ADVERTISEMENT Despite a relatively short history as a nation, going back just a couple of centuries, there is a precedent for such an ostrich policy. For over 60 years, the US banned the use of the word “tornado” in weather forecasts, forbidding potentially life-saving predictions of their formation. In 1877, Michigan-born John Park Finley enlisted […]
Decades-Old Moon Mystery Could Be Solved By First HD Footage Of A Lunar Sunset
In its dying moments, the Blue Ghost lunar lander captured the first high-definition images of a sunset on the Moon. The lunar nightfall differs subtly from an Earthly sunset, and the images could help unravel a long-standing mystery surrounding an unusual haze first observed on the Moon in the 1960s. ADVERTISEMENT Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based […]
Alaska’s Mount Spurr Could Erupt Any Day Now
Things are getting a bit spicy at Mount Spurr in Alaska, where geologists have been reporting an increase in seismic activity for almost a year. Based on the latest developments, officials are now bracing themselves for what could be an imminent eruption. ADVERTISEMENT Located in the Aleutian Arc, Mount Spurr is an ice-covered stratovolcano complex […]
Australian Man Becomes World’s First To Leave Hospital With Titanium Heart
A man in Australia who received a titanium heart has achieved a double world-first, after becoming the only person to survive with the artificial heart for more than 100 days, and to be discharged from hospital with the implant still in place. ADVERTISEMENT The patient, who was in his 40s, had been experiencing severe heart […]
How Late Can I Drink Coffee Before It Starts Messing With My Sleep?
We all enjoy a nice hot cup of joe to perk us up in the morning – or at least, around three out of four of us do, which is close enough. But it makes you think, doesn’t it: if we drink it to wake up, then when should we stop drinking it? ADVERTISEMENT It’s […]
First World-Spanning Ultra-Secure Quantum Satellite Link Joins South Africa And China
Images have been securely transmitted by satellite using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) between ground stations in China and South Africa, a record-breaking distance of 12,900 kilometers (8,000 miles). More important than the distance is the drastic reduction in weight, and therefore ultimately of cost, in the transmission and reception technology. ADVERTISEMENT The weirdness of quantum […]
NASA Spacecraft Deep Into The Solar System Discovers New Unexpected Mystery
A NASA spacecraft far from Earth has made an unexpected discovery, after turning its instruments towards a dark patch of sky at the galactic poles for over 200 hours. ADVERTISEMENT Studying the background light that is illuminating its journey, the New Horizons team discovered it is much brighter than expected, and they don’t know why. […]
Tokyo Underground Sarin Attack At 30: Who Was The Deranged Doomsday Cult Responsible?
It was a Monday morning like any other in mid-March 1995. But then again, that’s always how these things go, isn’t it? ADVERTISEMENT As people rushed through the city streets on their way to work, five men stepped onto the packed trains of the Tokyo underground. Although the trains were on separate lines, each had […]
What Is Egyptian Blue Lotus, The Rare Plant Used In Ancient Psychedelic Sex Rituals?
When Howard Carter famously discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, he found the pharaoh’s body covered in the petals of a type of water lily known as the blue lotus. Containing two psychoactive alkaloids, the flower produces hallucinatory effects and is thought to have been ingested during erotic ancient rituals in which participants sought […]
New Yellowstone Hydrothermal Feature Popped Up “Right In Front Of Our Eyes”
If there’s one thing you should know about Yellowstone National Park, it’s that it’s always changing – and that can mean the appearance of a brand-new hydrothermal feature, which is exactly what happened last summer. ADVERTISEMENT The feature in question was discovered on August 5, 2024, when a park scientist driving through the Roadside Springs […]
Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism. Here’s How We Know That
Vaccines do not, cannot, and have not ever caused autism. There is not a shred of scientific evidence to support the belief that they do. Unfortunately, fears around vaccines were so stoked by this myth that vaccine hesitancy got a new boost in the late 1990s, which hasn’t really gone away. The result? Diseases that […]
Velvet Worms’ Deadly Projectile Slime Unleashes Surprising Protein Discovery
The velvet worm is pretty cute as invertebrate predators go. A leathery rope of an animal with a fuzzy, velvet-like texture. It has two antennae making it look a bit like Zuul, but when it’s time to fight, it takes inspiration from Spiderman. ADVERTISEMENT Velvet worms are sensitive to air currents, so despite being almost […]
Why Do Clocks Move Clockwise?
It’s easy to blindly accept that clocks move clockwise, sweeping left to right on the upper half of the face and right to left on the lower half. But have you ever wondered why this is the case? It isn’t dictated by some fundamental law of physics, nor our psychological perception of time, but rather […]
Watch A Storm Of Red Sprites Light Up The Himalayas
Lightning is just one of the many spectacular luminous events that occur in Earth’s atmosphere. A particularly sought-after and mysterious one is red sprites, flashes of red-orange light that happen at altitudes of 50 to 90 kilometers (31 to 56 miles). They are very difficult to capture as despite being huge – up to 40 […]
If You Don’t Have Diabetes, Do You Need To Worry About Your Blood Sugar?
Keeping a close eye on your blood glucose levels is part and parcel of life for people living with diabetes. The last few years, however, have seen a sharp rise in health-conscious people without the condition wanting to monitor their blood sugar, too – but is there actually a need to? How are people tracking […]
New Map Shows What Antarctica Looks Like Naked Under Its Massive Ice Sheet
Antarctica isn’t a floating chunk of ice like the Arctic. Beneath its frozen surface sits a solid continent of mountains, rocky terrain, and gold-spewing volcanoes. This hidden world has now been revealed in stunning detail thanks to a groundbreaking map developed by international scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). ADVERTISEMENT Called Bedmap3, it […]
Should You Drink Rainwater? Not If You Can Help It – It’s Not Safe Anywhere In The World
Half a century or so ago, the world was facing a nightmare made real. A mystery monster had taken root – it was in the lakes around us and the clouds in the sky, embedded in the Earth, and infecting the very air we breathed. ADVERTISEMENT It killed forests in Europe and wiped out marine […]
Euclid’s Incredible New Deep Fields Are A Precious Look Into The Dark Universe
We are a step closer to understanding the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter. The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope has just released its first batch of data. In this rich survey, the mission has captured millions of galaxies, revealing the first details about how they are organized in the cosmic web. ADVERTISEMENT Understanding […]
Dolphins Greet NASA Astronauts In Gulf Of Mexico As They Return From The ISS
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were greeted by an unexpected welcome party as they returned to Earth yesterday after several dolphins came to investigate the capsule they rode in on. ADVERTISEMENT Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore departed for the International Space Station on June 5, 2024, the third and final test […]
The World Smashed Past Over 1.5°C Global Warming In 2024, Says WMO Report
The dream of keeping climate change to within 1.5°C (2.7°F) has taken a major hit. The latest climate report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has confirmed that 2024 was likely the first calendar year to have a global temperature more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. ADVERTISEMENT The global mean near-surface temperature last year was […]
