This week on Break It Down: a CIA report says the origins of COVID being a lab leak is “likely” but what does that really mean? The Doomsday Clock ticks closer to humanity’s destruction, asteroid Bennu’s sample contains the building blocks of life (but not aliens), the oldest poison arrow dates back 7,000 years, a […]
Radioactive Plutonium In Sahara Dust Came From An Unexpected Source
Every now and again, the Sahara Desert in North Africa will kick up a storm and spread dust clouds across Europe and other parts of the world. Remarkably, the sand still carries traces of radioactive isotopes from the atomic bomb tests of the Cold War. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE In a new study, scientists have […]
How Do Astronauts Deal With Dirty Laundry In Space?
Changing clothes and washing them regularly is basic hygiene, but there are some situations where that is more difficult to do than others. Space, for example, is one of those extreme environments where laundry is not something that can be done easily. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The main reason is that water is an incredibly […]
Got An Itchy Rash? Now We Know Why You Probably Shouldn’t Scratch It
How many times were you told not to scratch an itchy rash when you were a kid because you’d only make it worse? Well, it turns out that advice was actually correct and now we know why, according to a new mouse study. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Let’s face it, scratching an itch can be […]
Orcas Confirmed Hunting Australian White Shark For Its Liver For First Time
In 2023, the remains of a great white shark washed up on the shore near Portland in Victoria, Australia, in 2023. It’s needless to say the body instantly caught media and scientific attention: this iconic apex predator, the source of fear and awe for so many people across the world, had been savaged by something […]
Global Planetary Defense Protocols Now Active Following “Potentially Hazardous” Asteroid Discovery
For many years, groups around the world have rehearsed what to do in case we discover an asteroid that might impact Earth. Well, this time is for real. Asteroid 2024 YR4 has been placed at Level 3 on the Torino impact scale, with a 1.2 percent chance of impact with Earth in late 2032. This […]
Why The World’s Deadliest Mushroom Is Worthy Of Its Terrifying Name
Toxic mushrooms are one of the leading causes of food poisoning deaths worldwide, and an incredible 90 percent of these fatal fungal foragings are the work of one species: the aptly named death cap mushroom. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Also known by its taxonomic label Amanita phalloides – which actually means penis-shaped – this deadly […]
Astronaut Suni Williams Sets New Record For Total Spacewalk Time By A Woman
NASA astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore were outside of the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday for a very interesting spacewalk, which ended up being a record-breaking one for Williams. After completing the almost 5.5 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA), Williams is now the woman who has spent the longest time in space […]
Move Over, Punxsutawney Phil: These Birds Can “Predict” The Weather Too
For nearly 140 years, every February 2 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, has seen a bizarre ceremony in which a groundhog named Phil “forecasts” whether or not there’ll be six more weeks of winter. The tradition even has a day named after it – but are there other animals with weather-predicting abilities that deserve attention too? ADVERTISEMENT […]
Military Strategy Game Pieces Used By Roman Soldiers Discovered In Türkiye
One thousand six hundred years ago, in a city named after the famous emperor Hadrian, bored Roman soldiers spent their free time shuffling counters around a game board in an attempt to hone their strategic thinking skills – or maybe just to have fun. Announcing the discovery of two of these ancient tokens, archaeologists say […]
Can You Really Cook A Chicken By Throwing Ice Cubes At It?
People over on Reddit are currently asking the realest of real questions; is it possible to cook a chicken by throwing ice cubes at it? ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE While it may sound like a stupid question, it’s really only an extension of a stupid question that has been going around the Internet for years. […]
Levitation Ray Is Testing The Boundary Between The Quantum And Classical World
Quantum mechanics underpins all of reality, but at our level – the so-called classical world – we wouldn’t be able to tell. The difference is so stark that it seems like separate dimensions. The frontier between the two is difficult to explore, as objects and interactions can end up being more easily explained one way […]
What’s The Difference Between A Republic And A Democracy (And Which Is The US)?
We live in turbulent times. At every juncture, at least half the country is pissed at the government, complaining that “I didn’t vote for this! What happened to democracy?!” At which point, some smug commentator will pop up and point out, a wry smile on his face as ICE cart him away, that “actually, the […]
Why Do Hotter Countries Have A Taste For Spicier Food?
The cuisines of some countries are synonymous with spice – think India, Thailand, and Mexico – while others take a more “minimalist” approach to seasoning (looking at you, Britain and Scandinavia). It doesn’t take an AI-powered Anthony Bourdain to work out that, generally speaking, warmer places have a friendlier relationship with spicier food. ADVERTISEMENT GO […]
Is Glass Really A Liquid? And How Come We Can See Through It?
Whether you’re a fan of amorphous solids or just enjoy being able to see stuff outside, glass is a pretty cool material. But how does it work on an atomic level? Why can we see through it, when we can’t see through (for instance) metals, Danny DeVito, and pasta? And what actually is glass anyway? […]
What Sounds Do Viruses Make? We Can’t Hear Them, But We Can Make Use Of Them
As the old philosophical question goes, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” The literal scientific answer is yes it does, because any movement of atoms – on a massive scale like this, or on the tiniest scales we cannot see – […]
Sand Cave Incident: The “Greatest Cave Explorer Ever” Met A Grim Fate In 1925
Almost exactly a century ago, the “Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known” entered a labyrinth of underground caverns in south-central Kentucky and never returned. The gripping story captured the public’s imagination then and it remains a cautionary tale for thrill-seeking cavers, serving as a stark reminder not to push the limits too far. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD […]
Does The Human Body Really Replace Itself Every 7 Years?
It’s a fun “fact” that many of us will have heard before: our bodies apparently replace themselves every seven years. Trouble is, that’s not true – so what actually does happen? ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE First, it’s probably a good idea to understand why this has become such a popular myth. It possibly comes down […]
Beneath The Middle East, An Ancient Seabed Is Splitting From The Continental Plates
An ancient oceanic plate under modern-day Iraq is breaking off horizontally, researchers have shown in a new study. This huge underground tear, stretching from southeast Turkey to northwest Iran, is affecting the way Earth’s surface bends and shifts, reshaping the landscape as it changes. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE For millions of years, as the Arabian […]
Music Is Becoming Less Complex Over Time, And We Don’t Really Know Why
A study using network science to measure the intricacy of 20,000 pieces of music produced over four centuries has found that music is becoming less complex over time. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Music is an important part of human life, found in every society that we know of. As such, it’s pretty interesting to learn […]
