Picture a desert and you no doubt imagine a sandy landscape, searing hot dunes, and a baking Sun. However, this is just one side of desert climates. Beyond the Sahara and the Great Australian Desert, some desert environments are more associated with chilly temperatures. Deserts are defined as areas that receive very little precipitation and […]
3-Billion-Year-Old Okavango Diamond Has A Unique Blue Hue Thanks To Plate Tectonics
An oval-shaped blue diamond weighing 20.46 carats is one of the rarest in the world. Named the Okavango Blue Diamond, it was discovered at Orapa mine in Botswana, and it holds many secrets about our Earth in its curious azure hue. “From the first moment we saw the diamond, it was clear we had something […]
The World’s Largest Spherical Structure Is A Technical Wonder
The Sphere in Las Vegas is the largest spherical structure in the world, and building it required a lot more than engineering and architectural know-how – over 100 patents are expected to come out to the construction of this entertainment venue. Love it or hate it, the venue is certainly unique. Its exterior is 112 […]
Why We Need To Pay Attention To The San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault carves through the Californias at the point where the Pacific Plate stands toe-to-toe with the North American Plate. The boundaries between tectonic plates are often hotbeds of earthquake activity, and this 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) fault line is no different. However, the San Andreas Fault is especially worrying for geologists, not to mention […]
Are Humans Organic Or Inorganic?
If you’re familiar with chemistry, or farming, you may have heard the words “organic” and “inorganic” bandied about – molecules can be organic, and so can beef or broccoli – but what do these words actually mean, and can they be applied to humans? Are our bodies organic or inorganic? Organic vs Inorganic “There isn’t […]
First Word From “Unreadable” Scrolls That Survived Vesuvius Has Been Decoded
The first winners of the Vesuvius Challenge prizes, set for anyone who could help crack an ancient mystery, have been announced. The awards were issued to three different people who have helped decode the first word from carbonized “unreadable” scrolls that have not been read in nearly 2,000 years. What does it say? “Porphyras”, meaning […]
Why Britain Has So Many Regional Accents Compared To The US
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 […]
