It was mid-October, 1863, when a budding mathematics lecturer from the University of Oxford ventured into London to meet with a publisher. He had just completed what would one day be seen as his magnum opus: a 12-chapter treatise on some of the most controversial topics in modern math. He had named his book Alice’s […]
This Month’s Mars-Mercury Conjunction Will Be The Closest This Year
On January 27, Mercury and Mars will pass a fifth of a degree (12 arcminutes) from each other from Earth’s perspective. That will make both easily visible in the same field of view of a backyard telescope, let alone binoculars. However, you will not only need to be an early riser to see them, but […]
It’s Not Just You, Google Really Has Gotten Worse
A year-long study has found what people have been complaining about on hard-to-find Reddit posts for a while now: Google is getting worse. People have complained online that Google’s search results have taken a dive in quality over the last year or so. The new study called it “a troubling sign that a noticeable number […]
Four New Deep-Sea Octopus Species And One “Skate Park” Discovered Off Costa Rican Coast
Down in the deep ocean off the coast of Costa Rica scientists have discovered, not one, not two, not three, but four new species of deep-sea octopus in a 259-square-kilometer area (100 square miles). These new species live in seamounts in and around hydrothermal springs that were discovered in 2023. These areas contain octopus nurseries […]
New COVID-19 Test Prototype Glows (Literally), With Accurate Results In Just 1 Minute
The routine of taking a rapid COVID-19 test is one that’s become depressingly familiar to many of us in the years since the beginning of the pandemic. Generally, you need to wait with your fingers crossed for about 15 minutes before reading the result, but what if that timeframe could be shortened to just a […]
99942 Apophis: Animation Shows Asteroid’s Nail-Biting Close Approach To Earth In 2029
An animation of an asteroid’s close approach to Earth has attracted a lot of views over the last few days, largely because of just how close it appears. The animation, shared by Facebook page Cosmoknowledge on Sunday, shows asteroid 99942 Apophis’s path, culminating in its closest approach on April 13, 2029. To be clear, there […]
People Are Asking “How Did Humans Survive Without Vaccines?”
Somebody on the Internet has asked a question that comes up from time to time: “How did the human race survive for thousands of years without vaccines?” Well, the answer, as has been explained to the poster in X’s (formerly known as Twitter) community note feature, is that the human race did survive without vaccines […]
Tusk Tells The Tale Of Huge Journey Made By A Woolly Mammoth 14,000 Years Ago
Using little more than a tusk, scientists have pieced together the lifetime travels of a single woolly mammoth that wandered North America more than 14,000 years ago. Starting life in the western Yukon, the mammoth traveled hundreds of kilometers through northwestern Canada before arriving at her final resting place, an early human settlement in present-day […]
Oldest Black Hole Found Gobbling Gas Just 400 Million Years After The Big Bang
Astronomers have estimated the size and activity of a supermassive black hole discovered in one of the most distant galaxies we have ever seen. Because the speed of light is finite, looking farther into the universe is like looking farther back in time. The light from this galaxy comes from just 400 million years after […]
Humans Are Living Longer Than Ever, And The Male-Female Gap Is Shrinking Too
In many countries around the world, people are living longer – but is there a pattern to this? That was the question posed by a team of demographers and it turns out, the answer is yes. Despite some differences in how it reaches this point, life expectancy is increasing, and with it, the longevity gap […]
Tiny Indonesian Color-Changing Fish Turns Black With Anger When Provoked
It’s time to meet The Hulk of the fish world. Well, sort of – one species of medaka fish (Oryzias celebensis), might not have been exposed to lethal levels of gamma radiation, but does change color when they get angry. And you won’t like them when they’re angry. Normally, this species of medaka fish is […]
500,000 People May Have Once Lived On Australia’s Long-Lost Landmass
Once upon a time, half a million people perhaps lived on a vast archipelago that stretched out of Australia’s north coast. Unfortunately, the prehistoric homeland was eventually lost to the ocean waves due to intense sea level rise that hit the globe some 14,000 years ago. Scientists led by Griffith University have recently been studying […]
This Catfish Walks So Weirdly, Scientists Named A New Kind Of Locomotion
Some fish can walk, but the armored catfish goes one step further in wriggling its way across desert environments in search of resources. Wriggling is the wrong word, however, as scientists considered the mode of locomotion to be so unusual as deserving of its own word: reffling. The armored catfish reffles its way across land […]
World First As Stable Qubit For Quantum Computers Achieved At Room Temperature
Researchers have been able to achieve quantum coherence at room temperature – this is the ability of a quantum system to maintain a well-defined state without being affected by external disturbances. This breakthrough is an important step forward in the development of quantum computers. It is easier to work with them if you do not […]
Are Men Naturally Better Navigators Than Women? Study Disproves Old Belief
Men are naturally better navigators than women, right? It’s a pervasive assumption that has become deeply ingrained in Western thinking. But it may not be completely true. According to a new and comprehensive study, there is good reason to doubt that any apparent difference between the wayfinding abilities of males and females is due to […]
Common Sense? There May Not Be Anything Common About It
“Ugh, nobody has any common sense these days!” We’ve probably all said it at one time or another, even though common sense is supposed to be this universal ability to know and understand something. A new study, however, suggests that there’s nothing universal about it at all – our sense of common sense may actually […]
Rumors Of JWST’s Discovery Of Life Are Greatly Exaggerated – Here’s Why
A series of statements attributed to British astronomers and astronauts have sparked speculation the JWST has found evidence for alien life. Those quoted are respected names, but since at least one of them has been misquoted, there’s probably more smoke than fire. Even if something has been found, it’s almost certainly hints of little green […]
Galaxies In The Early Universe Were Shaped Like Pool Noodles And Surfboards
What did the galaxies in the early universe look like? Researchers now think they have a clearer idea, and like many of us in the Northern Hemisphere are battling with freezing temperatures and dreaming of summer. So, in their beach-themed analogy, galaxies at the edge of what we can see are close in shape to […]
Why Are Sunsets And Sunrises Red, When The Sun Is Blue-Green?
Here’s a fun fact to annoy people with; depending on how pedantic you are as a person, you could call the Sun blue-green. In fact, you have NASA’s permission to do so. “So, the sun actually emits energy at all wavelengths from radio to gamma ray. But,” NASA explained ahead of the 2017 eclipse, “it […]
How Worried Should We Be About The New COVID-19 Variant JN.1?
It’s almost four years since COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic. Although the state of emergency has now passed, and vaccines and treatment advances have helped turn the tide, the virus is very much still out there. The latest variant, JN.1, has brought with it some unexpected new symptoms – but how worried should we […]
