It is a truth universally acknowledged among mathematicians that some of the most challenging problems are those that, on paper, sound incredibly simple. Take Fermat’s Last Theorem, for example: the statement fits into almost a single sentence, but a proof took more than 350 years and the development of a handful of brand-new areas of […]
“I Wasn’t Prepared For The Sheer Number Of Them”: Cave Of Mummified Never-Before-Seen Eyeless Invertebrates Amazes Scientists
A team of researchers, together with cavers in Australia, have crawled their way quite literally into a treasure trove of new invertebrate species. Many of the new-to-science species, which include spiders, cockroaches, centipedes, and even a wasp, exhibit cave adaptations such as eyelessness and were found mummified and perfectly preserved within the Nullarbor cave system. […]
Asteroid Day At 10: How The World Is More Prepared Than Ever To Face Celestial Threats
One hundred and seventeen years ago, on June 30, 1908, the world changed. For the people of Eastern Russia, near the Tunguska River, the world came close to ending. Something fell from the sky with such strength that it threw people back into the air for meters. They were tens of kilometers from the impact. […]
What Happened When A New Zealand Man Fell Butt-First Onto A Powerful Air Hose
There are bad days, and then there are “I fell butt first onto an air hose and now I’m inflating like a balloon” days. In 2011, a trucker from New Zealand experienced the latter. On May 21, 2011, Steven McCormack fell between the cab of his truck and the trailer behind it, and onto an […]
Ancient DNA Confirms Women’s Unexpected Status In One Of The Oldest Known Neolithic Settlements
DNA from more than 100 individuals buried in Çatalhöyük’s East Mound reveals the inhabitants were more likely to live with relatives on the female line, and the social structure changed slowly over centuries. Along with Göbekli Tepe, also in modern Turkey, Çatalhöyük is one of the oldest known permanent settlements in the world. No records […]
Earth’s Weather Satellites Catch Cloud Changes… On Venus
The planet Venus is like Earth’s worst twin – roughly the same size but with a thick layer of acid clouds over a crushing, hellish atmosphere. Its clouds in particular have been a source of interest, but it is difficult to understand how they change long-term: most missions around the planet don’t last long. New […]
Scientists Find Common Factors In People Who Have “Out-Of-Body” Experiences
A new study has identified common factors in people who have had out-of-body experiences (OBEs), the odd phenomenon where people describe experiencing the world as if from a location outside their own bodies. A surprising number of people have had OBEs, with some surveys finding that they have affected between 10 and 20 percent of […]
Shocking Photos Reveal Extent Of Overfishing’s Impact On “Shrinking” Cod
Fishing has been a vital source of protein for humans for millennia, but there was a time you got a lot more meal for your reel. Cod used to be enormous fish, stretching to over a meter (3 feet) in length and weighing up to 40 kilograms (88.2 pounds). Now, a fully-grown adult cod barely […]
Direct Fusion Drive Could Take Us To Sedna During Its Closest Approach In 11,000 Years
A team of researchers has outlined how a new “direct fusion drive” propulsion system could allow us to reach Sedna this century. Given the dwarf planet’s wide orbit, it could be our best chance for thousands of years. In 2003, NASA-funded researchers spotted what was then the most distant object discovered in our Solar System. […]
Earth’s Energy Imbalance Is More Than Double What It Should Be – And We Don’t Know Why
The amount of heat accumulating near the surface of the planet is currently more than twice as high as even the best climate change models could have predicted, indicating that there may be a major piece of the puzzle missing in our calculations. Yet as scientists scramble to get their heads around the record-breaking data, […]
We May Have Misjudged A Fundamental Fact About The Cambrian Explosion
The history of life on Earth is not a peaceful one. Rather than a constant upward trajectory of evolution, it’s been billions of years of boom-and-bust cycles – first an explosion of life, and then a mass extinction of all but the most hardy hangers-on. Lather, rinse, repeat. And it all started – at least, […]
The Shoebill Is A Bird So Bizarre That Some People Don’t Even Believe It’s Real
They say that, given an infinite number of monkeys on typewriters, and infinite time, you would eventually create the entire works of Shakespeare. Well, evolution may not have had quite that long, but it has had a few billion years to experiment – so it’s no surprise that it’s come up with some pretty wacky […]
Colossal’s “Dire Wolves” Are Now 6 Months Old – And They’ve Doubled In Size
It’s been six months since two not-quite dire wolves were born on Earth around 10,000-12,000 years after the extinction of the species. Now, the two shaggy six-month-olds, Romulus and Remus, along with their younger sister, Khaleesi, are growing rapidly under the care of Colossal Biosciences. In a new video, the team explains how the two […]
How To Fake A Fossil: Find Out More In Issue 36 Of CURIOUS – Out Now
Issue 36 (July 2025) of CURIOUS is out now, bringing you science highlights for the month plus deep dives into intriguing topics, interviews, exclusives, diary dates, and explanations for some of Earth’s most perplexing natural phenomena and landscapes. Read Issue 36 of our digital magazine now by clicking below! Use the arrows to navigate or […]
Is It True Earth Used To Take 420 Days To Orbit The Sun?
The Earth used to have 420 days a year, rather than 365. This does not mean that the Earth’s orbit was longer, but that the days were shorter, so more days could be fitted in during the time it took our planet to do a full orbit around the Sun. However, the year has had […]
One Of The Ocean’s “Most Valuable Habitats” Grows The Only Flowers Known To Bloom In Seawater
We humans bloomin’ love a flower. Sniffing them, looking at them, lopping them off and popping them in vases. On land, there are flowers to be found everywhere, but in the ocean, there’s only one kind of plant that produces flowers, and yes, they even reproduce down there. Seagrasses are the only true flowering plants […]
World’s Largest Digital Camera Snaps 2,104 New Asteroids In 10 Hours, Mice With 2 Dads Father Their Own Offspring, And Much More This Week
This week, a hot new wellness trend for orcas showcases their impressive use of tools, there’s only one person in the world with this blood type, and Canada claim to host rocks that date back to the Hadean Eon, making them strong favorites to be the oldest rocks on Earth. Finally, to mark 50 Years […]
Simplest Explanation For “Anomalous” Signals Coming From Underneath Antarctica Ruled Out
A particle detector flying above Antarctica has recently caused a stir in the particle physics world after it detected highly unusual radio pulses coming from beneath the ice. The detection has prompted much speculation about new types of neutrinos, perhaps another particle altogether, and even (pretty out there) claims of evidence for parallel universes. While […]
“Lizard Shampoo” And Pagan Texts Suggest “Dark Age” Medicine Wasn’t So Dark After All
Is your hair lacking volume, are you feeling less than perfect? Well, maybe you should try adding some lizard to your shampoo. This may sound like a new TikTok trend (or maybe this will start one), but it’s actually part of a set medieval medical recipes recently discovered by scholars that redefine our assumptions of […]
Japanese Macaques May Mourn Their Dead – As Long As They’re Not Maggot-Infested
The list of animals that grieve their deceased loved ones may just have gained a new entry, as a group of Japanese macaques from Okayama Prefecture has now been documented interacting with dead group members in a number of surprising ways. Notably, the monkeys displayed a tendency to continue grooming the corpses of those they […]
