Taken from a range of just 17 000 km, these images were snapped during the spacecraft's closest approach to Pluto, from its flyby of the dwarf planet in July this year. They document an 80-kilometre strip of the planet's surface, offering an intimate perspective of its cratered, mountainous and glacial terrains. The photos scan from Pluto's jagged horizon about 800 kilometres north-west of the informally named Sputnik Planum, across the al-Idrisi mountains, over the shoreline of Sputnik, and across its icy plains.



Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-05/new-pluto-close-ups-to-help-nasa-piece-together-planets-history/7004516 ...

According to a new study, it's your voice that is to blame if your joke ever falls flat. Researchers recorded men and women telling corny one-liners and then manipulated the pitches of their voices. Artificially lowered voices made the speakers sound more dominant; higher pitched voices made them sound less so. Volunteer listeners then rated each joke’s funniness. Female listeners laughed or groaned regardless of the comic’s voice pitch, but for men it depended on how burly and dominant they were. Guys with bigger biceps and higher self-rated attractiveness were more likely to prefer lower-pitched jokes than less dominant listeners, and vice versa, according to a study in press in Evolution and Human Behavior. The researchers suggest humor ...

The Mydas fly (Gauromydas heros) is the world's largest fly. It can reach body lengths of 2.8 inches (7 centimeters) and a wingspan of 4 inches (10 centimeters). Mydas fly are found in arid and semiarid regions of the world, but are infrequently encountered as the adult lifespan can be quite short.

In the reproductive tract of the Hawaiian bobtail squid, there is a mysterious gland that releases bacteria that protect the squid’s eggs from fungus. When researchers applied antibiotics to freshly-laid squid eggs, fuzzy fungus soon moved in, smothering the eggs of the gemlike creatures.

For more information, visit: http://www.nap.edu/read/13500/chapter/2#15 ...

Here's an astonishing video of the face as it forms in the womb and how all the pieces eventually come together to create a recognizable human face, taken from scans of a real baby developing.

Just think about the processes involved in regulating the temperature in that cavity under winter conditions.