Extinction is becoming a real threat faced by countless creatures across the animal kingdom. Famously, there are an estimated just 10 vaquitas remaining in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Now, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has issued the first-ever extinction alert in its 70-year history, to spur action to help the world’s tiniest and most […]
Hopes Dashed As LK-99 Confirmed Not To Be A Room-Temperature Superconductor
The dream appears to be over. After a few intense weeks of speculation and drama, more and more labs have been able to recreate LK-99, also known as modified lead-apatite. The material was touted as the first-ever room-temperature ambient pressure superconductor, a claim that was met with healthy skepticism and excitement. After all, extraordinary claims […]
Air Pollution And Antibiotic Resistance Are Uniting Against Humanity
Air pollution may make antibiotic resistance worse, according to the first detailed global analysis of the relationship between the problems. Disturbing as it is that two major killers could be reinforcing each other, it also means that we can tackle both at once, if only we can find the will. It’s a strange thing that […]
Why Do You Never Hear About Crop Circles Anymore?
What happened to crop circles? There was a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s when you couldn’t stroll through a sci-fi field without encountering the odd patterns pressed into the crop. From The X-Files and M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs to alarmed media reports from rural spots in North America, the UK, Russia, Japan, and […]
New COVID Variant Eris Sweeps The UK
Eris – a new COVID variant – is emerging in the UK amid a nationwide rise in cases and hospital admissions. First classified as a variant last month, Eris, or EG.5.1, is a subvariant of Omicron and has since been added to the World Health Organization’s “variants under monitoring” list. According to data from the […]
45,000-Year-Old Baby In Neanderthal Cave Belonged To Unknown Human Lineage
Amongst the remains of the Neanderthal inhabitants of a cave in France, researchers have uncovered a hip belonging to a modern human baby. However, after noticing differences between the ancient ilium and that of more recent neonates, the authors of a new study say the infant may represent a previously unknown early lineage of Homo […]
Does Testosterone Inhibit Crying?
There’s a well-worn stereotype that women cry more often than men. It’s not a fantastically helpful stereotype, but it certainly is persistent. And, as it turns out, there could be a biological reason behind it: some research has suggested that higher levels of testosterone could inhibit crying. Crying as a response to strong emotions appears […]
New Material Can Control Waves In A Synthetic “Fourth Dimension”
Scientists have exploited the properties of a material to create an “extra dimension” that allows them to better control waves passing through it. Using the concept of synthetic dimension, scientists have developed a new metamaterial that can better control mechanical surface waves, with very interesting applications. As the name implies, these waves travel along the […]
Landmark Controlled Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough Achieved Again By US
Last December, for the first time, researchers had a controlled nuclear fusion reaction that put out more energy than needed to be started. It has been reported that the National Ignition Facility (NIF) team did it again in a second test on July 30, where they achieved an even higher energy output. The second experiment […]
Now That Everyone’s Heard About Phubbing, It’s Time To Put It To Bed
It’s the topic of the moment. Whether you thought it meant something NSFW (naughty naughty) or whether you just find it maddening, there’s no escaping it: “phubbing” is a definite candidate for Word of the Year (according to the very unofficial IFLScience rankings). But, in case you’ve missed out, let’s take one last voyage of […]
Ridiculously Bright “Kaiju” Star Named Mothra Could Be Clue To Explain Dark Matter
Astronomers have observed a giant star system, probably composed of a pair of stars, that is far too bright for the distance over which we see it. According to a yet-to-be-published paper, the star is being gravitationally lensed by something massive between us and it. However, with no suitably placed galaxies to do the job, […]
Solar Storms Are On The Increase, What Does That Mean For Us?
The Sun goes through a cycle of activity of about 11 years, from being quiet during the solar minimum to a bustling period full of flares, plasma releases, and sunspots during the solar maximum. You might have noticed that there has been an uptick in news stories about solar storms and northern lights over the […]
Megalodon Vs Mosasaurus: Who Would Win In A Fight?
Megalodon vs Mosasaurus, it’s a tough call. This hypothetical conflict takes place below the waves, where the currents of time merge to pit two of nature’s ancient aquatic titans against one another. While these giant prehistoric monstrosities both ruled different epochs in Earth’s history, the question of who would emerge victorious in a fight has […]
Man Develops Never-Before-Seen Bacterial Infection After Feral Cat Bite
As much as we may love them, cats are major reservoirs of zoonotic infections, and their bites and scratches can pose a serious threat to our health. It’s a sad truth that one UK-based man found out the hard way after he was bitten by a stray cat and contracted an extensive soft tissue infection caused […]
The World’s Heaviest Fruit Is Something You Might Not Expect
The confusing world of fruits and vegetables is full of some surprising, and frankly delicious, specimens, from strawberries and tomatoes to asparagus. But which of these fruits could be classed as the world’s biggest? We take a look at some whoppers of the fruit world. A new entrant To start us off, a new whopper […]
“City Killers” And Half-Giraffes: How Many Scary Asteroids Really Go Past Earth Every Year?
Asteroids are chunks of rock left over from the formation of our Solar System. Approximately half a billion asteroids with sizes greater than four metres in diameter orbit the Sun, travelling through our Solar System at speeds up to about 30 kilometres per second – about the same speed as Earth. Asteroids are certainly good […]
X Marks The Unknown In Algebra – But X’s Origins Are A Math Mystery
Even though x is one of the least-used letters in the English alphabet, it appears throughout American culture – from Stan Lee’s X-Men superheroes to “The X-Files” TV series. The letter x often symbolizes something unknown, with an air of mystery that can be appealing – just look at Elon Musk with SpaceX, Tesla’s Model […]
India’s Moon Rover Chandrayaan-3 Has Entered Lunar Orbit
India has crossed a major milestone in the quest to become the fourth nation to make a soft landing on the Moon. Having launched on July 14, the Chandrayaan-3 mission entered lunar orbit on August 5. Touchdown is scheduled to take place on August 23 or 24. The United States, the Soviet Union, and China […]
Revealed By Thaw: The Ancient “Mummies” Of The Mongol Empire
The permafrost of east Eurasian mountains is slowly melting away, helping to reveal the buried bodies of the much-feared Mongol Empire – as well as their unquenchable thirst for yak milk. Research has studied the remains of a cemetery at the so-called Khorig site, located high in the Khovsgol mountains. Dating suggests that the cemetery […]
Would We Still See Ourselves As ‘Human’ If Other Hominin Species Hadn’t Gone Extinct?
READER QUESTION: We now know from evolutionary science that humanity has existed in some form or another for around 2 million years or more. Homo sapiens are comparatively new on the block. There were also many other human species, some which we interbred with. The question is then inevitable – when can we claim personhood […]
