Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 aircraft has achieved its fastest speeds yet, blasting towards its goal of surpassing the speed of sound. During its seventh test flight on November 5, the experimental aircraft reached a new top speed of Mach 0.82, or 1,012 kilometers (629 miles) per hour. Advertisement Since its first flight in March 2024, XB-1 […]
Fifth Beluga Death This Year At Canada’s Marineland Prompts Calls For Transparency
Marineland, a zoo and amusement park in Niagara Falls, Canada, has found itself back in the spotlight after the death of five of its beluga whales in the last year. The park is the last place in Canada where whales are still kept captive, and has seen 17 of its resident belugas die since 2019. […]
“Nosy” Humans Have Found A Way To Tell Koalas Apart With 90 Percent Accuracy
Koalas’ noses are so distinctive they can be used to tell the animals apart in the wild, even at considerable distances. The discovery could cut costs for teams trying to save the beloved creatures, and also save humans and koalas alike from stress. Despite being a major part of Australia’s tourism industry, and possibly the […]
Pompeii Victims Weren’t Who We Thought They Were, Changes To Ocean Circulation Are Causing The North Atlantic To Get Even Saltier, And Much More This Week
This week, the frogs of Chernobyl no longer need to adapt to survive high radiation levels, a physicist thinks he’s found the equation for how cats move, and a new study concludes it is safe to get your COVID-19 and flu shots together. Finally, we explore the story of a DNA scientist who picked up […]
The Largest Extinction Event In Earth’s History Occurred 250 Million Years Ago
Earth is no stranger to mass extinction events – it’s had five so far, and some scientists have even claimed we’re in the midst of a sixth. The biggest one of all, however, was so hugely devastating to life on Earth that it’s been nicknamed the “Great Dying”. The Permian-Triassic extinction event If you thought […]
Shin Splints: What They Are And What To Do About Them
Whether you’re a marathon runner or have just thrown yourself into a new kind of exercise, there’s one common injury that everyone wants to avoid: shin splints. They might not be serious, but they are painful – so what causes them, and what can be done to treat or even avoid them entirely? What are […]
Why Are Objects In A Car’s Side-View Mirror Closer Than They Appear?
It’s one of the lessons that any driving instructor worth their salt will tell you early on – be mindful of the fact that objects in your side-view mirror are actually closer than they appear to be. And, if their student just so happens to be curious, the next question out of their mouths might […]
Laetoli Footprints: A 3.6 Million-Year-Old Stroll Revealed Early Human Evolutionary History
Over 3.6 million years ago, three distant human relatives went for a stroll, blissfully unaware they were making history. By sheer chance, their footsteps became imprinted in volcanic ash and lasted for millions of years, providing modern scientists with the oldest unequivocal evidence of human ancestors walking on two feet. They’re known as the Laetoli […]
The Chicken Or The Egg? We Might Need To Change The Question
What came first, the chicken or the egg? If we’re talking about eggs in general, then the latter, but a new study of an ancient single-celled organism suggests the genetic tools to “create” eggs may have been about before animals were even a thing. The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Geneva, […]
Could A Nuclear Explosion Set Off A Yellowstone Supervolcano Eruption?
It’s been the staple of various film or TV show plots, though some might remember it more specifically as being the devious plan of Dr Evil in the first Austin Powers movie: the world is held to ransom as a megalomaniac villain threatens to trigger volcanic eruptions by detonating a nuclear weapon either on top […]
Say Hi To “Strawberry Claws”, A New Hermit Crab Species With Fabulous Red Pincers
Here at IFLScience, nothing thrills us more than when a colorful crustacean graces our inbox. Banana the Lobster will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we love the blue, bicolored, and cotton candy versions just as much – but today, it’s all about the crabs. Introducing Strawberry Claws, a new-to-science species of […]
Say Hello To Chonkus, The Sizeable Cyanobacterium That Could Combat Climate Change
In volcanic ocean vents off the coast of Italy, researchers have discovered a new strain of cyanobacteria that could pack a particularly effective punch when it comes to capturing carbon dioxide, one of the driving forces of climate change. The cyanobacterium, or alga, is officially known as UTEX 3222, but the team behind its discovery […]
Elephant Tool Use Might Extend To Sabotaging Your Mate’s Shower
The manipulation of tools is something widespread across the animal world. While most use them to aid in feeding behaviors, some can even craft their own tools to solve complex problems. New research on elephants has shown one individual to be particularly adept at tool use, even mastering it to have a shower. The individual […]
One Third Of Math’s “Grand Unified Theory” Has (Almost Certainly) Just Been Toppled
For a few months now, the mathematical world has been abuzz. Rumors abound of a new proof, monumental in length and virtually impenetrable even to the experts – and which, if correct, has the potential to reform the entire mathematical landscape from here on out. Now, as the dust settles around the nearly 1000 pages […]
A Murder Solved From The Grave, Chernobyl Frogs, And Cat Physics
This week on Break It Down: clues inside Pompeii victims’ casts reveal they’re not who we thought they were, the frogs of Chernobyl are doing just fine, cat physics and a crime of authorship, the North Atlantic is getting saltier and saltier, good news for double jabs, and a DNA scientist who picked up the […]
Atomic Bomb Tests And The Dawn Of The Bikini, 1946 Was A Strange Summer
The summer of 1946 saw a lot of shocking scenes. There were the atomic bomb tests that tore up the waters off the Marshall Islands, leaving parts of the region more radioactive than Chernobyl. There were the bombs themselves, great hunks of metal that would demonstrate, for the first time, what this horrific technology could […]
This Photo Shows Why You Should “Never Underestimate” Freshwater Mussels
America’s freshwater rivers and lakes are losing their secret weapon: freshwater mussels. As an invaluable part of nature’s clean-up crew, their absence could have a nasty knock-on effect on countless bodies of water across the US and beyond. To highlight the importance of these shelled beings, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently shared […]
Woolly Rhinos Had A Hump On Their Back, Frozen Mummy Reveals
For the first time ever, researchers have uncovered the mummified remains of a woolly rhinoceros with a big old hump on the back of its neck. Curiously absent in all other known specimens of the Ice Age megafauna, this fatty bulge attests to the remarkable accuracy of ancient cave paintings depicting rhinos with hunched backs. […]
Solar System’s Ancient Magnetic Field Found Thanks To Tiny Grain From Asteroid Ryugu
The formation of planets is not completely understood, but it is believed that it is not just gravity pulling matter together. Magnetism in the protoplanetary disk, too, is seen as a player in the formation of small and large bodies. Meteorite samples agree with this idea for the inner Solar System, but we had no […]
What Was The Physics Paper Authored By A Cat About?
In 1975, a paper was published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters that was co-authored by a cat. This wasn’t a joke, at least initially, but rather a response to one of the journal’s policies and the challenges of making changes before the days of word processing technology. The tale of F.D.C. Willard, feline […]
