Two phase 3 trials of an Alzheimer’s drug have failed to demonstrate significant improvements in cognitive function, throwing doubt on one of the leading theories as to the cause of the neurodegenerative disease. The so-called “amyloid hypothesis” proposes that build-up of a protein called amyloid-beta is responsible for the neuronal death and degeneration that is […]
Men Report Pain As Less Strong When It’s Being Inflicted By A Woman
Gender has a curious effect on pain perception, according to new research from Lund University in Sweden. In one study, it was discovered that male participants needed stronger pain stimulation to reach a required threshold when the scientist inflicting the pain was female. In another, male patients recovering from surgery tended to report less pain […]
Genghis Khan Killed Enough People To Cool The Planet
Few people have shaped the global population to the same extent as Genghis Khan – a man whose armies killed as many people as his genitals later replaced. In amongst all the slaughtering and siring, however, the legendary warrior-ruler may also have inadvertently sequestered huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, possibly even cooling […]
The Fastest Plants On Earth: Speedy Growers, Exploding Mosses, And Underwater Carnivores
A fast-moving plant might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but the reality is that our planet’s greenery is far from static. Come with us to discover rapid growers, spore-spreading explosions, and snappy aquatic predators – it’s time to meet the fastest plants on Earth. Growth Traditionally, bamboo has been thought of as the […]
Magicians Challenge Common Belief About Creativity And Mental Health
We have all probably heard stories about creative individuals who are brilliant in their field but otherwise haunted by deep inner torment. The late comedian Robin Williams and the iconic painter Vincent Van Gogh are probably among the more recognizable examples. But Is creativity always associated with higher levels of psychopathology? Well, new research has […]
Next Month An Asteroid Will Hide Betelgeuse And Might Reveal Its Secrets
If you live in a long but narrow part of the world, you have an opportunity next month to contribute to a global project exploring one of the most famous and enigmatic stars. That’s because on December 12, on a path running almost half the way around the planet, the asteroid 319 Leona will pass […]
The Doomsday Clock Warns The World About Catastrophe – Here’s Why It Stands At 90 Seconds To Midnight
The Doomsday Clock, with its hands hovering close to midnight (“doomsday”), is a symbolic device that is designed to warn the world how close it is to catastrophe. Midnight is said to represent the point at which the Earth becomes uninhabitable by humanity. The clock dates back to the early days of the cold war. […]
Did This Chemical Reaction Create The Building Blocks Of Life On Earth?
How did life begin? How did chemical reactions on the early Earth create complex, self-replicating structures that developed into living things as we know them? According to one school of thought, before the current era of DNA-based life, there was a kind of molecule called RNA (or ribonucleic acid). RNA – which is still a […]
3,000-Year-Old Funerary Stone Suggests Prehistoric Social Gender Roles Were More Fluid Than Thought
A team of archaeologists working in southwest Spain have discovered a Bronze/Iron Age funerary stone with intricate carvings that challenges a long-standing interpretation of gender representation and social roles in prehistoric ages. The discovery has the team pretty excited, and the results are likely going to shake things up quite a bit. The excavation is […]
The Closest Planet To Neptune Turns Out To Be Mercury
If you’re anything like us you’ve probably had the order of the planets in the Solar System memorized since school, with the older amongst you cursed to put Pluto in there despite it being downgraded a whole 17 years ago. So, which is the closest planet to Earth? Well if you said Venus – according to […]
Unveiling History: What’s The Oldest Surviving City In The World?
There are dozens of cities across the world that have been lived in by humans for thousands upon thousands of years. However, when it comes to pinpointing the oldest continuously inhabited city, there is no straightforward answer. The conundrum is a bit like the Ship of Theseus thought experiment: if a city is knocked down, […]
Listen To The Angry Grumbling Of Iceland’s Intense Seismic Activity
Iceland’s geology is particularly moody at the moment. As Fagradalsfjall volcano gears up for its impending eruption, hundreds of earthquakes are rocking the island’s Reykjanes Peninsula each day. Thanks to Northwestern University’s Earthtunes app, it’s possible to hear the creaking and clattering of deep seismic forces currently working beneath the island. The latest collection of […]
Bumblebees Are Unable To Taste Pesticides, Even At Lethal Levels
Bumblebees play one of the most important roles on the planet, pollinating many of our agricultural crops. Plus, they can be very cute. Sadly though, our favorite flying fluffballs are also under threat whilst they work; a new study has discovered that bumblebees are unable to detect even lethal concentrations of pesticides in nectar, putting […]
Nobody Does Warfare Quite Like A Mongoose
The term “warfare” is scary at the best of times and whether it’s applied to humans or animals it’s usually implied that nothing good is going to happen as a result. However, there is one species that actually depends on the acts of warfare for its very survival. Meet the mongoose. More specifically two species […]
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is The Smallest We’ve Ever Seen It
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the Solar System’s most infamous storm, is the smallest it has been in observational history. The reasons behind its shrinking fortunes are not fully understood, but it’s been suggested this gargantuan pool of storm clouds isn’t going anywhere soon. The Great Red Spot is a giant swirling storm in Jupiter’s southern […]
SpaceX’s Starship Cleared For Epic Launch Tomorrow – Here’s How To Watch
SpaceX has officially got its license to attempt a second launch for its megarocket Starship tomorrow. Starship, the transport system that will take Artemis astronauts to the Moon, launched for the first time back in April but suffered several problems shortly after liftoff, resulting in SpaceX intentionally blowing the rocket up. If it fails again, […]
The World’s Biggest Seed Also Looks Pretty Suggestive
Seeds are superheroes – they can grow into our forests and crops, get extracted for oil, and be used in pharmaceuticals. In fact, they’re so important that there’s even a “doomsday” seed vault. But when it comes to the seed of the coco de mer, the biggest seed in the world, things get a little […]
Ancient Egyptian Tomb Reveals Mummy With A Snake Obsession
In Ancient Egypt, life was precarious. Without modern science or medicine – or at least, few methods you’d want to try out – people invariably turned to magic for protection against the dangers of the world. And, according to a recent find by archeologists from the Czech Institute of Egyptology (CIE) at Charles University in […]
What It Looks Like To Fall Into Uranus (Or Neptune)
Although Uranus and Neptune are full of gas, their compositions have important differences from Jupiter and Saturn, while being quite similar to each other. Planetary scientists are keen to send a spacecraft to at least one of them, but the funding is uncertain, and it will take many years to get there even if approved. In […]
Gold Mining Likely To Blame For Toxic Mercury Levels In Tropical Birds
The tropical regions of our planet are home to a plethora of colorful and unusual bird species, but our vibrant friends may be in danger. A new study has uncovered some of the highest-ever concentrations of mercury found in tropical birds. The source? Gold mining. Until now, little was known about mercury pollution in the […]
