It may sound strange but plants can remember stress. Scientists are still learning about how plants do this without a brain. But with climate change threatening crops around the world, understanding plant stress memory could help food crops become more resilient. ADVERTISEMENT Since their colonisation of the land 500 million years ago, plants have evolved […]
What Is Stone Man Disease?
Stone man disease is a very rare and very debilitating condition thought to affect approximately one in a million people in the US. As the name suggests, the disease causes the body’s soft tissue to harden, essentially trapping patients in a second skeleton. What Is Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva? ADVERTISEMENT Also referred to as Münchmeyer disease […]
Which Cancers Have The Highest Mortality Rates?
Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, accounting for 9.7 million deaths in 2022. According to the National Cancer Institute, the disease will affect four in ten Americans over the course of their lifetimes. However, survival rates vary significantly depending on the type of cancer as well as a patient’s gender, race and geography. […]
What Is A B-Type Star And Why Are They So Important To Astronomers?
We don’t get our sunlight from a B-type star, and they’re far from the most common type, yet when it comes to influencing the development of the universe, their role is crucial. They’re also particularly important to astronomers wishing to understand the structure of the galaxy and beyond. How we categorize stars ADVERTISEMENT Astronomers trying […]
Dilophosoaurus: What Science Can Tell Us About The Real Dinosaur Vs. Jurassic Park
In 1993, Stephen Spielberg shaped many minds (with the help of some creative special effects artists) when his film Jurassic Park brought dinosaurs to life like never before. There were many memorable moments: the torch in the eye, the shivering water in the giant footprint, a lawyer getting eaten on the toilet, but there perhaps […]
Scientists “Hypnotize” Sharks To Harvest Semen And Successfully Inseminate Females
Scientists are “hypnotizing” sharks so they can collect their semen. Yes, you read that right, and although you might think there is something fishy about this, it’s an important step in their conservation, allowing the scientists to perform the first artificial insemination of a shark in Australia. So, a “happy ending” all round. ADVERTISEMENT The […]
The Eruption Of Vesuvius Turned A Guy’s Brain Into Glass, US Sees First Measles Death Since 2015, And Much More This Week
This week, new research has found that rats are surprisingly good sommeliers and can distinguish between different types of wines, you can watch as two AIs realise they’re not talking to humans and instead switch to their own language, and we ask if anything had feathers before the dinosaurs. Finally, we discuss how NASA could […]
How Long Does It Take To Travel To The Moon?
It’s 56 years since humans first walked on the Moon and 66 years since the first uncrewed mission to the rocky satellite, yet bizarrely, it actually takes longer to get there using modern methods than it did during the Apollo era. This is because spaceflight engineers have found new and ingenious ways to travel through […]
Gorgeous Aurorae Wrapping Around The Earth Photographed From The ISS
The northern and southern lights are beautiful electromagnetic phenomena. Electrically charged particles from the Sun slam into the atmosphere, exciting the gas there, producing waving curtains of light. As the Sun is around the peak of activity in its 11-year-long cycle, there is a lot more space weather, with more active aurorae. ADVERTISEMENT The astronauts […]
How Dangerous Is It To Take Expired Medications?
Imagine you’ve woken up with an absolute stinker of a cold. You’ve got a stuffy nose, thumping headache, all your limbs hurt – but the only medication in the house is a pack of cold and flu pills that are way, way, out of date. Should you take them? Or will that do more harm […]
87 Billion Liters Of Water To Be Released From Utah Lake – Why?
Officials from the Central Utah Water Conservancy District have begun sending around 87 billion liters of water from Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake in an ongoing managed release. The plan will send around 1 billion liters of water each day along the Jordan River as part of an effort to keep water levels […]
Great Wall Of China Could Be Significantly Older Than Previously Realized
The Great Wall of China may be even older than we once thought. Newly discovered ruins in Shandong province – home to some of its oldest sections – suggest that parts of the grand structure were built 300 years earlier than previously believed. ADVERTISEMENT The breakthrough emerged from recent excavations near Guangli Village, not far […]
Galápagos Rail Returns To Floreana Island After 200 Years – Or Was It Hiding There All Along?
It’s surprisingly easy to lose a species: from golden moles to tap-dancing spiders, some species are so secretive they are seen once and then never heard from again. The same was true for the Galápagos rail, a shy bird species seen on Floreana Island by Charles Darwin in 1835 and then never again – that […]
Next Ice Age Should Be 10,000 Years Away – But Humans May Disrupt That
For many millions of years, our planet has experienced glacial periods followed by warmer periods. A crucial role in these changes might come from the orbital motion of our planet. By studying how our planet moves and wobbles, researchers have been able to independently reconstruct the glacial periods over the last million years and even […]
Trump Is Set To Make English The Official Language Of US
For the first time in its nearly 250 years of history, the US is set to get an official language. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order that declares English the official language of the US, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT The White House reportedly claims […]
Rat Sommeliers, Glass Brain, And Internet On Mars
This week on Break It Down: the curious tale of a lump of glass that turned out to be a human brain, the US sees its first measles death in 10 years, rats make great sommeliers, the evolutionary origins of feathers in dinosaurs, AI bots start speaking a secret language to each other, and could […]
What Do Narwhals Use Their Tusks For? New Footage Shows Remarkable Behavior
Narwhals are infamously mysterious creatures and perhaps their most elusive attribute is their long, spiral tusk (which technically is an elongated tooth). Now, for the first time, scientists have captured unprecedented footage of narwhals in the wild, revealing that they use their tusks not just to investigate their surroundings, but also to stun prey and […]
The World’s Smallest Shooting Game Is Played Using An Electron Beam Generator
A team of researchers in Japan has created the world’s smallest shooting game, played by manipulating nanoparticles less than 1 billionth of a meter in size. ADVERTISEMENT The project, led by Professor Takayuki Hoshino of Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Engineering in Japan, allows players to control a small triangle shooting at enemy blobs on […]
Katy Perry Is Going To Space In First All-Female Private Space Trip
Pop superstar Katy Perry is set to blast off into space this spring as part of a historic all-female crew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. ADVERTISEMENT The singer – whose hits aptly include Firework and E.T. – will be joined by former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen, CBS Mornings […]
Do Adults Need To Get Boosters For Childhood Vaccinations?
With the ongoing outbreak of measles in Texas, vaccines are on a lot of people’s minds – and in particular, whether or not they need another one. Measles is just one of the diseases vaccinated against in childhood, but do any of those vaccines need a boost when you get older? ADVERTISEMENT The answer to […]
