A gigantic volcanic eruption some time around the year 2900 BCE may have darkened the sun, leading to freezing temperatures, crop failures, and famine across the northern hemisphere. At roughly the same time, a Neolithic community in Denmark sacrificed hundreds of so-called “sun stones”, possibly in an attempt to restore the natural order and save […]
The Silurian Hypothesis Suggests An Advanced Civilization Lived On Earth Before Humans
In Doctor Who, an alien species called the Silurians exists – technologically-advanced humanoid reptiles who lived long before humans, going into hiding and being basically undiscovered again until everyone’s favorite time-traveling alien came along in his phone box. So far, so not science. However, in 2018 two University of Cambridge scientists named their paper The Silurian […]
Nord Stream Pipeline Attack In 2022 Led To Biggest Single Human-Caused Methane Leak Ever
The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022 not only heightened geopolitical tensions but also unleashed an unprecedented environmental event, releasing the largest recorded amount of methane from a single human-caused incident – 465,000 metric tons – into the atmosphere and surrounding waters, according to three new studies. The Nord Stream pipelines, which […]
Schrödinger’s Cats Employed To Find Computing Errors Dead And Alive
Features of the famous Schrödinger’s Cat thought experiment have been applied in the real world using a single antimony atom embedded in a silicon chip. Surprising as it may seem, the atom has a more complex quantum life than even the theoretical cat manages. Whether it can match the endless variation of real cats remains […]
Early Humans Adapted To Extreme Deserts More Than A Million Years Ago
More than 1.2 million years ago, our ancestors Homo erectus developed the tools and intellectual capacity to survive in very dry conditions, new findings indicate. The adaptation was important to human survival, breaking us out of our dependence on a relatively scarce ecosystem. It may also have been crucial to our first great expansion into […]
Multi-Ion Optical Atomic Clock Takes A Step Towards Changing The Definition Of A Second
Researchers have developed a new approach in optical atomic clocks that brings forth a major goal in science: the redefinition of a second. The fundamental unit of time could soon be based on something beyond the transition of two hyperfine ground states of cesium, which has been the definition since 1967. The first concrete step […]
For Possibly The First Time Ever, A Meteorite Was Captured Hitting The Ground On Video And Audio
For possibly the first time ever, a meteorite has been captured on video and audio as it struck the Earth, just outside one man’s home. Advertisement Joe Velaidum, of Marshfield, Prince Edward Island, Canada, was standing outside his home last July, before setting off for a walk with his dog. If he had lingered a […]
A Bear-Sized Bluefin Tuna Fetches $1.3 Million At A Tokyo Fish Market
A bear-sized bluefin tuna has been sold at a Tokyo market for ¥207 million ($1.3 million), boasting enough fishy flesh to create a sashimi platter that could satisfy an entire school of sharks. Advertisement The 276-kilogram (608-pound) fish was auctioned at the Toyosu Market, the largest wholesale fish market in the world, and bought by […]
Mood Patches: Can A Sticker Really Make You Feel Better?
Not happy with the way you’re feeling? What if there were a simple solution, one where you could simply slap a sticker on your wrist, and lo and behold, your whole mood changes? It sounds like something from sci-fi (and you’ll know that it is if you’re familiar with Doctor Who), but there are companies […]
Do NASA Astronauts Carry Cyanide Capsules Just In Case? No, But One Cosmonaut Did
People over on Reddit are discussing an old urban legend that NASA astronauts are issued with cyanide capsules – or other means intended to bring about death – in case they should find themselves in a situation where all hope of a return to Earth was lost. Advertisement “Probably a weird question but maybe someone […]
FDA Bans Red No. 3 Dye From Food, Drink, And Medicine – Why?
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it has banned the use of synthetic food dye Red No.3 in food, drink, and ingested medicine products, after studies in rats linked it to cancer. Advertisement What is Red No. 3 – and what’s happening to it? Red No. 3, also known as erythrosine, […]
New Class Of Galaxies Solves “Universe Breaking” Cosmological Mystery
Just over two years ago, observations from JWST had astronomers puzzled. Some galaxies were spotted that seemed to break our expected models. If the light we were getting from them was coming from their stars, they were simply too big to have formed in the few hundred million years that separated them from the birth […]
Company Pauses Controversial Plans To Salvage Artifacts From The Wreck Of The Titanic
The only company with legal rights to salvage items from the wreckage of the RMS Titanic has scrapped its plans to recover artifacts from the sunken ship – at least for now – following a legal challenge from the US Government. Advertisement Many shipwrecks – such as military ships that have sunk in US waters […]
This May Be The Best Photo Ever Taken From The International Space Station
Astronaut Don Pettit has taken one of the most incredible astrophotography pictures ever, and possibly the best taken by humans from the International Space Station (ISS). The latest composition is a visual symphony of cosmic, terrestrial, and technological objects captured as the space station speeds around our planet at 8 kilometers (5 miles) per second. […]
Celtic Women Ruled Iron Age Britain, 2,000-Year-Old DNA Reveals
When the Romans first entered the British Isles, they found a land ruled by warrior queens and other high-status women – or at least, that’s how Julius Caesar and other witnesses described the situation in this new and strange territory. And while modern historians have tended to distrust these ancient Roman accounts as over-exaggerated and […]
“Three Gorges Dam In Space”: China Reveals Plans To Build Giant Power Station In Earth’s Orbit
China has revealed plans to build a gigantic power station in space, comparing the project to building Three Gorges Dam 36,000km (22,370 miles) above the Earth. Advertisement While the world continues to guzzle down oil like we aren’t aware of the climate crisis, more long-term thinkers are working on ways to make renewable energy like […]
How Do Octopuses Control 8 Arms? Scientists Discover Strange Segmented Nervous System
Never challenge an octopus to a popping and locking dance off, that’s what my grandad always said. With eight worm-like arms, they exhibit extraordinary dexterity and control, and now scientists have uncovered a curious feature of their nervous systems that makes it possible. With segmented axial nerve cords that link up to individual suckers, octopuses […]
WASP-132 Proves Hot Jupiters Don’t Always Expel Their Siblings
The class of planets known as “hot Jupiters” puzzled astronomers on first discovery, but rapidly led to an explanation that they had formed far out and migrated inwards. It was thought that during this process other planets in the same system would either be absorbed by the migrating giant, or ejected from the system. However, […]
Have All The Planets Ever Aligned? The Closest We’ll Get Is May 6, 2492
This month, if you should incline your head slightly upwards at night, you will receive a treat in the form of six of the eight planets visible in the skyline. Advertisement Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun (and all the other planets), will not make the show in its current position behind the Sun, […]
The “Faint Young Sun Paradox” That Puzzled Carl Sagan
Over the last century, our understanding of the evolution of stars has improved dramatically. By studying the cosmos, we have gained a pretty good theoretical model of how stars change over their lifetimes. Advertisement But looking at our own Sun, a G-type star on its main sequence fusing hydrogen to helium, and comparing it to […]
