The Parker Solar Probe has been traveling as close to the Sun as it possibly can, and this gives it an incredible vantage point to witness the behavior of the Sun up close – sometimes directly into the events of the solar atmosphere, like this first incredible footage capturing the interaction between a coronal mass […]
Tennessee “Chemtrail” Bill Prohibits A Phenomenon Which Doesn’t Exist
Tennessee has passed a bill banning the release of chemicals into the atmosphere, in a move thought by critics to be motivated by debunked “chemtrail” conspiracy theories. The bill, which passed Monday, seeks to prohibit “the intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of […]
What’s The Longest A Bird Can Fly Without Flapping Its Wings?
Birds might not be able to get a driving license (boo), but as it happens, some of them have found another way to get about whilst doing minimal exercise: soaring. At one point or another, they do have to flap their wings – but which one can go the longest without doing so? To find […]
International Space Station Battery Piece May Have Crashed Through Florida Home
A lot of space debris is simply dropped down towards Earth, where the friction of the atmosphere should burn it up and destroy it before it can reach us. However, that is not always the case, and NASA is now investigating whether a piece of a battery pallet released in 2021 came crashing down through […]
Simulation Suggests Everyone In Japan Will Have The Same Surname By 2531
Everyone in Japan will have the same surname by 2531, according to a simulation run at the Tohoku University research center. Japan, where same-sex marriage is still illegal, currently requires couples to choose between their surnames when they get married. Ninety-six percent choose to go with the man’s name. According to Professor Hiroshi Yoshida at […]
World’s Largest Ever Digital Camera Is Completed
The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera is now complete. It will soon travel to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory where it will provide an incredible new eye on the southern sky and help us better answer fundamental questions about the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The LSST camera is a […]
Uranium Mining Ramps Up In The Grand Canyon National Monument
The Grand Canyon region has been hit with a fresh wave of mining for uranium, the heavy metal used in the production of nuclear fuel and atomic bombs. Plundering this land for radioactive resources has proved particularly controversial since some of the activity will occur within protected Native American homelands – despite recent reassurance it […]
How Did People Clean Their Teeth Before Toothpaste Was Invented?
Dental hygiene has come a long way over the past few hundred millennia. While most of us now automatically brush our teeth twice a day, ancient humans had a much harder time looking after their pearly whites. Sadly for our long-in-the-tooth ancestors, many of their archaic dental practices appear to have been ineffective, leading to […]
World-First Human Trial Could See Lymph Nodes Turned Into Livers
After more than a decade of development, the first human trial for a treatment that attempts to tackle end-stage liver disease (ESLD) by turning lymph nodes into livers has begun. “In a medical first, we have now dosed our first patient in a clinical trial using their own lymph nodes as living bioreactors to regenerate […]
Linguists Warn A Millennia-Old Greek Language Could Soon Disappear
Against all odds, a millennia-old variety of the Greek language has managed to survive into the 21st century. However, researchers are now warning that it could be the last chance to save this “linguistic goldmine” from extinction. Romeyka is spoken by just a few thousand native speakers living in the mountainous villages of northeastern Turkey’s […]
Extremely Rare Pink Handfish Spotted Hanging Out Near 140-Year-Old Tasmanian Shipwreck
To mark the 140th anniversary of the SS Tasman’s sinking in Tasmanian waters, a group of three divers decided to visit the shipwreck. Despite the technical challenges of getting to the boat, the team were pleased to see not only the wreck remains on the sea floor, but also catch a glimpse of a critically […]
What Happens To Fire In Microgravity Environments?
On Earth, flames are shaped by gravity. Hot gases from the flames rise while gravity pulls cooler and denser air downwards to the bottom of the flame, giving it its familiar teardrop shape. In microgravity environments – such as on the International Space Station (ISS) – this cycle does not take place, and the result […]
Cloud Cover And Storms Might Spoil Eclipse Viewing For Many
Eclipse fever is mounting, but it might deflate like a flan in a cupboard for some. The path of totality stretches from the west coast of Mexico all the way to Newfoundland. Millions already live on the path of totality, with many more expected to travel to the relatively thin – at most 200 kilometers […]
300,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools Provide Rare Insight Into Neanderthal Society
A detailed study of the richest haul of Paleolithic wooden tools has provided unmatched insight into the lifestyles of Neanderthals living a little over 300,000 years ago in what is now northern Germany. Hominins have been using stone tools for at least 3 million years, and probably noticed wood could do some useful things about […]
Will Lake Mead Go Back To Normal In 2024?
After the record-breaking summer of revealed dead bodies in 2022, and historically low waters that have seen the Colorado River’s connection with the sea severed, Lake Mead seems to still be suffering the effects of climate change and population growth which has seen its water levels rapidly decrease over the past few years. Lake Mead […]
DNA In Air Could Thwart Criminals Trying To Evade Detection By Cleaning The Scene
We could soon be catching criminals using an entirely different kind of DNA sampling approach that tests for evidence in the air. Forensic-savvy criminals may know to wipe down the scene if they want to get rid of damning DNA evidence – but both the air itself and air conditioner units can still hold incriminating […]
Crack Open A Thunder Egg For A Beautiful Surprise (That You Can’t Eat)
Welcome to the wonderful world of thunder eggs. They might look plain from the outside, but can be cut and polished to reveal a whole range of colors and crystals within, and are popular with the rock collecting community. Thunder eggs, also known as lithophysae, are spherical objects formed in silica-rich volcanic rock, often a […]
Scientists Suggest Wearing Red And Green During The Eclipse – Here Is Why
A lot of cool things are going to happen when the Moon obscures the Sun on Monday. If you are in the path of totality, which extends from Mexico to Canada, this celestial encounter will bring a few minutes of darkness to your day. Your eyes will obviously be on the sky but they will […]
Mouse Embryo With 6 Legs And No Genitals Created By Scientists – But Why?
A six-legged mouse embryo, with extra limbs in place of genitals, has been engineered by scientists. It sounds like sci-fi, we know – but the curious creature, which also has several of its internal organs outside of its body, wasn’t created intentionally. Rather, it was an unprecedented outcome of research that has, in turn, revealed […]
Physicist Claims To Have Worked Out How To Make Any Material Melt
The temperature at which a material melts, subject to pressure, follows a single parabolic equation, one scientist has claimed, providing a surprisingly simple solution to a long-standing problem. If you want to turn a solid to liquid the usual approach is to add heat. However, the temperature at which melting occurs depends not only on […]
