American Mensa

Few things make us smile like sending out Mensa Honor Society cords.

Temple University Researchers Assemble The Largest And Most Accurate Tree Of Life Calibrated To Time

"The tree of life compiled by the Temple team is depicted in a new way —- a cosmologically-inspired galaxy of life view —- and contains more than 50,000 species in a tapestry spiraling out from the origin of life. ... and surprisingly, it reveals that life has been expanding at a constant rate."

A Dusty Disk Heralds the Birth of a New Solar System

Bad Astronomer Phil Plait on these incredible new images of an infant HL Tau: "I’ve studied newborn planetary systems off and on for quite some time now, including working on high-resolution Hubble observations of young nearby stars, so please listen when I say that this is the most amazingly detailed and beautiful image of a nascent solar system I have ever seen."

Inside a Mountain of Paper — Nature explores the 100 most-cited research papers of all time

"Fifty years ago, Eugene Garfield published the Science Citation Index (SCI), the first systematic effort to track citations in the scientific literature. To mark the anniversary, Nature asked Thomson Reuters, which now owns the SCI, to list the 100 most highly cited papers of all time… The exercise revealed some surprises, not least that it takes a staggering 12,119 citations to rank in the top 100 — and that many of the world’s most famous papers do not make the cut."

Beautiful Chemistry: Amazing Chemical Reactions Filmed with a 4K UltraHD Camera

Multispectral imaging reveals portions of Magna Carta text damaged in 1731 Cotton Library fire

"The multispectral imaging of the burnt Magna Carta was conducted as part of a major project involving the reframing and scientific analysis of all the Magna Carta charters held in our collections ahead of the 2015 anniversary."

11 Beautiful, Psychedelic GIFs Created by a Math Whiz*

It’s hard not to see the influence of Gestalt Psychologists and Op Artists like Bridget Riley on Whyte’s work, but he credits the community of GIF artists on Tumblr as his primary influence. “The GIF art community on Tumblr has definitely rubbed off on me more than any ‘real’ artists,” he says. “My main artistic influences are the other good people on Tumblr doing the same thing I am—making abstract little animations just for the fun of it.”

The Chemistry Behind the Colors of Autumn Leaves

Happy October! Has any of your autumn foliage had the time to turn fiery red?

Getting your degree shouldn't decimate your bank account. Apply for one of the Mensa Foundation's scholarships and your books may be on us!

It's never too early to start applying! Applications are open to the public. The scholarship application process closes Jan. 15.

BICEP2's recent "confirmation" of B-mode polarization may have been nothing more than literal dust in the figurative wind.

"A new analysis of data from the Planck space telescope has concluded that the tiny silicate and carbonate particles spewed into interstellar space by dying stars could account for as much as 100 percent of the signal detected by the BICEP2 telescope and announced to great fanfare this spring."

After Thomas Dixon suffered a traumatic brain injury in late 2010, he was forced to find creative ways to cope with the episodic malfunction of his memory as we detailed in the July Mensa Bulletin cover story. These days, he's reconnecting with an old passion — attempting to return to the fitness level he says is responsible for saving his life.

Royal Museums Greenwich announces its 2014 Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards