The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued the first-ever fine for failing to properly dispose of space junk. In 2002, DISH Network launched its EchoStar-7 satellite. Ten years later, it filed a plan with the FCC for decommissioning the satellite at the end of its mission. This plan involved moving the satellite 300 kilometers […]
Crocodile Sex Bonanza Triggered By Low-Flying Chinook In Australia
A Chinook helicopter got more than it bargained for when it swooped down low to take pictures of some captive crocodiles, as it accidentally triggered a giant orgy. Exactly what it is about low-flying helicopters that gets crocodiles in the mood isn’t known for certain, but it appears to mimic one of the natural cues […]
Bedbug Panic Hits Paris – But What’s Really Going On?
People in Paris and beyond are currently despairing over an apparent scourge of parasitic, bloodsucking bedbugs – but despite cases of the critters indeed being on the rise, experts have said that the current panic is, at times, a touch overblown. As the CDC notes, bedbugs (Cimex lectularius and Cimex hemipterus) are in fact having […]
Long-Lost Egyptian Tomb Found With 4,400-Year-Old Mummy Inside
A team of Czech archaeologists have rediscovered a lost tomb that belonged to an ancient Egyptian official called Ptahshepses, who lived around 4,400 years ago (during the 24th and 25th centuries BCE). The discovery even contained the mummified remains of this significant individual. According to a statement released by the Czech Institute of Egyptology on […]
Six-Million-Year-Old Turtle Shell May Still Hold Ancient DNA Traces
Traces of ancient DNA appear to have been found within the 6-million-year-old fossil bones of an extinct turtle. This is staggeringly old evidence of DNA and may suggest that genetic material can last much longer than previously appreciated. Found along the Caribbean coast of Panama, the fossil consists of a broken shell, but the remaining […]
Why Childhood Verbal Abuse Should Be Taken As Seriously As Physical And Sexual Abuse
Verbal abuse of children should receive more recognition for the huge damage it can inflict, say researchers from the UK and US. Their new study calls for verbal abuse to be considered its own separate category of maltreatment, on a par with physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. The review of data from over 150 […]
Huge 122-Million-Year-Old New Dinosaur Described From Its Toes And Femur
One of Europe’s greatest concentrations of sauropod bones from the early Cretaceous has yielded a new gigantic dinosaur species. Even with bits of three individuals, most of the bones are still missing, but what has been found is enough for palaeontologists to recognize this is a species they have never seen before, and call it […]
Cannibalism Was A Common Funerary Practice In Europe 15,000 Years Ago
Cannibalism was a standard funerary practice in parts of Europe around 15,000 years ago, according to new research from London’s Natural History Museum (NHM) that involved rigorous analysis of archaeological and genetic evidence. The study uncovered remains that consistently showed signs of chew marks, as well as manipulation of bone to create tools. Magdalenian human […]
Even Under Incredible Pressures, Iron Atoms At Earth’s Core Can Shift Places
Everything we know about what’s inside the Earth comes from the measurements of seismometers. Quakes shake our planet, and scientists can reconstruct what’s under our feet from how waves move through our world. Under incredible pressures and temperatures, materials can also behave oddly. The inner core, for example, is solid due to pressure, but also […]
“Impossibly” Big Galaxies From Dawn Of The Universe May Just Be Extra-Glowy
A few months ago, astronomers using JWST reported that they had observed massive galaxies from just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. The problem is that using their starlight, the team came to an impossible conclusion: these galaxies had more mass than what would have been available in the universe to make […]
Cracks In The Universe: Astrophysicists May Have Found Evidence Of Cosmic Strings
A team of astrophysicists says they may have found evidence for “cosmic strings”, long-hypothesized defects in the universe left over from its early in its expansion. Cosmic strings were first suggested in the 1970s by theoretical physicist Tom W. B. Kibble, and later revived in the context of string theory. The one-dimensional strings, far narrower […]
Ukraine Looks To Turn Chernobyl Into One Of Europe’s Biggest Wind Farms
Ukraine is drumming up a simple yet ingenious plan to make use of the wasteland that surrounds the ruins of Chernobyl: turn the site into a giant wind farm and transform the region into a hub of green power. German company NOTUS Energy has recently signed a deal with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and […]
Feast Your Eyes On The Last Remaining Dodo Soft Tissues
The dodo has become an iconic symbol of humanity recklessly driving animals into extinction. By the end of the 17th century, European colonizers had wiped this flightless bird from the planet. Practically nothing of the species now remains, except for a fascinating specimen at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The so-called “Oxford Dodo” […]
People Think Today’s US-Wide Emergency Alert Will Turn The Nation Into Zombies
Today at 2:20 pm Eastern time, cell phone, TV, and radio users in the US will be met with an emergency alert test on their various devices. The alert will test the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on TV and radio, and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system for cell phones. Advertisement “We want to ensure […]
From Wombats To Polar Bears, All The Best Animals Glow Under UV Light
In a study of more than 100 species of mammals, all but one were found to glow externally when exposed to UV light; even the exception, the dwarf spinner dolphin, has fluorescent teeth. Nevertheless, not all species fluoresce to the same extent, with white fur being a strong predictor of blacklight glow. Fluorescence is the […]
You Could Use A Disco Ball To Watch The “Ring Of Fire” Eclipse
When the Moon blocks out most of the Sun on October 14, tens of millions of North Americans will look to the skies for one of the greatest sights the heavens can offer. European astronomers have some advice on how they can do it cheaply and safely: dig out an old disco ball, which can […]
Physics Nobel Prize Awarded For Use Of Tiniest Flashes To Study Electrons
The winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics are Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier. The award was given for their discovery of how to generate pulses of light that last for attoseconds – that is one billionth billionth of a second. The prize is worth 11 million Swedish kronor (around 1 million […]
Iron-Age Pigs Are A Tasty Yet Formidable Hybrid Of Pig And Wild Boar
It’s perfectly possible for domestic pigs to interbreed with wild boars to create a hybrid hog. They may be tough, intelligent, and purportedly delicious, but these so-called “super pigs” have the potential to cause a real headache for native animals and the natural ecosystem. There have been many active attempts to breed boar–pig hybrids by […]
How To Watch The “Ring Of Fire” Eclipse Across The United States This Month
It is almost time to get some eclipse glasses and look to the sky. On October 14, millions of people across the Americas will get the chance to see an annular eclipse of the Sun. This happens when, during a total solar eclipse, the Moon is near its apogee, the furthest point from Earth. The […]
Same-Sex Behavior Is Everywhere In Nature. Does It Have Evolutionary Benefits?
Same-sex behavior is sometimes said to be an “evolutionary conundrum” since it doesn’t appear to directly help with the reproduction of genes and the survival of species, at least on the surface. However, in a new study, scientists demonstrate how same-sex sexual behavior has evolved independently multiple times across hundreds of different animal species and […]
