What's the darkest thing in the universe? And how we store memories in the brain

Plus: Top exoplanets of 2014, and Stonehenge’s buried secrets | Trouble viewing? Click here

SUBSCRIBE DIGITAL | RENEW | GIFT Discover Newsletter:  01/02/2015 Darkness Across the Universe The cosmos has blacker depths than anything we experience here on Earth.   DISCOVER BLOGS BODY HORRORS Poisoned with Parasites Four housemates are hospitalized after their food is spiked with roundworm eggs.  MORE  |            IMAGEO The Sun As You’ve Never Seen It Before Blisteringly hot “nanoflares” may explain why the surface of the sun is cooler than the corona.  MORE  |            D-BRIEF World’s Second-Biggest Insect Discovered in Vietnam The brand-new species of stick insect is nearly two feet long.  MORE  |            NEUROSKEPTIC The Synapse Memory Doctrine Threatened? The leading theory for how we store memories in the brain may need rethinking.  MORE  |            LOVESICK CYBORG The Illusion of Star Wars Technology The Star Wars films dazzle us with their technological fantasies – but how does the technology actually work?  MORE  |              THIS MONTH IN DISCOVER MAGAZINE Want to Be Happy? There's an App For That Carl Engelking An app that predicts happiness levels encourages us to lower our expectations.  MORE  |            Meet the Exoplanet Class of 2014 Adam Hadhazy Every year, we're finding new and exciting exoplanets. Here's a look at this year's standouts.  MORE  |            Google Car Moves Into the Fast Lane Douglas Fox This year self-driving vehicles moved significantly closer to reality.  MORE  |            This Space Drive Might Defy Physics Corey S. Powell The Cannae Drive could revolutionize space travel and our understanding of physics itself — if it really works.  MORE  |            Stonehenge's Buried Secrets Uncovered Carl Engelking The stones are just one small part of a massive network of Neolithic sites.  MORE  |              RECENT PHOTO GALLERIES  Staying Afloat in a World of Rising Seas  Archaeologists Explore the Largest Greek Tomb Ever Found  The Fragile Beauty of Earth’s Polar Regions