The Sun is currently releasing a stream of electrically charged particles. This is the solar wind. Just how this flow can reach incredible velocities was a mystery that endured for decades. It took two spacecraft and international cooperation to get an answer: The magnetic field near the Sun sometimes gets kinky. Advertisement The “fast” solar […]
Goodbye Hvaldimir: Russian “Spy” Whale Found Dead In Norway
So long, Hvaldimir. If you’ve been hiding under a rock since 2019 it might have escaped your attention that beluga whale Hvaldimir, once thought to be a Russian “spy” turned Norwegian retiree, was found dead over the weekend. Advertisement Hvaldimir first rose to public attention in 2019 when he was seen wearing a harness presumably […]
Unexplained Pulsing Sounds Coming From Starliner Docked To The ISS
A strange pulsing sound has been heard from Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft, prompting a concerned comment from seasoned astronaut Chris Hadfield. Advertisement Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore departed for the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5, the third and final test of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, and its first launch with a crew. […]
Ancient Rock Painting Reveals Oldest Image Of African Rail Bird, Possibly Sacred To The San People
The African rail (Rallus caerulescens) is a handsome bird, with a blueish breast, red legs, eyes and bill, prominent barring on the flanks, chestnut upper parts, and long toes. It also has a characteristic trilling call. This wetland dweller is only found in sub-Saharan Africa, with a concentration in South Africa’s Western Cape province. The […]
Officials Warn Yellowstone Visitors To Stay Away From Elk
The National Park Service (NPS) has put out a warning urging visitors to Yellowstone to keep their distance from the park’s resident population of elk amidst the start of mating season. Advertisement “Stay away from bull elk in Yellowstone, especially during fall mating season,” said park officials in a statement. “You are responsible for your […]
Grapefruit Can Meddle With Your Medication – But How?
A refreshing slice of grapefruit or a tall glass of its juice can have many benefits; it’s packed with vitamins C and A, as well as helpful minerals like potassium. But before you go and pick up 10 cartons of the stuff, there’s an important downside to be aware of – grapefruit can also mess […]
How Do You Actually Measure The Height Of A Mountain?
At 8,849 meters (29,032 feet), Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world – but how did we figure that out? In fact, how do we know how high any mountain is? They certainly don’t make measuring tapes that long (plus someone would have to be at the top to read it), so how […]
Does King Charles III Really “Own” All The Dolphins In British Waters?
When King Charles III inherited the throne from Queen Elizabeth II back in 2022, he quite famously received the right to claim ownership of any unmarked mute swans found in open water on public land. It turns out, however, that’s far from the only curiously animal-related part of his inheritance – sea creatures make an […]
Does The Universe Have A Center And If So Where Is It?
If you have had the misfortune to date a narcissist, or work for one, you might have used the expression; “They think they’re the center of the universe.” Sadly, we shouldn’t mock too hard, because in a sense such people are right, at least about that. That’s because everyone is the center of the universe, […]
Orcas Strike A Boat In Spain Sparking New Theory, SETI Starts Looking For Highly Advanced Extragalactic Civilizations In 2,880 Galaxies, And Much More This Week
This week, findings suggest bacteria are passing “memories” of perturbed genes to their descendants, here’s what to know about the human parvovirus B19 that’s increasing in the US, and an expedition surveying the seafloor off the coast of Chile has discovered 20 potentially new species. Finally, we investigate the misinformation and pseudoscience in the wellness […]
New Antibiotic Candidate Found In Bacteria From The Arctic Ocean
Researchers might have found two new compounds with a strong ability to fight harmful bacteria. They found these interesting substances inside different types of bacteria in the depths of the Arctic Ocean. With the potential that a lot more interesting compounds can be found there. Advertisement Antibiotic resistance is a serious problem. Harmful microbes are […]
Watch Springtails Backflip More Than 60 Times Their Body Height Into The Air
Move over, Simone Biles – there’s an insect with even better backflips. Globular springtails might only be a couple of millimeters long, but can jump and spin 60 times their own body height into the air, and new research looks even deeper at this incredible acrobatic feat. Advertisement Springtails (Dicyrtomina minuta) are pretty common little […]
How Can Insects Help Us Solve Crimes?
Corpses become a hive of activity for the decomposition ecosystem – a rich tapestry of critters from the microscopic to the winged – and what they do with our remains can both help and hinder criminal investigations. Advertisement On the one hand, forensic entomology is often the best way to indicate how long a person […]
When Was The First Fire On Earth?
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What Are Dyson Spheres And What Are Our Chances Of Finding Them?
The Sun emits a stupendous amount of light. Its luminosity is almost 400 billion billion megawatts. The Earth gets less than 0.0000001 percent of that. It’s free energy and there is a way to get it, if you do not mind constructing something vastly beyond humans’ capabilities: a Dyson sphere. Advertisement This is a theoretical […]
Ancient Sunken Cave Bridge Reveals Humans Reached Island 2,000 Years Earlier Than Thought
Figuring out what our ancestors were up to thousands of years ago is no easy task – but in some regions of the planet, it’s made even harder by a lack of archaeological evidence. One such place is the Mediterranean islands. Working out when humans first arrived here has been a tricky puzzle, but it’s […]
This Is Where COVID-19 Cases Are The Highest In The US
It’s been a while since we’ve had a COVID-19 update, hasn’t it? Once upon a time, you couldn’t go a whole day without seeing updated death tolls and infection rates. Now, despite the continuing mutations of the virus into certain FLiRT-y subvariants, we barely hear about these numbers at all. Advertisement So how is the […]
Does The Real-Life Paddington Bear Like Marmalade?
Here at IFLScience, we strive to give you the answers to some of science’s most pressing questions. Are we alone in the universe? Do animals think? But the latest is by far the most important – does the real-life Paddington Bear love marmalade as much as its fictional counterpart? Advertisement The first step in finding […]
Bronze Age Weapons Were Mega Lethal – Scientists Made Their Own To Prove It
The Bronze Age was basically just one long bloodbath, made possible by the invention of new weapons forged from the copper-tin alloy that gives the era its name. While analyzing these ancient armaments using lab equipment can tell us a great deal about their histories, there’s really only one way to figure out how effective […]
What Happens If You Get Sucked Into A Tornado?
A tornado is a rotating column of air that touches the land, often connected to the base of a thunderstorm. The direction of spin is typically influenced by the hemisphere it’s in, but some very rare tornadoes have bucked the trend. With windspeeds sometimes topping hundreds of miles an hour, they can have enormously devastating […]
