This article first appeared in Issue 14 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. Monarchs are the only butterfly species known to make an annual two-way migration like birds, with a round-trip distance of around 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles). Many have wondered how a small insect could survive such a journey, but a recent study published in […]
Sensory Deprivation Tanks: Do They Have Any Benefit To The Body Or Mind?
The human brain is constantly receiving and processing information about the world around us via our senses. Removing any one of these data streams can have a significant impact, both in the long term and the short term. But sometimes, this onslaught of sensory information can be too much, and we might need a break […]
People Are Still Very Confused About How Mirrors Work
Earlier this year, while scientists attempted to figure out mysteries such as the missing matter in the universe and the nature of dark matter, people on TikTok were struggling with the concept of how mirrors work. In several videos posted to the platform, people attempted to figure out how the mirror could “see” objects placed […]
Incredible New JWST Image Looks Like Art – What Does It Actually Show?
JWST’s latest picture of the month is, of course, stunning – but what’s the science inside the beauty? The space telescope has snapped a protostar system called HH 797. HH stands for Herbig-Haro, and Herbig-Haro objects are the nebulous structures formed by the jets of tiny young stars. This protostar is throwing stuff into the […]
Deep Within A Gold Mine, A Wealth Of “Microbial Dark Matter” Is Unearthed
To illuminate the “microbial dark matter” that lives deep within Earth, scientists took a journey deep within a gold mine and returned with samples detailing hundreds of different microbial species. This, however, is just a drop in the ocean of all the life that lives beneath our feet. The amount of microbial life below our […]
Discovery Of Ancient Waterway May Solve Mystery Of How The Pyramids Were Built
The mystery of how the pyramids were built may have finally been solved thanks to the discovery of an ancient branch of the Nile that once flowed through Giza. Hundreds of meters wide, the enormous waterway has long since dried up, but could have provided transportation for the colossal amounts of material and workers needed […]
6-Planet Harmony Solves Mystery Of Peculiar Star System
An international team of astronomers was able to solve the peculiar observations of possible planets around star HD 110067. Original observations from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) suggested the presence of two planets, and follow-up observations did not find the original but two different planets still. It took more detailed observations with another telescope to […]
Mystery Bird-Like Footprints Are 60 Million Years Older Than The Earliest Birds
An ancient ornithological mystery is the subject of a new paper that looked at fossil tracks made by unknown ancient animals dating back as far as the Late Triassic. They are distinctly bird-like, which doesn’t sound too strange – until you take into account that, at 210 million years old, some of them predate the […]
NASA Reveals Incredible Rare New View Of Mars’s Horizon From Space
NASA has revealed an incredible – and unusual – new view of Mars’s horizon, one that took three months to plan and execute, for our viewing pleasure. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting Earth often share mesmerizing views of Earth’s curvature, but this is what you would see if you were orbiting Mars. […]
Can We Settle Space Anytime Soon?
“Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever,” Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, one of the founding fathers of rocket science, once said. Since the late 1950s, humanity has taken the first shaky steps into the cosmos. This century, there have always been humans living in orbit, and we expect this will […]
We Now Know How HIV Fuses To Our T Cells, Which Could Impact Future Treatments
A new study has shown for the first time how human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) binds to T cells. The finding could have implications for new therapies to combat this pernicious disease. HIV remains a major global public health issue. Since its appearance in the 20th century, the disease has claimed 40.4 million lives and is […]
Life-Extending Drug For Big Dogs Moves One Step Closer To FDA Approval
On Tuesday morning, biotech company Loyal announced that it had reached a key milestone in the path toward approval of its lifespan-extending drug for big dogs. The announcement came after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine confirmed that Loyal’s data (all 2,300 pages of it, according to CEO Celine Halioua) met […]
What Is Royal Honey?
Humans have been nicking the deliciously sweet fruits of bees’ hard labour for centuries, with some types of honey touting medicinal benefits and even hallucinogenic effects – now it’s being marketed as an aphrodisiac too. But this isn’t just any honey, this is royal honey. What’s royal honey made of? Put simply, royal honey is […]
The 25,000 Year Old “Pyramid” In Indonesia Was Likely Not Made By Humans
Last month, a study published in Archaeological Prospection garnered a lot of media attention (including from IFLScience) for its extraordinary claim that a mountain in Indonesia is actually the world’s oldest pyramid built by ancient humans. But reactions from archaeologists since have raised skepticism about its bold conclusions. According to the paper, the Gunung Padang […]
Our Planet Is Getting Saltier And That’s Very Bad News
Our world is becoming increasingly salty and according to a new study, it’s all down to human activity. As a result of this saline shift, the chemistry of our rivers is being radically altered, impacting the quality of our water and affecting human health. The planet has a natural “salt cycle” in which geologic and […]
New Zealand’s Drunkest Bird Is A Gloriously Fat Pigeon
New Zealand’s kererū is a wonderfully round pigeon with beautiful, iridescent plumage, but it is a majestic bird with an unfortunate habit. You see, it has a tendency to get absolutely hammered. The boozy bird’s downfall is its penchant for fruit. Specifically, eating fruit and then sitting in the sun with a crop full of […]
This Meteorite Is Likely The Remains Of An Extinct Ancient Protoplanet
In May 2020, in the Erg Chech region of the Sahara Desert in Algeria, scientists discovered several pieces of meteorite like no other we have found. Earth gets hit by meteorites fairly frequently, with thousands of pieces of space rock falling onto the planet every year, giving us an opportunity to study rock formation in […]
Mali, The “World’s Saddest Elephant”, Has Died
After living almost her entire life alone, Manila Zoo resident Mali the elephant, dubbed by animal welfare organizations as the “world’s saddest elephant”, has died. The cause of death was congestive heart failure, according to Manila Zoo Chief Veterinarian Heinrich Patrick Peña-Domingo. Speaking in a press briefing on Wednesday, November 29, he also noted a […]
Yes, There’s A Scientifically “Best” Way To Have A Bath. This Is It
We all love a long, hot soak in the tub to help relieve the stresses of the day. Unfortunately, it turns out the latest thing to add to that stress… might actually be the bath itself. That’s right: according to the internet (which is never wrong), taking a bath is bad for you. Can it […]
Mosasaurus, Pliosaurus, And Predator X: Which Ancient Marine Predator Was The Deadliest?
Ancient marine predators were some of the biggest animals the world’s ever seen, as well as the deadliest. While humans haven’t yet found evidence of an animal that was bigger than the extant blue whale, sea monsters of the Jurassic and Cretaceous ate prey significantly larger than krill, and we have the fossil teeth to […]
