Strangest Science News

Hats off to Laika: intrepid space explorer and science subject, dutiful citizen to the motherland, first mammal in space. That’s a pretty long way for a stray mutt to come. 50 years later, Russia is commemorating the pioneering pooch with a statue in her honor at a military research unit near Moscow.

Scientific American takes a look at just how strange the colors of plants on other planets could be.Plants need solar energy to make their food, and on earth our plants use green chlorophyll. But other planets receive different kinds of solar radiation, giving their plants different odd hues. And if that explanation doesn’t satisfy you, [...]