Complex problems often require creative solutions, and the increasing global burden of Alzheimer’s disease certainly qualifies as a complex problem. Few diseases so capture the public’s attention, and few spark as much fear. Yet those not spending every day closely following this research might be surprised to learn how much debate still rages over its […]
HPV Vaccines Are Saving American Women Under 25’s Lives
A new study has found that less than a quarter as many women under the age of 25 died of cervical cancer in the United States from 2019 to 2021 as died in an equivalent period from 1992 to 1994. The fall occurred for reasons besides the widespread adoption of the Gardasil and Cervarix vaccines […]
1.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints Suggest Two Ancient Human Relatives Walked Together
For the first time ever, scientists have found direct evidence of multiple ancient hominins living in the same place at the same time. Such a discovery represents a huge step forward in our understanding of human evolution, as it indicates that the first ever truly human species shared its environment with one of our more […]
Beating The Ever-Growing Odds, Voyager 1 Phones Home From 24.9 Billion Kilometers Away
NASA’s aging Voyager 1 spacecraft has resumed regular operations, sending useful science data back home from about 24.9 billion kilometers (15.4 billion miles) away. The Voyager probes, launched in 1977, have performed spectacularly well over nearly half a century, flying past various planetary bodies and studying them on their way to the outer reaches of […]
Faint Thanksgiving Aurorae Might Be Visible Across The Night Sky
The solar maximum continues to deliver. As the Sun is experiencing its peak of activity, coronal mass ejections and solar flares are happening more and more often. One of those plasma releases is now on its way to Earth, where it is expected to cause a minor geomagnetic storm today and a more sizable one […]
In 2007, A 100-Year-Old Harpoon Was Found Inside The World’s Longest-Living Mammal
In 2007, Inuit whalers in Alaska made a surprising discovery. In the carcass of a whale, they found fragments of a weapon embedded in its flesh – but this wasn’t a modern piece of equipment. The harpoon was traced back to the 1900s, and after investigation, scientists estimated that the whale itself was around 115 […]
Devils Postpile In California Is A Rare Geologic Marvel With Towering 18-Meter Columns
Whilst Devils Tower might’ve been the first national monument to be established in the US, it’s not the only one that’s fiendishly named. Hop a few states southwest to California, and there you’ll find the Devils Postpile, an unusually beautiful reminder of this region’s fiery history. Residing in the national monument named after it, the […]
Planet Earth’s Core May Be “Leaking” Iron
Think Earth is just a static rock? Dive deep, and you’ll find a dynamic world where metals leak, water seeps, and its insides churn. Inside the belly of planet Earth, a giant solid ball of metal is surrounded by a swooshing layer of liquid iron and nickel, making up the two innermost stages of Earth’s […]
205-Million-Year-Old Lizard Is The World’s Oldest, Discovered In A Quarry Near Bristol
A tiny skeleton became the subject of a big debate as scientists went back and forth over the identity of a reptile retrieved from a quarry near Bristol, UK. Now, the authors of the original study that crowned it the world’s oldest lizard have addressed criticism made about their discovery, confirming “that the little Bristol […]
Almost All Languages Appear To Follow Zipf’s Law, And We Have No Idea Why
Humans like to think we’re unpredictable beings, to a certain extent, governed by free will emerging somehow from physical processes. Well, here’s one weird thing to send you into a linguistics-based existential crisis; most languages appear to follow an equation known as Zipf’s law, and we have no idea why. Words are used with varying […]
Severe COVID-19 Induces An Immune Response That May Be Able To Fight Cancer
A surprising finding in a mouse model could lead us to a new way of treating some types of cancer, with a helping hand from an unlikely source: COVID-19. An immune mechanism that was activated in the mice when they were given drugs to simulate severe COVID-19 had the side effect of fighting cancer, causing […]
Human Brains Grew Steadily Over Millions Of Years Rather Than Showing Sudden Leaps
A detailed investigation of the expansion in human brains over 7 million years finds faster growth in modern humans and our nearest relatives than our predecessors. Nevertheless, brains have grown as species evolved, rather than suddenly jumping when one branch of humanity replaced another. Brain size and intelligence do not correlate perfectly, but the findings […]
The Marshmallow-Sized Desert Rain Frog Can Waddle 38 Meters In A Night
Get ready to meet your new favorite amphibian, because today we’d like to discuss the desert rain frog, Breviceps macrops. Also known as the marshmallow frog (for it is about the size of a marshmallow) these mini critters have evolved to thrive in desert ecosystems, and they have some pretty bizarre adaptations to show for […]
China Says It’s Found A “Superlarge” Gold Deposit Worth An Estimated $83 Billion
China has struck gold — literally — after geologists discovered an estimated $83 billion worth of gold in central China’s Hunan Province, though accessing the underground deposit might be easier said than done. The Geological Bureau of Hunan Province announced their geologists have detected over 40 gold veins with a reserve of 300 tonnes of […]
Huge Water Oceans Might Be Lurking Deep Within Uranus And Neptune
Uranus and Neptune were only visited once by human spacecraft when Voyager 2 passed by them almost 40 years ago. During those visits, scientists measured peculiar magnetic fields unlike those seen around other planets. A recent paper suggests that the Uranus measurements might have been messed up by the Sun, but in general, it has […]
New Biodegradable Plastic Leaves No Microplastic Waste In Seawater
A new plastic has been created, and its makers say it combines durability with complete recyclability while also breaking down in seawater and soil, in case it is not disposed of properly. Given the scale of plastic buildup in the oceans and the widespread presence of microplastics in the environment, any solution is welcome, but […]
Why Do Planes Avoid Flying Over Tibet?
If you look at the flight paths of planes traveling around the world, you may notice a few oddities. One is that they don’t appear to travel in straight paths to their destinations (the answer to this one is fairly obvious) and, if you really go into detail, that very few planes seem to fly […]
Okay So We’re All Chugging Water, But What Does Upping Your Intake Actually Do?
We all know we’re supposed to be drinking water – to survive, yes, but also for a myriad of health benefits. What are they? Well… that’s a good question, actually, and one that a new study set out to answer by conducting a systematic review of 18 clinical trials. Stanley cups at the ready, lads. […]
Colin Pitchfork: The Case That Led To A Forensic Breakthrough
We’ve launched a brand new series called True Crime in Science. Over six episodes, we will break down some well-known true crime cases, as well as some cases you may not have heard of, and then delve further into the science and the forensic details behind them. Watch episode one on Colin Pitchfork now. If […]
There Aren’t Seven Continents, There’s Two. Or Four. Or Nine. Wait, What?
Let’s face it: kids are not smart. That’s fine; they’re not meant to be – they have a lot of growing and learning left to do, and they can’t be spending that time grappling with the finer nuances of special relativity when “apples fall down because gravity” will serve them just as well. But it […]
