It must be tough being a kid these days. Born too late to actually enjoy the internet, too early to declare yourself god-emperor of a desert wasteland run on water scarcity and guzzoline – and should you try to numb the pain with a little light math, you’ll most likely have to put up with […]
Loma Linda Blue Zone: Why Do People There Live So Much Longer?
There’s a city in California where a community of people are living longer, healthier lives than the US average. Known as Loma Linda, it was recognized as one of five shining examples of longevity across the globe, so what are they getting so right? In You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment, the Netflix […]
How Many Human Species Have Walked Earth? More Than You May Think
On top of Homo sapiens, at least eight other species of our genus have walked Earth: Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, Homo erectus, Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo naledi, Homo floresiensis, and Homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthals). Plus, it’s likely in the future there will be more that are recognized or unrecognized. That’s not even mentioning Denisovans, which may be a […]
8-Year-Old’s Math Project Goes Viral With 30,000 Responses To “Why Australian Magpies Swoop”
An eight-year-old has broken new ground in two questions most Australians have pondered at some time: why do magpies swoop, and how do they pick their targets? What started out as a modest school project went viral and received tens of thousands of responses. While some of the survey’s associated questions might not be what […]
Moon Rocks Covered In Curious Dust Discovered In Gamma Swirl Region
Planetary scientists studying lunar rocks might have discovered some boulders behaving oddly. While studying some cracked boulders, they noticed that some were different from others. They believe some boulders are attracting only certain types of lunar dust, potentially due to magnetic properties. Dust on Earth is certainly not pleasant, but it is certainly better than […]
Turns Out, Male Dominance In Primate Groups is Not The Default After All
It has long been presumed that primate societies were predominantly run by males. With the exception of lemur society, which was thought to be an outlier, most primates, including gorillas, chimps, and monkeys were believed to be largely male-dominated. Now, a literature review of 79 primate species is challenging that long-held assumption, suggesting that things […]
Oddball Quasicrystals Dramatically Change Their Magnetic Properties With Changing Electrons
Quasicrystals are very interesting entities. They have ordered structures but they do not repeat, so they are – as the name suggests – almost like crystals, but not exactly. This difference is certainly not a disadvantage, since quasicrystals often showcase properties your common-or-garden material could only dream of. And this is the case for a […]
New Maps Show 75 Percent Of US May Be Impacted By Earthquakes In Next Century
Nearly 75 percent of the US – an area that’s home to hundreds of millions of Americans – is at risk of experiencing earthquake damage over the next 100 years. That’s according to new maps and data released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The areas at the highest risk are California, Alaska, and […]
Japan Becomes Fifth Country To Land On The Moon Successfully
Today, January 19, at 3:20 pm UTC, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has made history – not just for Japan, but for the whole world. Its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) successfully soft-landed on the Moon. The goal was to be able to do so within just 100 meters (330 feet) of a […]
World’s Largest Deep-Sea Coral Reef Habitat Discovered Off The US Coast
Some discoveries are more impressive than others and finding the largest deep-sea coral reef habitat in the world is pretty damn impressive. The team at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has discovered an area larger than the state of Vermont that contains a whole seascape of cold-water coral mounds that had, until now, remained […]
The Beautiful Winners Of This Year’s “Ocean Art” Photo Awards Have Arrived
The Underwater Photography Guide has revealed the winners of their 12th annual Ocean Art competition, showcasing some of the finest underwater photography you’ll see this year. The Ocean Art 2023 competition featured 14 different categories, ranging from Portrait and Marine Life Behavior to Underwater Conservation and Black & White. They even have a category dedicated […]
10,000-Year-Old Chewing Gum Reveals Stone Age Diet And Poor Oral Health
Ten millennia ago, a bunch of teenagers in what is now Sweden chewed up and spat out pieces of birch resin, in much the same way that modern kids might stick their used gum to the underside of a school desk. Little did these ancient adolescents know, however, that their discarded chewings would one day […]
Skeleton Of “Spanish Monk” Turns Out To Be An Aztec Woman
New research has revealed a grave historical error at Palacio de Cortés in Mexico. It was long assumed that a skeleton on display at the palace was that of a Spanish monk – but a new analysis has shown that it actually likely belonged to an Aztec woman. Palacio de Cortés in the city of […]
Why Some Memories Are So Hard To Forget (And Why That Can Be A Problem)
Some memories are best forgotten. Granted, this observation is unlikely to make you feel better if you’re running late for work because you can’t remember where you put your keys… but when we’re talking about memories associated with addictive substances, the possible issues around this become clearer. A new study has uncovered the mechanism that […]
Mars Astronauts Will Experience Time Dilation, How Worried We Should Be About The New COVID-19 Variant, And Much More This Week
This week, water flows freely down the Klamath River for the first time in 100 years, the oldest known supermassive black hole was found at the center of GN-z11, and a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth tusk tells the tale of the animal’s huge journey. Finally, we ask what will be happening on the surface of the […]
Snakes Revealed As “Lungers” Or “Strikers” In Mesmerizing Slow Motion Footage
Snake fangs get a lot of attention, from their use in creating anti-venom to figuring out how they evolved. One area of research has now gone beyond just the fangs, looking at the way that all of the teeth and their morphology are related to the whole of the snake as it moves in response […]
One Twin Had Regular Botox, The Other Didn’t. This Is What Happened.
Call it Botox, Dysport, or Jeuveau – there’s no denying that injections with botulinum toxin A are popular. In fact, over 8.7 million cosmetic procedures were carried out with them in the US in 2022. But does their regular, long-term use make any real difference to the faces of those who receive them? A case […]
Clouds Can Weigh Incredible Amounts, So How Do They Stay In The Sky?
If you are someone who has a child, plays some other role in a child’s life, or are simply near one at a bus stop, at some point you are going to be asked how clouds stay in the sky by a toddler. Science lessons from your youth fade pretty quickly, we get it. There’s […]
Colossus: Never-Before-Seen Photos Show The Computer That Helped Win WW2
This is the computer that helped secure the Allied victory in the Second World War and sent the Third Reich to the trash can of history. GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence agency, has unveiled never-before-seen images of the code-cracking computers that played a crucial role in the Second World War. They’ve been released to mark the […]
Is Honey Bee Vomit?
Honey is enjoyed by humans and animals alike the world over, but if stories about it being delicious bee barf have put you off your breakfast, you can rest assured it’s not vomit – but it’s also not much better. There are around 20,000 species of bees in the world and, of these, less than […]
