There’s something strange happening in the world of fungi – rather than solely dining upon the dead, bonnet mushrooms have now been found to invade living plants. Bonnet mushrooms, also known by their genus name Mycena, have long been thought to be saprotrophic organisms, living exclusively off nonliving organic matter, like dead trees. However, when […]
The Deadly Reason Some Old Glass Bottles Are Textured
A distinctive, unusually shaped, or intricately textured glass bottle can be an interesting collector’s item or decoration – but for those in the past, these aesthetically pleasing vessels were made for a life-saving reason. It can’t have been easy staying alive in the Victorian era, from arsenic-tinged wallpaper and books and sweets to… unusual methods […]
How A Piece Of The Moon Became Earth’s Quasi-Satellite Kamo’oalewa
A scenario has been identified that explains how the near-Earth asteroid Kamo’oalewa could have been knocked off the Moon and become what is known as a quasi-satellite. In the last two decades, astronomers have discovered the Earth is accompanied through space not only by the Moon and the items we have put into orbit, but […]
Do You Really Need To Put Soy Sauce In The Refrigerator?
As a super-salty fermented food, soy sauce can be safely stored at room temperature for several months, perhaps even more. However, there are a few scenarios where it could be a good idea to put this keystone condiment in the refrigerator. Soy sauce is made by fermenting steamed soybeans and roasted wheat grain with specific […]
Mighty 13-Meter Titanoboa Was The Largest Snake Ever To Slither The Earth
Few animals really deserve the hype they get for being truly massive. While the Fat Bear Week winner has managed to pile on the pounds it has nothing on the absolutely enormous creatures that once roamed the Earth. And though dinosaurs often get all the credit, another giant reptile is worth mentioning: meet Titanoboa. While […]
Bird Flu Hits Antarctic Region For First Time Ever
Bird flu has been detected on Bird Island, South Georgia, marking the first time the disease has ever been found in the Antarctic region, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) confirmed Monday. Following reports of unexplained deaths among brown skua on the island, BAS staff sent samples to the UK for testing. Unfortunately, they returned positive […]
Peculiar New 3D Shapes Roll Exactly Where You Want Them To Go
Imagine dice that would always move as you intended. Not just roll into the right number – that’s just a loaded die – but move following a precise pre-determined path. Well, you don’t have to imagine it any longer. Researchers have created trajectoids – wonky 3D shapes that are designed to go forth in a […]
New Liquid-Like Surface Is The Slipperiest In The World
Whether water sticks to a surface or not depends on multiple factors, and friction is a pretty important one. If the chemical composition of a surface is uniform, the expectation is that water will flow away pretty fast. A more complex surface should be doing that less well. New research revealed that the situation is […]
“Life On Our Planet Is Clearly Under Siege,” Says New World Scientists’ Climate Report
The findings of the 2023 State of the Climate report are in – and they are just as damning as you’d imagine. According to the study, 20 of 35 planetary vital signs used to track climate change are at record extremes. These vital signs include things like carbon dioxide concentrations in our atmosphere, tree loss […]
Gravitational Wave Observatory Reaches Beyond The Quantum Limit
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) has surpassed its previous level of precision, finding a way to get around the quantum limit – the universe-intrinsic noise that used to restrict how precisely gravitational waves could be measured. The observatory uses lasers to spot variations in space-time that are 1/1,000th the width of a single proton, […]
14-Year-Old Wins “America’s Top Young Scientist” Award For Cancer-Treating Soap
A 14-year-old student from Annandale, Virginia, has won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge for his entry; a bar of soap designed to treat skin cancer. Heman Bekele, a 9th grader at W.T. Woodson High School in Annandale, competed against nine other finalists for the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist” over the past four months. […]
There May Be A Very Simple Explanation To The Fermi Paradox
If you haven’t heard of the Fermi Paradox, it goes something like this: given the vastness of the universe and the probability that implies of life evolving elsewhere, how come no alien civilization has ever gotten in touch? We have found many exoplanets in the brief time we’ve been looking. Surely there must be someone […]
What’s The Risk A Kilonova Will Kill You?
The mergers of binary neutron stars produce elements probably essential for life, but they also pose a threat to nearby inhabited planets. New research attempts to find out just how far away you need to be to enjoy the show while avoiding the damage. The universe is a hazardous place. We’re now quite familiar with […]
Non-Linear Sounds: There’s A Science To Scary Noises
It’s spooky season and the allure of horror movies has many of us cowering behind pillows, but have you ever noticed how some sounds seem to scare us way more than others? According to Jodi Sasaki-Miraglia, AuD (Doctor of Audiology) and Director of Professional Education Programs for Widex USA, there’s a science to the art […]
Archax: Japanese Engineers Make Transformer Robot That Actually Works
A Japanese company has finally created the futuristic technology we’ve been waiting for. No, not a warp drive or a way of converting seawater into drinking water in an energy-efficient manner: a robot that transforms into a car. Tsubame Industries is taking five preorders on its new robot “Archax”, at the reasonable price of 400 […]
Meet Denny, The Only Human Hybrid Remains Ever Unearthed
The bones of “Denny” are the only known physical remains of a first-generation human hybrid, born as a result of a Neanderthal breeding with a Denisovan. As exceptional as her remains might be, a deep dive into the genome of modern-day Homo sapiens shows there were once plenty more hominin hybrid individuals around. The finger […]
100-Year Floods May Be Looming If We Don’t Change Our Ways
Severe coastal flooding might seem like a rare occurrence, but according to a new study, it might not stay that way; rising sea levels could see coastal communities hit by once-in-a-century level flooding on a yearly basis. Although “100-year” flood is something of a misnomer – they can affect the same area multiple times in […]
Mummified Mice Found Atop Mountain Survived “Mars-Like” Conditions Thought Beyond Mammals
Mummified mice have been found on mountain tops in the Andes 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) above sea level. Although only one living rodent has been found under the same conditions, it is hard to explain the murine bodies other than that the mouse has mastered conditions thought to be beyond any mammals. The tops of […]
Sperm Caught Breaking The Law – Newton’s Third Law Of Motion, That Is
The laws of physics have been broken (or appear to have been broken) by all manner of things, from balancing rocks to Seinfeld’s apartment, and now, by human sperm. The latest law-breakers defy Newton’s third law of motion, distorting their bodies as they swim in a way that elicits no response from their surroundings. Newton‘s […]
Ancient Aboriginal People Knew Dingoes Were Good Doggos And Buried Them Like Humans
Indigenous people in Australia may have domesticated dingoes thousands of years ago, with new evidence indicating that the dogs were given human-like burials by ancient communities. These findings may help to shift the long-standing impasse in the debate over whether dingoes are a truly wild species or just a domestic dog lineage that has become […]
