It’s always said that Britain has a surprising number of regional accents for such a small island, at least compared to other English-speaking nations like the US or Canada. Take an hour-long train journey between any town in this “green and pleasant land” and there’s a strong chance you’ll be able to pick up on […]
Elements Outside The Periodic Table May Have Been Found Inside Asteroid, First Clear Evidence Of Neanderthals Hunting Lions, And Much More This Week
This week an invaluable rare metal has been found in China, geologists may have found the ancient remains of an unknown mega-plate, and NASA’s asteroid unboxing reveals Bennu contains carbon and water. Finally, we weigh in on the age-old debate, is it octopi, octopodes, or octopuses? Subscribe to the IFLScience newsletter for all the biggest […]
IFLScience The Big Questions: Are We Ready For The Next Massive Solar Flare?
Solar activity goes through cycles. The main one is about 11 years long and its maximum is marked by powerful eruptions of electromagnetic radiation known as solar flares, as well as releases of plasma known as coronal mass ejections. The most powerful known flare happened in 1859 and led to telegraph stations catching fire across […]
How To Watch The “Ring Of Fire” Eclipse Across The United States Tomorrow
It’s time to grab your eclipse glasses and (safely) 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 farthest point from Earth. The Moon’s […]
Asteroid Unboxing Reveals Bennu Is Rich In Carbon And Contains Water
Less than a day after opening the OSIRIS-Rex sample collected from asteroid Bennu, NASA has released the first results, reporting the sample is high in carbon, as well as containing significant water. More detailed analyses will investigate the molecules in which these two vital components for life are combined. Science is usually a slow process. […]
Baffling And Huge Methane Leak Found In The Baltic Sea
Researchers in Sweden have discovered a large and unusual methane leak in the depths of the Baltic Sea. The leak, which is estimated to be around 20 square kilometers (7.7 square miles) in size, is releasing masses of gas bubbles that are making their way to the surface. What is methane? Methane is extremely worrying. […]
It’s Time The Magellanic Clouds Are Renamed, Astronomers Say
If you live in or have ever visited the Southern Hemisphere, you might have seen in the night sky two patchy white collections of stars off the main body of our galaxy, the Milky Way. These are two of the several dwarf galaxies orbiting our own and are called the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and […]
Nimrud Lens: What Was The Purpose Of This Ancient Neo-Assyrian Crystal?
In 1850, archaeologist Austen Henry Layard found an unusual piece of rock crystal in the North West Palace of Nimrud, Northern Iraq, leading to speculation about its purpose. Dubbed the “Nimrud lens”, the highly-polished piece dating back to around 750-710 BCE was first identified as a lens, while a more outlandish theory claims that it […]
Why Scouring The Internet For Plane Ticket Deals Is Probably Pointless
We all love a bargain, especially when forking out for plane tickets – but unfortunately for tight-fisted travelers, many of the “hacks” we use to come about them don’t actually work. Whether it’s buying tickets on a certain day, clearing cookies, or using a VPN and browsing incognito, these tricks are at odds with how […]
This Woman’s Bionic Arm Is Melded To Her Bones And Nervous System
A new study tells the story of a woman who received a pioneering bionic hand that’s deeply integrated with her bones, nerves, and muscles. There are still many hurdles to overcome with this type of tech, but this case report shows how it’s already capable of enriching people’s lives. Karin lost her right arm during […]
Lasers And Lenses Could Be Used To Make Roads On The Moon
The Moon is not a hospitable place. The lunar regolith – the Moon’s soil – is a dusty collection of sharp, abrasive, and possibly toxic particles that can cling to spacesuits, damage equipment, and even caused one of the Apollo astronauts to develop an allergic reaction to it. Apollo 17’s Harrison Schmitt called it lunar […]
First Clear Evidence Of Neanderthals Hunting Lions Shows They Were Not Boneheads
A fancy fur pelt and some unusual bone markings have provided the first direct evidence of Neanderthals hunting cave lions. Not only that, but the artifacts also signify the earliest direct instance of a large predator kill in human history. The first piece of evidence comes from the remains of a Eurasian cave lion, dated […]
Solar Probe Storms New Record For Fastest Object Made By Humans Ever
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe continues to break records – records that were set by spacecraft in the past few years of exploration of the Sun. In its 17th close passage around our star, the spacecraft came as close to the Sun as 7.26 million kilometers (4.51 million miles) from the solar surface. That is about […]
Dark Universe Observatory’s Troubles Created Some Pretty Cool Space Art
Space telescopes don’t automatically know where they are pointing. They use guide stars to know which bit of the sky they are looking at. ESA’s Euclid was launched earlier this summer, and during its commissioning phase, the mission team realized that there were some glitches when it came to its positioning. The space observatory’s Fine […]
Sealed Tomb Depicting Cerberus, Guardian Of The Underworld, Found In Italy
Archaeologists have discovered an exceptionally preserved and sealed chamber tomb in the municipality of Giugliano in Campania, Italy. The tomb is adorned with multiple frescos, the most notable of which depicts Cerberus – the three-headed guardian of the Underworld – which has given it the name the Tomb of Cerberus. The tomb was discovered during […]
Ham Radio Amateurs Will Help NASA Study The Ionosphere During The “Ring Of Fire” Eclipse
Solar eclipses, while fun to gawp at and/or cower from in fear of the sun-eating god depending on what century you’re from, are incredibly useful for scientists. During the 2024 total solar eclipse in North America, NASA will use the opportunity to photograph the Sun’s corona from a high altitude and view sunspots as the […]
Fly Across Mars’s “Labyrinth Of Night” In Incredible 3D Reconstruction
Noctis Labyrinthus is a network of canyons the length of Italy that is located between two record-breaking regions on Mars. It is the beginning of Valles Marineris, one of the longest canyons in the Solar System. On its other side, there is the Tharsis Bulge, a region home to the tallest volcanoes we know of. […]
“Starquakes” On Neutron Stars Could Be Source Of Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts
Evidence has been found for the previously speculative idea that Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are caused by neutron stars having a sort of earthquake. The same work also throws doubt on one alternative explanation, that they are caused by stellar flares. If the connection is confirmed, it could not only tell us more about the […]
No One Knows How The Sonoran Desert Toad Produces Its Psychedelic Slime
The milky discharge of the Sonoran Desert Toad contains what may be the most potent psychedelic compound on Earth, yet researchers are yet to figure out how the rotund little creature produces its mind-melting ooze. Seeking the source of the amphibian’s stupefying secretions, the authors of an as-yet un-peer-reviewed study pumped the stomachs of dozens […]
Humanity’s Journey To A Metal-Rich Asteroid Launches Today. Here’s How To Watch
Update 10/12/23: Bad weather has delayed the launch of Psyche. The launch window opens again tomorrow, October 13 at 10:19 am (2:19 pm UTC). Today, NASA is launching the first-ever mission to a metal-rich asteroid. The Psyche spacecraft will travel 3.5 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles) to visit its namesake, asteroid Psyche, thought to be […]
