There are roughly 32,000 known asteroids that get close to our planet – an impressive number of objects, which has tripled in the last 10 years thanks to wider efforts in planetary defense. Almost half of all those detections (14,400) came from the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey, a project developed at the University of Arizona. […]
The Gulf Stream Is Slowing Down. What Would Happen If It Stopped?
The Gulf Stream, part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and often described as one of the planet’s major climate tipping points, has been slowing down for some time now. One paper attempted to discern the flow of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) over the centuries by looking at sediment, temperature data, and […]
Meet DarkBERT, The Only AI Trained On The Dark Web
In case you were worried that the current iteration of generative AIs are too nice and empathetic, scientists have got you covered – a new language model has been trained on the worst part of the internet, the Dark Web. Given perhaps the funniest name yet, DarkBERT (yes, that’s actually its name) is a generative […]
The First Recorded Kiss Happened 4,500 Years Ago In The Middle East
Humans have been French kissing since long before the language of amour was invented, which means we may have been spreading diseases by snogging throughout our history. Highlighting the ancient roots of kissing in a new article, researchers say the first documented smooch can be traced back to 4,500 years ago in Mesopotamia, although it’s […]
Stunning New Titanic 3D Scans Show Shipwreck In Unbelievable Detail
The largest underwater scanning project in history has been used to create the first-ever digital replica of the Titanic, offering a glimpse of one of the world’s most famous shipwrecks with unbelievable clarity. The new scan captures the sunken remains of the Titanic in its entirety, revealing a complete three-dimensional view of the shipwreck caked […]
Newly Discovered Spinosaurid Suggests Spain Was A Hotspot For Big, Carnivorous Dinosaurs
Spinosaurid bones found in Castellón, Spain, represent a new genus, palaeontologists have concluded. The dinosaur in question is estimated to have grown to a fearsome 10-11 meters (33-36 feet) long. Following the recent discovery of the moderately sized Vallibonavenatrix cani nearby, the identification indicates the Iberian Peninsula was a center for spinosaurid diversity in the […]
Bernie Madoff Was Probably A Psychopath (And What We Should Learn From That)
A new study has concluded that Bernie Madoff, the New York financier responsible for defrauding thousands of investors out of some $65 billion in the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, was almost certainly a psychopath – finding that the late banker and con artist had a near-100 percent hit rate on established checklists of psychopathic traits. […]
Shark Attack On Australian Surfer Was “Atypical” But Deadly Behavior
A shark has attacked and probably killed an Australian surfer in a rare but deadly encounter. The victim, eyewitnesses claim, was attacked multiple times before disappearing under the waves, which is extremely unusual behavior. The victim, 46-year-old Simon Baccanello, was surfing on a popular beach at Walkers Rocks, part of the Lake Newland Conservation Park […]
How Unique “Sexome” Bacteria Could Help Catch Sex Offenders
Traces of human DNA are not the only thing left behind after sexual intercourse. A new study has found that bacterial DNA is also transferred between males and females during penetrative vaginal sex, and that these microbial signatures could be invaluable to forensic scientists working to catch sex criminals. PhD student Ruby Dixon, working with […]
Weight Of New York City’s Buildings May Be Causing It To Sink Faster
A new study using satellite data has found that New York City is sinking at a relatively fast rate, with some urban areas sinking much faster than others. According to the team, one contributing factor is the sheer weight of the city’s high-rise buildings. The team, led by US Geological Survey research geophysicist Tom Parsons, […]
First Rewilded Tasmanian Devil In Mainland Australia Has Three Adorable Babies
Back in 2020, “Adventurous Lisa” and 10 other Tasmanian devils were reintroduced to mainland Australia having gone extinct in the region around 3,000 years ago. Now Lisa has given birth to three joeys adding to the growing populations of these little marsupials. The 11 individuals were released by Aussie Ark with partners Re:wild, WildArk, and […]
Human Lineages Partially Split Before The Migration Out Of Africa
Population genetics indicates that ancestors of modern humans were split into three populations, that only occasionally interbred, for hundreds of thousands of years. These groups then partially recombined to create the humanity that lives today. This places the division and reuniting long before Homo Sapiens’ great migration out of Africa. The human family tree is […]
Hudson Bay Is Sitting On Top Of A Gravity Anomaly
In the Hudson Bay region of Canada, you can experience a strange phenomenon; weighing ever so slightly less than you do anywhere else in the world. It’s not much of a party trick, you would weigh about four-thousandths of a percent less than at the average location on the planet, but the cause is quite […]
How Does Food Get Contaminated? The Unsafe Habits That Kill More Than 400,000 People A Year
Unsafe foods, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), contribute to poor health, including impaired growth and development, micro-nutrient deficiencies, noncommunicable and infectious diseases, and mental illness. Globally, one in ten people are affected by food-borne diseases each year. Antonina Mutoro, a nutrition researcher at the African Population and Health Research Center, explains what causes […]
Video Game Study Shows What People Do When The World Ends
There are few things more difficult than studying the end of the world, and how humanity would react before it. If you try when the world isn’t ending, then you probably won’t get an accurate impression, given that the world isn’t really ending. If you try while the world is actually ending, people won’t be […]
Bone Tools In Neanderthal Cave Hint At Prehistoric Osseous Industry
The recent discovery of over 1,000 bone tools in a Neanderthal cave in Siberia has ignited a debate over whether our extinct cousins were capable of producing utensils from animal skeletons as well as stone. To assess whether this osseous assemblage was a one-off, the authors of an as-yet un-peer-reviewed study looked for similar artifacts […]
Penis Amputation And Seeing Red: What Can Happen If You Take Too Many Boner Pills?
It’s a question as old as boner pills: what happens if I take too many boner pills? Well, a few unfortunate people have learned the hard way. Sildenafil, the drug commonly referred to by the brand name Viagra, is used to treat erectile dysfunction as well as pulmonary hypertension. Extensive trials and follow-up studies have […]
Think You Might Be Dating A ‘Vulnerable Narcissist’? Look Out For These Red Flags
Think you might be dating a ‘vulnerable narcissist’? Look out for Single people are increasingly turning online to find love, with more than 300 million people around the world trying their luck on dating apps. Some find their fairy tale. But for others, stories of online dating have very different endings. Advertisement You may be […]
First Helium Emissions And Radio Signals Found In Type Ia Supernova
For the first time, strong helium emission lines have been found in the spectrum of a Type Ia supernova, proving that the white dwarf that exploded had a helium-rich companion. After decades of debate about what causes this type of explosion, the findings prove that despite the famous consistency in their brightness, they can have […]
Never-Before-Seen Diamonds Found In Canyon Diablo Meteorite From Outer Space
The extreme temperatures and pressures produced when a space rock slams into the Earth can create distinctive materials, such as the shocked quartz used to identify the remains of such events. Arizona’s Canyon Diablo contains diamonds with unusual structures, but scientists have been misinterpreting what makes them special. Very different processes can lead to the […]
