new planet to call home: 1,000 years. Read story

Long-frozen DNA shows how people changed the "most important domesticated animal" -- horses.

Long-frozen DNA shows how humans made horses faster, and more likely to get sick

May 4, 2017, 6:00am Life

On Saturday, at the 143rd Kentucky Derby, 20 thoroughbred horses will gallop along a 1.25-mile stretch. Even the slowest racer should cross the finish line in about two minutes. The thoroughbreds are not only quicker than ancient wild horses, they are also remarkably different from the domesticated animals that nomads… Read story

An artist's illustration of NASA's Cassini spacecraft crossing Saturn's ring plane. A maneuver this close to Saturn's surface was considered too risky earlier in Cassini's mission.

Not much dust as Cassini flies between Saturn and its rings

May 4, 2017, 6:00am Life

What lies in the narrow gap between Saturn and its rings? According to new data from Cassini, the answer is — not much. Read story

Study: Workers are on the same wavelength – literally

May 4, 2017, 6:00am Life

Thanks to scientists who have ventured outside the laboratory, we have learned that tight-knit groups of females experience synchronized menstrual periods over time, that cohesive groups engaged in decision-making discount dissenting viewpoints in the interests of consensus, and that couples who stay together long enough begin to look alike. Read story

Federal Communication Commission Commissioner Ajit Pai speaks in 2015 during an open hearing and vote on "Net Neutrality" in Washington.

What is net neutrality and why does it matter?

April 30, 2017, 6:05am Business

“Net neutrality” regulations, designed to prevent internet service providers such as Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Charter from favoring some sites and apps over others, are on the chopping block. The head of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, on Wednesday proposed undoing the Obama-era rules that have been in place… Read story