A team of researchers say they have found the “strongest statistical evidence yet that Planet 9 is really out there” in the solar system after studying a population of distant, unstable objects that cross Neptune’s orbit. When it comes to discovering planets, finding them around other stars is actually a little easier than locating them […]
Would The “Rule Of Thumb” In The Fallout TV Series Actually Work?
In the first episode of Amazon’s new TV series Fallout, one of the main characters – played by Walton Goggins – mentions a “rule of thumb” about nuclear blasts. According to the character known as The Ghoul, during military training he was taught that if you extend your arm and raise your thumb in the direction […]
Way More Animals Than Assumed (Including Insects) May Have Consciousness, Scientists Argue
Consciousness in the animal kingdom may be far more wide-reaching than previously thought, according to a number of animal cognition experts. In a recent declaration, they argue that all sorts of animals – from fish to insects – may be sentient, and that this should inform our treatment of such animals going forward. Previous research […]
Enormous, Glassy Lava Lake On Jupiter’s Io Revealed By NASA In Incredible Animation
NASA’s Juno has recently performed some extremely close flybys of Io, the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. The natural satellite is the most geologically active body in the Solar System, featuring 400 active volcanoes. Members of the Juno team have used data from recent encounters to reconstruct some intriguing features on the […]
Two Hunters In US Die Of Rare Prion Disease – “Zombie Deer Disease” Is A Suspect
Two hunters in the US have died of a rare prion disease, an aggressive disorder of the central nervous system that’s caused by strange, rogue proteins. Worryingly, scientists are speculating that the pair caught the disease from North American deer infected with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). If true, it would be the first known case […]
The Once-In-An-Eon Event That Gave Earth Plants Has Happened Again
An event that is only known to have happened three times before in the history of life on Earth has just been documented again. A marine bacterium was subsumed into its algal host organism, co-evolving with it for long enough that it can now be considered an organelle, part of the alga’s cellular machinery. That […]
Elephant Calves Have Been Found Buried – What Does That Mean?
The myth of elephant graveyards has pervaded popular culture, and recent observations of buried Asian elephant calves may finally give that legend some credence. In the research published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, two scientists describe five instances where elephant calves have been found buried in a legs-upright position within irrigation trenches of tea […]
Rogue Waves In The Ocean Are Much More Common Than Anyone Suspected, Says New Study
We used three-dimensional imaging of ocean waves to capture freakish seas that produce a notorious phenomenon known as rogue waves. Our results are now published in Physical Review Letters*. Rogue waves are giant colossi of the sea – twice as high as neighbouring waves – that appear seemingly out of nowhere. Stories of unimaginable mountains […]
Perpetual Stew: How A 79-Year-Old Soup Can Still Be Safe To Eat
In Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok), there is an award-winning restaurant called Wattana Panich, where you can order and then eat a beef and goat soup that is 49 years old. The soup, which is described as “delicious and aromatic” as well as having a “real depth of flavor that’s hard to explain”, has been brewed by […]
The World’s First X-Ray Of A Single Atom
Thinking of X-rays might trigger memories of broken bones or dental check-ups. But this extremely energetic light can show us more than just our bones: it is also used to study the molecular world, even biochemical reactions in real-time. One issue, though, is that researchers have never been able to study a single atom with […]
Fermented Foods Sustain Both Microbiomes And Cultural Heritage
Many people around the world make and eat fermented foods. Millions in Korea alone make kimchi. The cultural heritage of these picklers shape not only what they eat every time they crack open a jar but also something much, much smaller: their microbiomes. On the microbial scale, we are what we eat in very real […]
How Long Do Wild Birds Live?
It’s pretty clear when we humans are aging; gray hair, wrinkles, mysterious creaking noises when getting out of bed in the morning. Those signs make it a lot easier to guess roughly how old we are, but when it comes to wild birds, they lack such obvious clues. So how long do wild birds actually […]
“Extremely Active” Atlantic Hurricane Season Could Be In Store This Year
From June through to November each year, the Atlantic witnesses its hurricane season, when powerful tropical storms are most likely to occur in the basin. This year’s season, however, is set to be an “extremely active” one according to new predictions from Colorado State University (CSU) forecasters. The team has predicted a total of 23 […]
How Far Can Blue Whales Hear?
Being able to see underwater can prove to be tricky, so for creatures such as the blue whale, using sound to get about and communicate is far handier. But just how far can these marine giants hear? Blue whales are generally pretty solitary creatures. However, they need to chinwag with others eventually, particularly when it […]
Engraved Bone Of Prehistoric Bear Is The Oldest Example Of Neanderthal Culture
Some time between 115,000 and 130,000 years ago, a Neanderthal living in a cave in Poland etched a series of markings into a bear bone. Despite consisting of just 17 lines, the engravings converted the bone into one of the oldest known symbolic items in Europe and one of the earliest to be associated with […]
The Pacific Sleeper Shark: New Insights Into A Mysterious Marine Predator
Despite being one of the largest predatory fish in the ocean and having a range that spans throughout the Pacific, little is known about the Pacific sleeper shark. In an effort to tackle the most pressing gaps in our knowledge – and thus how the species can be conserved – a team of scientists has […]
Why Can’t We See Dark Matter?
For every atom in the universe that makes up stars, planets, or gas, there is about more than five times as much so-called dark matter. Physicists are very confident it’s there, but cannot find it, or even work out what makes it up. We won’t know the exact reasons why it’s so hard to see […]
Do We Need To Worry About Acrylamide In Our Food Causing Cancer?
Every so often, a molecule called acrylamide works its way back into the public sphere of attention, usually with warnings in tow about its presence in food and the apparent dangers it poses to our health. But how much of this is true, and should we be worried about it? What is acrylamide? Acrylamide is […]
Puya Raimondii: The 40-Foot “Queen Of The Andes” That Blooms Only Once A Century
Who’s the ruler of the Andes? You might be thinking the seven countries they run through, or perhaps the mighty Andean condor. Both are wrong: it’s an absolutely massive, rare-blooming, and long-lived plant called Puya raimondii. What is Puya raimondii? The so-called “Queen of the Andes” belongs to the bromeliads, a family of plants that […]
Newly Discovered Prehistoric Snake May Be Largest To Ever Exist, Vaccine Breakthrough Could Mean Future-Proof Shots, And Much More This Week
This week, a physicist studying the SARS-CoV-2 virus believes he’s found evidence that we’re living in a simulation, a newly discovered species of titanosaur is one of the smallest ever found, Stonehenge may be aligned to a rare lunar event, and a donor heart successfully makes it nearly 7,000 kilometers across the Atlantic for the […]
