Step inside London’s Grant Museum of Zoology and among the many things in jars you may spot a grass snake unlike any you’ve ever seen alive. Its flesh has turned see-through revealing a vibrant pink skeleton underneath, rib bones jutting out into tissue that has been transformed, how? Why, it’s the art of diaphonization. Advertisement […]
Melting Ice Sheets Likely To Trigger Antarctic Volcanic Eruptions
More than a hundred volcanoes lie beneath the Antarctic ice, and the release of some of the weight upon them could spur them into life. According to a new study, the danger of this depends on the rate at which their icy burden lightens. Advertisement Human-induced hotter temperatures are making a variety of natural disasters […]
Why Comets Are So Often Disappointing, But A Few Aren’t
It might be called the curse of comets – over and over again, hopes have been raised of a dazzling curve of light across the sky, only for nothing to be visible to the naked eye. The pattern runs so deep that when bright comets do appear, some people miss them because they can’t believe […]
RIP Gaia: Revolutionary Mission That Mapped The Galaxy To Come To An End This Week
The European Space Agency’s Gaia mission has almost completely depleted the cold gas propellant that kept it spinning and able to scan the sky, so it has decided to nominally end science operations of this revolutionary mission on January 15. It will truly be the end of an era. Advertisement Gaia is first and foremost […]
How Long Does It Take To Create A Habit, And Can We Make It Any Faster?
Ah, it’s January, and we all know what that means: we’re all turning over new leaves, becoming gym bunnies, eating healthily, saving money instead of spending, reading eight books a week, and giving 10 percent of our income to charity. Or at least, that’s our intention – but it’s so hard to stay motivated, isn’t […]
Radiotherapy Has Been Killing Cancers For Decades – We Might Finally Understand How
Exposure to radiation kills cells from the same tumors in different ways, and some are far more useful for saving lives than others. A new study that claims to have explained the processes might open paths to finding ways to better target cancers, with fewer side effects. Advertisement A simple story can be told about […]
The Leftovers Of A Third Eyelid Can Still Be Found In Your Eye
If you pick up a mirror and look at the inner corners of your eyes, you’ll notice some pink stuff. The bigger bit right at the edge is the lacrimal caruncle, a structure that protects the glands that are crucial for keeping our eyes nice and moist. Just next to it is a thin strip […]
Unexplained Structures Discovered Deep Beneath Pacific Ocean, First-Ever Painted Penis Bone Found In 2,000-Year-Old Roman Shaft, And Much More This Week
This week, the oldest equatorial dinosaur in the world was discovered dating back 230 million years, the world’s oldest 3D map may be accompanied by sexually suggestive cave art, and we ask: what is “Nobel disease”, and why do so many Nobel Prize winners seem to develop it? Finally, we investigate the mysterious metal that ancient […]
Power Company’s Industrial Megaproject Plans Threaten World’s Darkest And Clearest Skies
The Atacama Desert in Chile is home to some of the most pristine dark skies on the planet. Among the astronomical sites, Cerro Paranal has the darkest and clearest skies – it is no accident that some of the most advanced observatories are located there. Now, all of them are being threatened by a new […]
Medieval Spinning Whorl Decorated With Swastikas Uncovered In Norway
Archaeologists have found a medieval spinning whorl in Tønsberg, Norway, which has some distinct symbols on its surface: three swastikas. But while we may associate this symbol with the Nazis, it actually has a much older history among various cultures and was used as a decoration in the Iron Age and Middle Ages. Throughout the […]
These Mysterious Images Of Mercury Are The Closest We’ll Have For The Next 2 Years
For BepiColombo, 2024 was a turbulent year. The mission is a joint project by the European and Japanese Space Agencies – ESA and JAXA – and a thruster problem forced the ground team to change plans for the probe’s arrival into orbit around Mercury. After a risky maneuver in September, BepiColombo has now completed its […]
The Wolf Moon Will Take A Bite Out Of Mars Next Week
This coming Monday (January 13), grab your telescope, layer up in every piece of clothing you own, and head outside. Why? Because it’s lunar occultation time, baby – and this time, it’s hungry like the wolf. Advertisement Okay, there aren’t actually any wolves. It’s just that it’s occurring when there’s a Wolf Moon, a non-astronomical […]
Sleeping With Your Eyes Open Is More Common Than You Might Think
If you’ve ever shared a bed with someone with nocturnal lagophthalmos, especially if they didn’t warn you in advance, it’s possible you found the experience a tad… disconcerting. People with the condition do not fully close their eyes while they sleep, which to those who’ve only ever experienced closed-eye sleeping can be a shock to […]
There’s A “Ghost” Island In The Caspian Sea, Birthed By A Mud Volcano
Back in 2023, just 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) off the eastern coast of Azerbaijan, a new island was born. This wasn’t just any island though – it was formed by the eruption of a mud volcano and soon, it’ll have completely disappeared. Advertisement The mud volcano in question is known as Kumani Bank and, as […]
2024 Was The Hottest Year In Recorded History, Unleashing “Misery For Millions Of People”
Update 10/01/2025: Further information has been added to this story following the publication of additional climate reports from NASA, NOAA, the UK Met Office, and the World Meteorological Organization. Advertisement It’s official: 2024 was the hottest on record, signaling a dramatic shift that is already inflicting misery on “millions of people.” Advertisement For the first […]
Tasmania Experiences A Dangerous Beauty In Sea And Sky
Much of the world has been treated to beautiful auroras recently, accompanied by the knowledge of a hint of danger in the solar storms that cause them. In Tasmania the New Year sky show coincided with a continuing outbreak of bioluminescent Noctiluca scintillans in waters off the east coast. Some photographers have captured the two […]
Should You Do A “Just In Case” Pee Before Leaving The House?
Being a human being is exhausting. You’re responsible for ensuring you take in the right amount of food and water, and then you’ve got to deal with the consequences of it coming out the other end. It’s a panic that leads many of us to habitually pee every time we’re about to leave the house, […]
Flu Season: Is 2024-25 A Particularly Bad Year?
Unless it happens to contain your birthday, we’re willing to bet that January is probably not your favorite month. The holiday fun is over, but the Northern Hemisphere winter has barely begun, and for many of us that means several more weeks of dark nights and bad weather. Oh, and another thing: it’s the peak […]
Watch Frogs Fling Themselves Across The Water’s Surface – One Impressive Belly Flop At A Time
Frogs are pretty impressive little creatures – but they don’t always tend to have accuracy and physics on their side when it comes to locomotion. By looking at the cricket frog, researchers have discovered the secrets to their strange locomotion, and it has all to do with some high-speed bellyflops. Advertisement Cricket frogs (Acris crepitans) […]
In August 1831, The Sun Appeared Blue – And We Now Know Why
Almost 200 years ago, the Sun looked as if it had turned a strange color, ushering in two years of freakishly cool weather across the globe. Scientists have long believed that the strange effect was caused by an eruption, but they’ve never been able to pinpoint the responsible volcano – until now. Advertisement It’s known […]
