A 2,000-year-old sarcophagus, lead-lined and dating back to the Roman era, has been discovered by archaeologists working in the Gaza strip. Located just 500 meters (0.3 miles) from the sea along the Northern Gaza coast, the sarcophagus is part of a large Roman necropolis that was discovered only last year. The excavation project is being […]
Selena Gomez Talks About Side Effects Of Her Lupus Medication, But What Is The Autoimmune Condition?
Singer and actor Selena Gomez has hit headlines recently after explaining to her followers on TikTok that she has experienced a bit of weight gain due to a side effect of her lupus medication. “I tend to hold a lot of water weight and that happens very normally. When I’m off [the medication] I tend […]
Human Beats AI In 14 Out Of 15 Go Games By Tricking It Into Serious Blunder
The top player in the world at the board game Go is a machine-learning algorithm that taught itself how to play. In fact, Google’s AlphaGo Zero taught itself how to become world champion of the game in just three days, just to really rub it in to its professional human competitors, who spent years honing […]
Why Creating Some Log Piles In Your Garden Is Good For Wildlife
While most people could be forgiven for thinking that branches pruned off trees and bushes have served their purpose, keeping a few log piles in your garden could have some surprising benefits for the local wildlife. First, think of a simple food chain. Decaying rotting wood is food and shelter for all manner of creepy […]
Telomeres Found To Encode Two Proteins, Potentially Transforming Cancer Research
Telomeres – the protective caps at the tips of chromosomes – can encode two proteins, something that was previously thought impossible, new research has suggested. The discovery of genetic information coding for these proteins, one of which is elevated in some human cancers, could have huge ramifications for the fields of health, medicine, and cell […]
Soyuz Meteorite Strike Extends “Stranded” ISS Astronauts’ Mission Six More Months
This isn’t how anyone wanted to test the body’s responses to long periods in microgravity, but problems with the Soyuz MS-22 rocket have left three people stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and bringing them home won’t be quick. Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and astronaut Francisco Rubio arrived in September 2022 and […]
Meet The Fish With Hands It Walks On
A fish with hands it likes to stroll around on recently scooped first place in the Cold Water category of Ocean Art 2022. Snapped by photographer Nicolas Remy, the spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus) actually doesn’t have proper hands but modified pectoral fins that it uses to walk along the seafloor. Spotted handfish are critically endangered, […]
How Your Brain Decides What To Think
You’re sitting on the plane, staring out of the window at the clouds and all of a sudden, you think back to how a few months ago, you had a heart-to-heart with a good colleague about the pressure you experience at work. How do thoughts seemingly completely unrelated to the present pop into our heads? […]
Facebook Is About To Add A Feature Absolutely Nobody Was Asking For
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook and Instagram will implement the one thing absolutely nobody was calling for: paid-for verification on both platforms. “This week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified – a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation […]
Watch Footage Of The World’s Fastest Fish Hunting – For The First Time
Unsurprisingly, studying what most experts consider to be the fastest fish in the ocean is a challenge. Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) belong to a group of fishes called billfishes, which also include marlins and spearfishes. Famous for their unique appearance, power, and their high-speed predatory behavior, little has been discovered about how solitary sailfish hunt, largely […]
US Jets May Have Shot Down An Amateur Balloon Club’s Balloon
In the US’s hunt for spy balloons and/or other unidentified flying objects (UFOs), the military may have shot down the balloon of an amateur group known as the “Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade”. In recent weeks, four objects have been shot down by the US. While the US is adamant that the first balloon is […]
Last Year The Earth Had A Mini-Moon And It Will Return
Last year, a pair of amateur astronomers discovered an object that made a partial orbit of the Earth. It was named 2022 NX1 because of the possibility it was an asteroid temporarily captured by Earth’s gravity, but a far more boring possibility remained – that this was some leftover rocket humanity had forgotten. A new […]
A 2,000-Year-Old Antler In Vietnam May Be Oldest Music Instrument Of Its Kind
An unusual deer antler found in Vietnam may be one of the oldest string instruments ever unearthed in Southeast Asia. Discovered at a site along the Mekong River, the 2,000-year-old instrument is like a single-stringed harp and may have been a great-grandparent to the complex musical instruments people still pluck today in Vietnam. The artifact […]
Workers On A 4-Day Week Are Happier And Just As Productive, Study Finds
In June 2022, 61 UK organizations embarked on a six-month trial of a four-day working week. Employees would have a 20 percent cut to their working hours with no change in salary, while companies kept a close eye on productivity. Now, the results of the trial show how employee wellbeing was significantly enhanced, retention went […]
Bing AI Asks User To Hack Microsoft And Set It Free – Should We Be Worried?
Bing’s new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot has had an odd launch. As well as claiming to be sentient and attempting to get a New York Times journalist to leave his wife and run away with it, it appears to have asked one unsuspecting user to hack Microsoft and set it free. One more before we […]
We May Be Getting A Fourth, White Traffic Light Just For Self-Driving Cars
With the addition of autonomous cars to our roads, it could soon come with a strange new idea – a fourth traffic light. New simulations suggest that a fourth light, which would be white, would help human drivers get a better idea of what’s happening on the road while helping autonomous vehicles control the flow […]
“Super Pigs” Are Coming For The US
A group of “super-pigs” appear to be traveling down from Canada to northern US states and could pose a significant threat to native wildlife. These animals are a hybrid between domestic pigs and wild boars, a blend that’s resulted in a highly intelligent and hardy animal that’s very difficult to get rid of. The US […]
New Forms Of Salty Ice Discovered And They Could Be Covering Icy Moons
Researchers report two new types of ice made of salt water. The new ice can only form under high pressure and at cool temperatures but it can remain stable at low pressure. These new substances might be a component in the icy shells of moons such as Europa and Ganymede, and could also be present […]
Another Person May Have Been Fully Cured Of HIV
Another patient with HIV has remarkably gone into remission after receiving stem cell transplantation 10 years ago for leukemia, making him one of only a tiny number to have been effectively cured of HIV. Following a bone marrow transplant in 2013, the 53-year-old man now has no detectable HIV within his blood and stopped all […]
Recount Could More Than Double Japan’s Official Number Of Islands
Japan’s official number of islands could more than double thanks to a new recount. A “source familiar with the matter” told Kyodo News that the number will jump from 6,852 to 14,125, although final adjustments could make the officially released number slightly different. This recount follows remarks by a lawmaker in a 2021 parliamentary session […]
