One of the world’s largest frog species is on the brink of extinction due to a devastating combination of infectious disease, climate change, and habitat loss. Once widespread across the Caribbean, the critically endangered mountain chicken frog can now only be found on the island of Dominica, where just 21 of the giant amphibians remain. […]
Predatory Stargazers Are Much Easier To Photograph Than They Are To Find
The menacing grimace of a stargazer earned wildlife photographer Pietro Formis Highly Commended for Animal Portraits in the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2023 competition. Captured in Rijeka, Croatia, it depicts a Mediterranean stargazer (Uranoscopus scaber) laying in wait on the seabed in a portrait aptly named Death In Waiting. As ambush predators, stargazers wiggle […]
Supernova Detected, Confirmed, And Classified By AI For The First Time
At least in astronomy, AI seems to be delivering on the promise of helping humans by doing tedious time-consuming jobs. A series of robotic telescopes and machine learning algorithms have been able to work together to first detect a possible supernova, then follow up the observations to confirm it, classify its type, and then share […]
Americans Witness Fascinating “Eclipse Shadows” Naturally Projected Onto The Floor
On Saturday, people across the Americas witnessed a “ring of fire” eclipse, the last annular eclipse before the total solar eclipse of 2024. As well as awesome photos of the eclipse itself, some have posted photos and videos of “eclipse shadows” on the ground, to the confusion of others. Advertisement #Eclipse #EclipseSolar #Eclipse2023 pic.twitter.com/aUCV6QrYBk— X-Tok […]
Think This Giant Spider Is About To Eat The Small One? Think Again
When IFLScience visited Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023, there was one photo that really stopped us in our tracks. On the surface, it looks as if a small arachnid is about to meet its end at the hands (or legs, as it were) of a monstrous spider. However, when it comes to the battle […]
Guidelines Proposed For Ethical Commercial Research In Space
In an effort to get in before the damage starts, 25 experts from many fields have released proposed guidelines on ethical research in space by commercial operators. They note that with private flights to space expected to rise almost as fast as the rockets themselves, not everyone going into space will be a tourist. If […]
What Are The Five Largest Islands In The World?
Home to some of the planet’s oddest animals, not to mention 11 percent of the global population, islands are among the most diverse and exciting places on Earth. Here, you can find a rundown of the largest islands by landmass. Before arguments break out in the comments, we’re not counting continental landmasses, so that excludes […]
Dennō Senshi Porygon: The Pokémon Episode Banned After Mysterious “Outbreak”
Even if you are a gigantic fan of Pokémon, there’s an episode of the cartoon it’s unlikely you’ve seen. On December 16, 1997, Dennō Senshi Porygon aired in Japan for its first and final showing. The episode – which roughly translates as “Computer Warrior Porygon” – sees Pikachu, Ash, et al. deal with a faulty […]
Galactic Star Lab Gives Insight Into The Future Of The Sun
The most massive stars in the universe end their lives in supernovae, explosions that tear them apart. But for stars that aren’t quite so big, they end their lives not with a bang, but a whimper. Stars like our Sun will eventually turn into extremely hot white dwarfs, shedding most of their mass and then […]
Möbius Mystery Solved By Mathematician After 5 Decades
Möbius strips are fun geometrical shapes that only have one side. Take a strip of paper – it’s got a front and a back. Now twist it and glue the two short edges together. Suddenly there is no front or back. You could draw a line across its whole surface without having to lift the […]
What Was The First Virus Discovered By Science?
The tobacco mosaic virus was the first virus to be discovered by science. Viruses have been around for billions of years, but they were only scientifically described towards the end of the 19th century. Even then, it took decades of work to fully get to grips with these baffling “invisible” agents. The first step in […]
The World’s Loneliest Frog Finds Love In David Attenborough’s Latest Series
Planet Earth is back for a third series as David Attenborough and the BBC Natural History Unit combine to tell the stories of some of Earth’s most intriguing species, spectacular landscapes, and the curious science behind it all. Filmed over the course of five years, Planet Earth III employed the help of drones, highspeed cameras, […]
Thousands Of Genetic “Scissors” That Could Rival CRISPR Discovered In Eukaryotes
Thousands of DNA cutters, akin to the bacterial enzymes used in the gene-editing system CRISPR, have been discovered in a diverse host of species, including snails, algae, and amoeba. The finding proves that the proteins, called Fanzors, are widespread in eukaryotes – the group of organisms that comprises fungi, plants, and animals – and have […]
Lead Is Still Causing Millions Of Lost IQ Points And Millions Of Deaths
Despite the phase-out of leaded gasoline, exposure to lead is still having a massive impact on the hearts and minds of the world’s population. As per new research, the current impact of lead poisoning is far greater than previously thought, accounting for 5.5 million cardiovascular disease deaths and 765 million lost IQ points in 2019. […]
For 800 Years A Sahara Civilization Flourished, Then The Groundwater Ran Out
In the heart of the Sahara, an area that is now in southwestern Libya, a great empire built a city and towns. These represent the oldest known example of a large permanent human population living without access to a river or lake. Their success, now being explained, is a testimony to human ingenuity – and […]
What’s Beneath Africa’s Surface?
Lying beneath Africa and the Pacific in the lowermost part of the Earth’s mantle, surrounding the Earth’s core, there are two gigantic blobs that occupy around 3 to 9 percent of the volume of the Earth. There are of course no direct ways of seeing the Earth’s core, at least without being burned to a […]
What Is The Boötes Void? The Mysterious Hole In The Universe
Meet Barnard 68, which – if the Internet is to be believed (which it’s not) – is “an empty void in space so big that if you traveled across it you wouldn’t bump into anything for 752,536,988 years”. While it’s smart not to specify a speed (hey, it’s technically true that if you traveled at […]
Centenarian Blood Tests Give Hints Of The Secrets To Longevity
Centenarians, once considered rare, have become commonplace. Indeed, they are the fastest-growing demographic group of the world’s population, with numbers roughly doubling every ten years since the 1970s. How long humans can live, and what determines a long and healthy life, have been of interest for as long as we know. Plato and Aristotle discussed […]
People Are Just Learning How Parmesan Cheese Is Made
Every now and then on the Internet, people discover something about food that they thought everyone already knew. Hey, we’re all learning, right? Recently it was the turn of paprika and all spice, but now it’s our old friend Parmesan cheese under the spotlight. Parmesan is traditionally made from cow’s milk, aged for at least 12 months in […]
Bumblebees’ Remarkable Defense Against Invasive Asian Hornets: An “Evolutionary Coincidence”
It turns out the buff-tailed bumblebee is buff by name *and* nature, with researchers discovering that it has a surprisingly effective method for fighting off Asian hornets. In the blue corner Asian hornets are the menaces of the natural world, having invaded three continents and reaching a record level of sightings across the UK and […]
