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 […]
NASA’s Lucy Flew Past Its First Asteroid This Week – But Instead Found Two
From the get-go, NASA’s Trojan asteroids-bound Lucy was going to be a record breaker. The mission mission is set to study eight different asteroids, the largest number of objects ever for one spacecraft. This week, it carried out a successful flyby of its first asteroid – not its final destination but an interesting stopover – […]
St Bees Man: Who Was The Medieval Mummy Buried In A Lead Coffin?
Just over 40 years ago, minds were blown upon the discovery of an almost perfectly preserved body of a medieval man laid to rest in a lead-coated wooden coffin. Known as St Bees Man, researchers now believe they have a fairly clear idea of who this prestigious person was. The mysterious discovery was unearthed in […]
Why Are Sunsets On Mars Blue And Not Red?
When we look at Earth and Mars, it feels like they had to pick a primary color scheme and stick with it. Earth is the quintessential pale blue dot, in opposition to Mars’s moniker as the Red Planet. But the scheme is turned on its head when we talk about sunsets. Our vivid scarlet sunsets […]
What Are Isotopes’ Half-Lives And Why Do They Matter?
The fact that isotopes have a unique half-life has proven perhaps humanity’s most powerful tool for understanding the deep history of our planet. But what is a half-life, how do we use them – and for that matter, what even is an isotope? The nucleus of an atom is made up of protons and (aside […]
Poison Vs Venom: Do You Know The Difference?
Welcome to the wonderful world of animal toxicity and the confusing question of: poisonous or venomous? Here we break down what each term means and some of the animals each term belongs to. People love to use the phrase, “If it bites you and you die it’s venomous, and if you bite it and you […]
How Often Should You Wash Jeans? Levi’s Boss Has Some Interesting Theories
The CEO of Levi’s has swirled up the debate around how often you should wash your jeans once again. His theory, in sum: you should avoid putting your jeans in the washing machine at all costs and only spot-clean parts that are affected by stains when needed. Back in 2014, it was widely reported that […]
World’s Oldest Pyramid Was Built 25,000 Years Ago Inside This Indonesian Mountain
If you thought the ancient inhabitants of Egypt or South America were the first to build pyramids then think again, because new research indicates that the earliest man-made conical monument may have been constructed in Indonesia as far back as 25,000 years ago. Known as Gunung Padang, the site had previously been mistaken for a […]
Thought Unicorns Don’t Exist? Turns Out They Live In A Chinese Cave
The last thing you might expect to find in a completely dark cave in China is a unicorn. But for researchers, that is exactly what happened. The new species belongs to the genus Sinocyclocheilus and has a rather unusual appearance – but, of course, the classic unicorn horn. In southern China, 32 specimens were collected from […]
Genetics Behind Differences In Male And Female Organs Decoded For First Time
All those colorful feathers make it pretty easy to tell a male peacock from a female peahen, and we know that only male lions have manes – well, usually, anyway. But sexual dimorphism is more than just skin-deep. New research has decoded, for the first time, the genetic pathways that lead to sex-linked differences in […]
An Underground Galaxy of Glowworms
This article first appeared in Issue 13 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. Did you know that one of the best places on Earth to enjoy opera is inside a cave? It sounds weird, but it’s true: the acoustics of New Zealand’s Waitomo Caves are off the charts. That’s why, back in 2021, an intimate performance […]
