If you’re as addicted to TikTok as we are, then you may well have recently seen a video of a teeny tiny owl serving absolute face. “Hoo” is this diva? It’s none other than the elf owl, the smallest owl in the world. Little raptors When it comes to their size, elf owls live up […]
Meet The Purple Frog, A Dinosaur-Era “Living Fossil” That Emerged Over 80 Million Years Ago
In 2003, scientists described a new family of frogs – the first time such a discovery had been made among the anurans in around 70 years. Their prize was a weird one, a purple frog described as the “coelacanth of frogs”. Why? Because it stemmed from an ancient lineage that was wriggling around in the […]
Does Cheese Really Give You Bad Or More Vivid Dreams?
Humans have a weird relationship with cheese. It is extremely popular and even has entire festivals committed to it – such as ones where it is rolled down hillsides. Most people have their favorite type of cheese they like to pair with wine, crackers, or other delights. But accompanying the odd, almost mystique status cheese […]
New “E-Tattoos” Pick Up Brain Activity Through The Skull – Even With Hair In The Way
Recording the goings-on inside the human brain is no simple task, largely because there’s a skull in the way. Over the years, we’ve developed ways of capturing brain activity using electrodes, but a team of scientists just made a big leap forward by inventing a biocompatible liquid ink that can be used to print temporary […]
Venus Probably Never Had Oceans – It May Always Have Been Hell
In among the seething mass of carbon dioxide that is the Venusian atmosphere, there is not enough water vapor to make plausible the wet history that has been imagined, new research indicates. If verified, the work would suggest searching Venus for signs of lost oceans is a waste of time. It may also cause us […]
People Are Confused Why Helicopters Don’t Fly Up And Let The Earth Rotate Beneath Them
It has come to our attention that a few people out there are a little confused why helicopters and planes do not reach their destinations by simply flying straight up into the air and then allowing the Earth to rotate beneath them. “If I fly straight up in a helicopter and hover there, why doesn’t […]
Oldest Depiction Of The Sky Took Bronze Age Craftspeople Ten Forging Cycles To Create
The Nebra Sky Disc – considered the oldest surviving representation of the sky – required around ten hot forging cycles to make, a new study shows. Considering the technology of the day, its makers must have valued the product exceptionally highly to put in so much effort. The Sky Disc shows what is thought to […]
ChatGPT Won’t Say The Name “David Mayer” And We Have No Idea Why
People on the Internet have found a strange new error with OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. For reasons as yet unclear, it refuses to say the name “David Mayer”, no matter how insistent, tricksy, or nice you are to it. Despite the hype, advanced AI chatbots have not yet revolutionized the world. While they’re […]
Food Additive Added To Dairy Products Could Increase Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes
A food additive commonly found in meat, cheese, other dairy and dairy alternatives, has been linked to a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Carrageenan – also known as E407 – is a commonly used emulsifier and thickening agent, which has been in use in the US since the 1950s. While previous studies have […]
Ring Finger Longer Than Index? Peculiar Association Between Relative Lengths And Drinking Identified
A new study has pointed to a strange correlation with a person’s drinking habits: the ratio of their fourth digit (sometimes called the ring finger) to the second digit. Specifically, scientists found a relationship between having a ring finger that is longer than the second digit and high alcohol consumption. The ratio of our finger […]
Why Is Laughter Contagious? Find Out More In Issue 29 Of CURIOUS – Out Now
Issue 29 (December 2024) of CURIOUS is out now, bringing you science highlights for the month plus deep dives into intriguing topics, interviews, exclusives, diary dates, and explanations for some of Earth’s most perplexing natural phenomena and landscapes. Read Issue 29 of our digital magazine now by clicking below! Use the arrows to navigate or […]
“Navel Pulling”: Does Putting Castor Oil In Your Belly Button Benefit You?
Eating sticks of butter, doing a spot of face yoga, swilling coconut oil around your mouth – the wellness side of the internet abounds with all kinds of unusual trends with some questionable claims about how they can benefit our health. One that’s been doing the rounds for a while now is navel pulling, but […]
Why You Should Never Kiss A Baby
There is a cognitive bias called “the curse of knowledge” (sometimes also called “the curse of expertise”). It happens when you incorrectly assume that everyone knows as much as you do on a given topic. As a clinical microbiologist, I assumed everyone knew that it was a terrible idea to kiss a newborn baby anywhere […]
What Is A Sidereal Year, And Why Is It Different From A Regular Year?
Pop quiz! How long is the average year? If you said “365 days”, then congratulations! You’re wrong. If you said “365.25 days”, then gratulationes – you’re also wrong, and probably a Roman. The average year is, in fact, 365.242 days long – just so long as you’re not talking about the sidereal year. So what’s […]
Why Are The Dogs Of Chernobyl Undergoing Rapid Evolution?
Evolution is generally considered to be quite a slow, clunky process. However, dogs living in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant have undergone rapid evolution in the forty years since the disaster. In a study IFLScience reported on earlier this year, researchers analyzing blood samples from dogs roaming the power plant with those in surrounding areas […]
“Hopelessly Obliterated”: Ancient Inscription In Lost Language Finally Deciphered
A new paper has confirmed and refined an inscription long thought impossible to pin down – and it seems to be a dedication to an ancient Mother goddess. For 2,600 years, a lonely statue has stood at the south edge of a small valley in the midwest of Turkey. Known as Arslan (or Aslan) Kaya, […]
Have We Uncovered A New Species Of Ancient Humans?
Were you to time travel to Asia in the late Middle and early Late Pleistocene periods, some 300,000 to 50,000 years ago, you would discover a melting pot of different human species – from the diminutive Homo luzonensis in the Philippines to the Homo longi (or ‘dragon man) inhabiting the frigid climes of Northern China. Now, […]
Wearing A Salmon On Your Head Is Back In Fashion For Orcas, Immune Response From COVID-19 May Be Able To Fight Cancer, And Much More This Week
This week, 1.5-million-year-old footprints in Kenya suggest two ancient human relatives walked together, fossilized dinosaur vomit and poop reveal their rise had surprisingly green origins, and on Monday, March 23, 2178, Pluto will complete its first full orbit since its discovery in 1980. Finally, 50 years on, we look back at the discovery of Lucy […]
Fresh Water Can Now Be Easily Harvested From The Air
Removing water from the air can make places more comfortable, and it can also provide a vital resource when water is scarce. However, the process is more laborious than it might seem at first, and different techniques have different drawbacks. Polymers have been used to efficiently remove water from the air, but getting the water […]
“Star Eaters”: Could Binary Systems Be Alien Civilizations Feeding On Stars For Energy?
A new study has suggested we may be looking for the wrong kinds of signatures in our hunt for intelligent civilizations out there in the universe. Perhaps we should be looking for “star eaters”. When searching for intelligent life, we are limited somewhat by the laws of physics, and our own circumstances and imaginations. We’ve […]
