It’s amazing just how impactful our behavior can be. Even small acts, like using the taps in our homes, can contribute to significant changes across the planet. This may sound trivial, but over the last 20 years alone, the pumping of groundwater – mostly for drinking – has caused Earth’s rotation to tilt eastwards by […]
A Nuclear “City Under The Ice” Revealed By NASA Scans Over Greenland
While scanning the frozen surface of northwestern Greenland this year, NASA scientists stumbled across a “city under the ice” from the paranoid years of the Cold War. The structure was Camp Century, an abandoned Arctic military research base run by the US between 1959 and 1967 during the Cold War. It was the hub of […]
Mysterious Blue Light Videoed During Avalanche May Be Strange Electromagnetic Phenomenon
An astrophotographer attempting to create a timelapse of trails of stars behind Mount Xiannairi in Sichuan, China, ended up capturing a strange blue light being emitted during an avalanche. Shengyu Li set up the timelapse on October 27, when a block of ice broke free from the mountain and sparked a small avalanche. Avalanches happen […]
Magnetic Tornadoes Are Creating Earth-Sized Haze Ovals Around Jupiter’s Poles
The Great Red Spot is not the only Earth-sized atmospheric disturbance seen on Jupiter. That dramatic storm remains number one for size and power in the Solar System, but ultraviolet (UV) observations from Hubble have now revealed that Earth-size ovals of haze are being stirred up over Jupiter’s polar regions. The culprit is believed to […]
A Gloriously Rare Half-Male, Half-Female Tarantula Was Once Born In Uruguay
The stunning specimen you can see above was the first documented instance of a tarantula with gynandromorphic characteristics: one side of its body is female, while the other is male. The case first came to light in 2014 at a lab at the University of the Republic in Uruguay when a team of bug experts […]
Source Found For Mysterious Repeating Radio Signal – And It’s Still Not Aliens
For the first time, astronomers have found a likely explanation for a type of repeating radio signal first identified two years ago but now found popping up in many places. In a new case, the emissions are coming from the direction of a red dwarf star, believed to be in orbit around a white dwarf, […]
Watch A Tiger Shark Try A Taste Of A Diver’s Phone
Those who dive frequently understand there are risks involved, from checking your equipment to the conditions of the weather and water when you dive. However, few perhaps would consider the risk that a tiger shark might steal your phone. David Finch was diving at Tiger Beach off the west coast of Grand Bahama and was filming […]
Shining A Light On A Superconductor Can Cool It Down
Quantum dots can cool themselves by turning low energy light into higher-energy photons, which are radiated away. The idea, which runs against classical physics, might avoid the need to expend energy to actively reduce temperatures, although the economics are doubtful, even in a world struggling to keep its cool. Every now and then, residents of […]
The Soviet Union Learned Why Flying Tanks Are A Terrible Idea The Hard Way
In our quest to obliterate fellow humans, humans have attempted some pretty whacky and ghoulish ideas, from the pain ray and Greek Fire to firing the corpses of plague victims at the enemy using a catapult. One suitably stupid (and short-lived) invention was the flying tank, dreamed up by the Soviet Union during World War […]
Lucy’s Legacy: 50 Years On, The Fossil That Changed Our Understanding Of Human Evolution
It was already pretty hot by the time Donald Johanson and his graduate student, Tom Gray, arrived at the site at Hadar, Ethiopia, on the morning of November 24, 1974. The two had initially set out to map the location but decided to have a look around for any signs of fossils while they were […]
If The Visible Universe Is 13.7 Billion Years Old, How Is It 93 Billion Light-Years Across?
Our cosmos is 13.7 billion years old and it all started with the Big Bang. When we look for really distant objects, we can’t really see the Big Bang because the universe was so hot and dense that light was not free to move. The farthest we can see is light 400,000 years younger than […]
Meet Spirit Bears: Like A Black Bear, But The Rarer, Fluffy Marshmallow Version
Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest is home to an abundance of amazing wildlife, but there’s one group of animals that’s particularly special. They’re big, fluffy, and deliciously cream-colored – it’s the spirit bears. A rare black bear variant Found primarily in the aforementioned Great Bear Rainforest on Canada’s north and central coast, spirit bears – also […]
Vegetarians Vs Meat-Eaters: Who Consumes More Ultra-Processed Food?
With increasingly more people opting for plant-based diets – whether it’s for health, environmental, or ethical concerns – a new study has highlighted that switching to vegetarianism may entail an undesirable side effect: eating more ultra-processed foods. In a new study, scientists looked at the consumption of ultra-processed food, plus “minimally processed food” across nearly […]
The Only Known Natural Nuclear Reactor On Earth Is 2 Billion Years Old
Long before humans began creating nuclear reactors to fulfill our ridiculous energy needs, back when the Earth was dominated by microbes, in fact, nature beat us to it and built the first nuclear reactor on Earth. In May 1972, a physicist at a nuclear processing plant in Pierrelatte, France, was conducting analysis on uranium samples […]
Carbon Capture Directly From Air May Not Be The Anti-Emissions Hero We’d Hoped
Most governments around the world, especially those of high-income countries, are failing to achieve the target of the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 by 195 countries and the European Union. As carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase, for many the solution is to develop technologies to simply remove this greenhouse gas from the air. A […]
Please Don’t Wash Your Raw Turkey This Thanksgiving
As Thanksgiving rolls around once again, so too does an increased chance of spending the following days sitting on the toilet, fighting for your life. Not just from eating too much of your grandma’s delightfully creamy mashed potatoes (curse you, lactose intolerance), but from some pretty dodgy food handling – including the big no-no that […]
Pluto Will Complete Its First Full Orbit Since Its Discovery On Monday, March 23, 2178
Of the five dwarf planets in the Solar System – including Eris, Ceres, Makemake, and Haumea – Pluto is easily the best-known due to its brief categorization as a regular planet. Long before it could even make one turn around the Sun, it was demoted again. A surprising number of astronomical bodies have been discovered […]
Japanese Squirrels Are Chowing Down On Deer Bones – But It’s Much Cuter Than You’d Think
When you think of a squirrel, your mind is probably more drawn to images of cute little woodland creatures, or even a critter burying acorns in the park. However, for researchers in Japan the tale gets a little more grisly, as they observed a squirrel chowing down on a bone. Japanese squirrels (Sciurus lis) are […]
Why Your Frozen Food Is Getting “Freezer Burn”, And What You Can Do About It
If you own a freezer, it’s likely you’ve at some point had to contend with freezer burn. That package of meat or bag of leftovers you tucked away safely for another day has come out looking a funny color and covered in ice. Is it still safe to eat, and how can you stop this […]
Just One Country On Earth Sits Entirely Above An Altitude Of 1,000 Meters
There’s only one country in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) in elevation: Lesotho. Known as the “The Kingdom in the Sky,” for obvious reasons, the entire territory of the landlocked kingdom in Southern Africa sits above 1,400 meters (4,593 feet). In other words, the entire territory of Lesotho is at […]
