Museum of Science

The government just dropped classified UFO documents, and the internet is losing its mind. 🛸 Scientists are pumping the brakes though: these newly released files, now officially dubbed UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena), contain little more than fuzzy images and unverified accounts. As the great astronomer Carl Sagan once argued, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and few claims are more extraordinary than saying extraterrestrial life has actually visited Earth. This latest release, while fascinating, just doesn't clear that scientific bar.

Could you boil water without heat 💧 Boiling isn’t just about temperature, it’s about pressure. Lower the pressure, like at high altitudes or inside a vacuum chamber where air pressure is reduced, and water molecules can escape into gas much more easily, even at room temperature. So in the end… yes!

Millions of strange, sparkly creatures are washing up on California beaches right now. 🪼 Meet “Velella velella”, aka "by the wind sailors": a colony of tiny hydrozoans that link together like Legos to form a single floating organism, steered across the ocean by a small sail that catches the wind. When storms shift the winds, massive numbers get pushed ashore, where they dry out and die. Their sting is generally harmless, but keep your hands off them since they can be confused with their cousin, the Portuguese man o' war, which has one of the worst stings in the animal kingdom.

How do you actually propel a rocket to the Moon? 🚀 This liquid hydrogen propellant tank was moved around @NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. This tank, in conjunction with four RS-25 engines, comprise the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and can produce over two million pounds of thrust to bring NASA’s Artemis astronauts past lunar orbit and to the moon. Image Credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

On May 30, join the Museum of Science and the AI Collective Group for a hands-on session where you’ll learn how to structure prompts for sharper results and use AI with confidence in your daily work. Register here: mos.org/events/ai-flue…

Some people can “taste” colors 🎨 A condition called synesthesia links different senses together, where stimulation of one sense, like sight, automatically triggers another, like taste or sound, due to cross-activation in the brain. Do you ever experience anything like this?

You can predict how many segments are inside a citrus fruit. 🍊🍋‍ @AlexDainis explains how citrus fruits develop from the ovaries of citrus flowers. Those ovaries contain multiple distinct sections called locules, and each locule develops into its own segment inside the fruit. By peeling back the tiny stem remaining on the fruit, you can see exactly where each locule connected to the tree. Count those dots and you have your segment count!

Clean energy is becoming more affordable ⚡ The cost of solar power has dropped by about 80–90% over the past decade. That trend continues into 2026, making renewable energy more accessible globally. More clean energy today means a lower-carbon future.

On Saturday, May 16, celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with us! Experience live performances from Odaiko New England, Violinviiv, and Indras Artistic Creations INC, meet scientists like Yalinu Poya, Maha N. Mian, PhD, and Seungbin Oh, PhD, and connect with organizations like MathWorks and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute that are driving innovation across science, health, and community impact. Get tickets: bit.ly/4vUYfHL

@EVNautilus This was such a cool expedition! We're glad Locke got to share some of the amazing exploration science direct from the EV Nautilus!

#TBT to our NA173 expedition when #CorpsofExploration members Megan Cook and Locke Patton connected from #EVNautilus to the @MuseumofScience in Boston to discuss searching for WWII #shipwrecks! youtube.com/watch?v=-FV7NI…

Learn more about Dr. Ciara Sivels and more IF/THEN Women here: mos.org/discover/if-th…

Not every future in science starts with a clear plan. For Dr. Ciara Sivels, a different dream came first. But discovering engineering set her on a new course. Now, her work as a nuclear engineer shows how curiosity can transform an unexpected beginning into a career with real-world impact. This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

Watch our latest microscopy video here: youtube.com/watch?v=7odqSe…

Our friend Chloe Savard, known as tardibabe on Instagram zoomed in 400x on turmeric and it became the most beautiful thing we've ever seen. 🔬 Under polarized light, the rhizome of Curcuma longa transforms into something straight out of a jewellery box. Those shimmering, gem-like particles are starch granules, and the golden droplets floating alongside them are the plant's aromatic essential oils, the same ones responsible for that iconic smell. Those golden bubbles? That's Chloe adding alcohol to the slide. The essential oils, normally invisible, merge with the alcohol and suddenly bloom into those vivid yellow droplets. The dazzling glow on each granule is called birefringence. Starch is semi-crystalline, with molecules arranged so precisely that polarized light bends through them like a prism. And those granules aren't just beautiful, they're distinctive. Turmeric starch granules are heterogeneous, appearing triangular, ellipsoidal, and oval, which is actually how botanists can identify the plant species just from a microscope slide. Turmeric has been used in India for thousands of years as a spice, dye, and medicine. The compound behind that legendary yellow color is called curcumin, a polyphenol that makes up around 2–5% of the rhizome and is so pigment-rich it'll stain your fingers for days. Researchers have documented its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor properties, and scientists are still uncovering what it can do.

Nogueira, G.F., de Carvalho, C.W.P., Velasco, J.I., and Fakhouri, F.M. (2025). Extraction and Characterization of Starches from Non-Conventional Sources: Turmeric (Curcuma longa) and Mangarito (Xanthosoma sagittifolium). Polymers, 17(23), 3157. Correa, J.C. et al. (2024). Characterization of a Novel Starch Isolated from the Rhizome of Colombian Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) Cultivars. Foods, 13(1), 7. Hewlings, S.J. and Kalman, D.S. (2020). Turmeric and Its Major Compound Curcumin on Health: Bioactive Effects and Safety Profiles for Food, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnological and Medicinal Applications. PMC. Unlu, A. et al. (2016). Curcuma longa: from Traditional Applications to Modern Plant Medicine Research Hotspots. PMC Akram, M. et al. (2010). Anti-inflammatory Properties of Curcumin, a Major Constituent of Curcuma longa: A Review of Preclinical and Clinical Research. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. Chakraborty, S. et al. (2020). Advanced Microscopy Techniques for Revealing Molecular Structure of Starch Granules. PMC. Chalageri, G. et al. (2021). Coalescence and Directed Anisotropic Growth of Starch Granule Initials in Chloroplasts. Nature Communications.

There are mountains taller than Everest on other planets 🪐 Olympus Mons on Mars is about 3 times taller than Mount Everest. Lower gravity allows it to grow much larger.

On June 2nd, join us and the @hbsab for a timely conversation with bestselling author and @TEDTalks All-Star Juan Enriquez. From biotechnology to emerging technologies, "An Uncertain, Scary, Exciting Future" explores the breakthroughs, risks, and opportunities shaping the world ahead. 🎟 Register: bit.ly/3P3e7ay

Why are scientists paying such close attention to the hantavirus outbreak? 🦠 In April, a fatal outbreak of the rare Andes hantavirus occurred on a cruise ship leaving Argentina. While most hantaviruses spread only to humans through infected rodents, the Andes strain is the only known strain capable of spreading person-to-person. The pandemic risk remains low as transmission requires prolonged, very close contact, and infected people get sick so quickly they're unlikely to spread it widely. Still scientists are stressing that global tracking and research into this virus must continue.

Where in space will NASA look next? 🔭 The Hubble Space Telescope just conducted a survey of the Milky Way’s galactic bulge, in preparation for one of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s key scientific objectives. 🌌 Hubble’s survey is intended to help us understand observations Roman will make to characterize stars and planets in this central region of the Milky Way. The results were published in the Astrophysical Journal on May 11, 2026. 💫 Image Source: NASA Citation: Sean K. Terry et al. 2026. ApJL. 1003 L1.