In 2002, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge’s industrial labs was given the chance to play with a new Xerox color photocopier. As a PhD student, he naturally chose to photocopy money. But when he did so, he discovered something odd. Instead of a fresh pile of notes printed on paper which would […]
Blocking “Jumping Genes” Could Be The Key To Increasing Lifespan
There are a multitude of ways we’re told that could help us to live longer – exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, minimize stress. A new study in roundworms has instead taken a more molecular approach and found that controlling “jumping genes” could be the key to extending lifespan. “Jumping genes” are also known as […]
First Sample Of Asteroid Bennu Goes On Display To The Public
Space rock fans can now gawp at NASA’s first-ever sample collected from an asteroid, as a rocky fragment from asteroid Bennu goes on display at the National Museum of Natural History. Launched in 2016, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) probe successfully touched down briefly on asteroid Bennu in 2020, finding […]
China Might Need To Build Another “Great Wall”
The Great Wall of China was built centuries ago to defend against nomadic tribes from the north. While this threat is now dead and buried, a new menace is lapping at China’s frontiers: rising sea levels. Could another great wall be the solution? Climate change has raised the average global sea level by around 24 […]
This Is Why Belly Flops Hurt So Much
As anybody who’s ever got slightly tipsy near a pool, squinted up at a diving board, and thought to themselves, “I’ve seen the Olympics, it doesn’t look that hard,” can tell you, doing a belly flop into water can hurt. But have you ever wondered why that is? Well, grab some arnica gel and a […]
Oldest Black Hole Discovered Dating To Just 470 Million Years After Big Bang
Astronomers have found the most distant supermassive black hole yet. Its light comes from when the universe was just 470 million years old, and the record-breaking object certainly is supermassive. Its discovery provides new insight into how these gargantuan objects came to exist. The object is called UHZ1 and it was discovered thanks to the […]
“Blood of Earth” Photographed By Astronauts Onboard The ISS
When astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) are cruising over 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Earth’s surface, it’s not unusual to see the bloody sight of the planet oozing with a gory red fluid. There are a bunch of causes behind this phenomenon (none of which involve the spilling of blood, to our knowledge). […]
Astronauts Accidentally Drop Tool Bag While On Repair Job During Spacewalk
We’ve all been there; you’re fixing some tricky object and you drop one of the tools you brought that isn’t currently in use. Sometimes it’s the whole tool bag. For most of us, however, the main danger is gravity causing it to land forcibly on a toe. Things are trickier if you’re in microgravity, and […]
Have Archaeologists Discovered Noah’s Ark?
There is a geological formation in Turkey that some believe could be the site where Noah’s legendary ark came to rest after the Biblical flood. Now, a team excavating the area thinks it has evidence that confirms the ancient vessel landed there. But before we all get excited about this potential revelation, is it as […]
Scorching New 7-Planet System Discovered – And You Can Even Hear Them
The first and second missions of NASA’s Kepler are long ended but astronomers continue to refine the data of the game-changing planet-hunting missions. Astronomers have gone through old Kepler data, creating the most precise list of exoplanets and candidate worlds – among them is the hottest seven-planet system yet. At the center of this system, […]
The Great Sphinx May Not Have Been Carved By Humans Alone
Like the pyramids, the Great Sphinx of Giza is shrouded in mysteries that have kept archaeologists busy for centuries, yet new research suggests the answers may be blowing in the wind. After replicating the weather conditions that existed at the time the monument was constructed, the study authors found that the landmark’s basic form may […]
Fiendishly Difficult Party-Planning Problem Finally Cracked Nearly A Century After It Was Posed
Sometimes, dramatic breakthroughs in niche areas of mathematics are like buses: you wait the best part of a century for one, and then three turn up altogether. At least, that’s the case for Ramsey Theory – a branch of combinatorics devoted to finding pockets of order within overwhelming randomness. Following hot on the heels of […]
The World’s Largest Waterfall Is Actually Underwater
Did you know the world’s largest waterfall is underwater? Us neither – every day’s a school day as they say. The tallest waterfall on Earth stands at a massive 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles), next to which Angel Falls, the tallest uninterrupted waterfall over land, pales in comparison. So, where is this underwater behemoth? Where is […]
How Paradoxes Reveal Logic’s Flaws
This article first appeared in Issue 13 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. If I asked whether the Earth was spherical, most readers would say yes. Only the pedantic would point out it is an oblate spheroid, but technically speaking those who agreed with the proposition would be wrong. Clearly, however, they’re nowhere near as wrong […]
Is Age Biological Or Psychological? Here’s The Science
This article first appeared in Issue 13 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. We’re often told that “age is just a number.” After all, when “40 is the new 30”, but then “life begins at 50”, it’s easy to think that none of it means anything at all. But there have to be some biological indicators […]
Perfectly Frozen Baby Woolly Mammoths Reveal Secrets Of Prehistoric Pachyderms
For millions of years, woolly mammoths roamed across Europe and Asia, even for a while after humans came along. Whilst we no longer live alongside them – although some are seeking to change that – it turns out there’s still plenty we can learn about these hairy giants, thanks to some remarkably well-preserved baby woollies. […]
The “Grandmother Rule” Explains How To Wash Your Body, Hundreds Of Stars Have Vanished Without A Trace, And Much More This Week
This week the first-ever lunar farm demonstrates how plants can grow on the Moon’s surface, new research reveals “spermageddon” linked to smartphones, and it turns out starfish are made up of basically just a head. Finally, we look at the new developments in technology aiming to help rid us of dangerous space junk. Subscribe to […]
A New Tropical Disease Is Gaining Traction In The US
A tropical disease caused by bloodsucking sandflies seems to be gaining a foothold in the US. Caused by the Leishmania parasite, this nasty disease has the potential to leave people with disfiguring skin lesions and can even prove fatal. Cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the US are typically “imported,” whereby someone goes abroad, picks up the […]
Virus Seen Latching On To Another Virus (Like A Tiny Vampire) For First Time
For the first time ever, a virus has been observed attaching to another virus. However, the never-before-seen behavior was almost missed after it was stumbled upon in a happy accident involving some anomalous sequencing results. “When I saw it, I was like, I can’t believe this,” Tagide deCarvalho, first author of a study announcing the […]
Saturn’s Rings Will Disappear From View In 2025
Astrophotographers and amateur astronomers this is your 18-month warning that Saturn’s rings are about to disappear from your images of the planet. Due to the tilt of the planet in its orbit around the Sun, Saturn’s iconic rings will be perfectly edge on with our line of sight, disappearing from view. It might seem very […]
