Kingo, one of the world’s most beloved lowland gorillas who inspired three decades of conservation, has sadly passed away at the grand old (estimated) age of 45. His body was found in Djéké Triangle Forest, Republic of Congo, on December 26, 2023, and his death is believed to be related to his advanced age. The […]
The AI Winter Is Coming In 2024, A Top Scientist Predicts
2023 was the year when the hype around artificial intelligence (AI) went into hyperdrive. Following its release in late 2022, ChatGPT-3 made AI technology accessible and genuinely useful to the general public, prompting the development of numerous other Large Language Models (LLM) by some of Silicon Valley’s mightiest giants. AI was the word on everyone’s […]
Dark Energy May Be Getting Diluted As The Universe Expands
For a quarter of a century, we have known that the universe is experiencing an accelerated expansion. We call the culprit dark energy, but we are yet to know its true nature. In the current best model, dark energy is a cosmological constant – its value at every point in space and time is always […]
Supersonic Flight Without Sonic Booms: Watch NASA Reveal Its New X-59 Plane This Week
For the first time, NASA is about to publicly unveil the X-59, an experimental aircraft that’s designed to pull off a remarkable engineering feat: supersonic flight without a sonic boom. The game-changing plane will be rolling out of its Californian hangar on Friday, January 12. NASA is calling this moment a “historic milestone in aviation […]
Here’s Why You Should (Almost) Never Use A Pie Chart For Your Data
Our lives are becoming increasingly data driven. Our phones monitor our time and internet usage and online surveys discern our opinions and likes. These data harvests are used for telling us how well we’ve slept or what we might like to buy. Numbers are becoming more important for everyday life, yet people’s numerical skills are […]
If You Fell From A Skyscraper On The Moon Would You Get Hurt?
As a science website, it’s easy to get bogged down in questions like “is there life on Enceladus” and “where are all the aliens“, when people are struggling with more basic (but fun!) questions like “why can’t we power our cars with magnets” and “could people breathe the air on Mars“. One fun question we […]
We May Finally Know What’s Causing The Universe’s “Odd Radio Circles”
So-called Odd Radio Circles (ORCs) are the products of vast outflows of gas from galaxies generating stars at a phenomenal rate. A team of astronomers have concluded supernovae within those galaxies are pumping out enormous winds, with the ORCs as the end product. That might have been the explanation all along, had it not been […]
35 New Species Of Bacteria Found Lurking In Human Samples
More than 30 new-to-science species of bacteria have been discovered in patient samples at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. Some of these are clinically relevant, and so could open up new avenues of research for those seeking to better understand, or find treatments for, the associated infections. The findings also highlight just how many pathogens are […]
Eugene Shoemaker Is The Only Human To Be Buried On The Moon
Despite controversy, human remains are on their way to the Moon today, after Space burial firm Celestis, which promises to launch the remains of loved ones into space, purchased space on board private firm Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. The mission has been criticized by the Navajo Nation (amongst others) for ignoring the sacred position the […]
Are Cold Sores Genetic?
We’re sorry to inform you that you probably have herpes. The good news, should you choose to view it that way, is that you’re in good company. Well over 3 billion people around the world are thought to be carriers of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), which means that a decent proportion of them […]
City Sends First Interstellar Laser-Beamed Tourism Campaign To Attract Alien Visitors
The city of Lexington, Kentucky has sent a message via laser to the TRAPPIST-1 system, officially in the hope of attracting tourists from one of the many Earth-like planets there. Some may suspect the real agenda is to attract visitors from closer to home, but we’ll let you be the judge of that. There’s plenty […]
Long-COVID Can Destroy Your Ability To Exercise – Now We Know How
Long COVID is perhaps most famous for the “brain fog” it can cause in those who have it, but that’s far from the only symptom. The physical symptoms can be equally debilitating, including long-lasting and extreme fatigue, especially after exercise – and thanks to a new study out of Amsterdam, now we know what causes […]
Obscure Psychoactive Drug Incredibly Effective At Treating PTSD In Military Vets, Study Suggests
For years now, the potential benefits of psychoactive drugs have been slowly moving from “hippie nonsense” to “science-backed research.” From magic mushrooms to psychedelic toad milk, it seems ever clearer that tripping balls can actually be a pretty effective treatment for certain mental illnesses – including, suggests a small new study out of Stanford University, […]
The Most Dangerous Asteroid That Never Was
When it comes to protecting ourselves from asteroids, we remain poorly prepared. Big leaps have been made – we know where the planet-killing asteroids are and even how to deflect them thanks to DART. We have expanded the number of known objects a lot but there are too many that are discovered too late, in […]
What Actually Is Catnip And Is It Safe For My Cat?
There are many valid theories to explain the global appeal of cats, including our obsession with watching videos of them online. In terms of cats’ pure entertainment value, however, our fascinations are probably attributable to their seemingly endless repertoire of bizarre behaviours. From being able to “trap” your cat by simply drawing a square around […]
Google Keeps Its Crown As The Internet’s Most Popular Website
Despite being knocked off the top spot by TikTok back in late 2021, Google soon reclaimed its title as the most popular domain on the internet, and if the past is anything to go by, it doesn’t seem set to give it up anytime soon. According to Cloudfare Radar’s popularity rankings, Google and its offshoots […]
Newly-Identified Mechanism Could Be Used To Treat Fatty Liver Disease
One of the risks that come with aging and obesity is the development of metabolic diseases, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Figuring out the intricacies of this process and how it could be stopped is far from an easy task, but researchers now believe they may have found the answers in a protein called ZAK-alpha. […]
How Much Fruit Can You Remove From A Display Before It Collapses?
We’re faced with an all-too-familiar stress when it comes to grocery shopping. No, we’re not talking about entering a Walmart in the week before Thanksgiving – it’s those carefully constructed sloping towers of fruit. Picking up a few apples on the way home suddenly becomes an intense and very public game of produce-themed Jenga. But […]
Eight People Attempted To Live In A Biosphere For Two Years – Then It All Went Terribly Wrong
If we’re ever to survive on other planets, we’re going to need to come up with effective and sustainable ways of not becoming dead. This means growing food, having water and oxygen, and all the other stuff we have on Earth that prevents us from being a corpse. Short of terraforming a whole planet, we’re […]
People Claim They Spotted Aliens At A Miami Strip Mall, And There’s Obviously An Explanation
Over more than a century of aliens in cinema, we’ve seen Earth’s first encounter with extraterrestrials imagined in a myriad of ways. Would humanity be forced into an intergalactic war, like in Independence Day? Would it happen after a watershed technological advance, like in Star Trek: First Contact? Or would it be more like… you […]
