TikTok has found a new flirting technique to pine over, the so-called “Triangle Method”. Videos about the technique have wrapped up millions of views so far and many commenters appear to be happy with the results. While you’ll be hard-pushed to find any clinical trials investigating the effectiveness of the method, there are a handful […]
ADHD Diagnoses Have Significantly Risen In UK Over The Last Two Decades
Over the last two decades, the number of people diagnosed with and prescribed medication for ADHD has significantly increased in the UK, a new study has found. Though interestingly, this rise has not included children under five. ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is usually identified in childhood but that […]
India May Be About To Become The Fourth Nation To Land On The Moon
After a successful launch on Friday, July 14, India is on its way to achieving its goal of becoming the fourth nation ever to land on the Moon and explore its surface, setting down near the lunar South Pole towards the end of August. This is the third mission to the Moon for the Indian […]
New Drug Found To Slow Alzheimer’s Hailed As “Turning Point” In Treatment
Earlier this year, Eli Lilly and Company announced positive results from a Phase 3 clinical trial of their new Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab. The statement was compelling, detailing how almost half of the trial participants had not seen their disease worsen in the year since beginning the treatment. However, experts called for caution until the complete […]
No Stupid Questions: How Did Astronauts Take Off From The Moon In This?
A classic conspiracy theory is being discussed on social media this week, after Twitter user Rod Mason asked his followers how lunar landers returned astronauts to Earth. ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites. Advertisement Of course, people were quick to call the question stupid, or question why Mason posted it to […]
Secrets Of Benjamin Franklin’s Anti-Counterfeiting Techniques Have Finally Been Revealed
Benjamin Franklin helped America break free of the British currency system by designing paper money that was hard to fake. Some of his techniques have been lost in time, and only now been reconstructed using 21st-century analytic technologies. After the little things like explaining gravity and the rainbow, Isaac Newton spent the second half of his […]
Why Your Chances Of Getting Bitten By A Venomous Snake Have Gone Up
A recent study has shed light on a potentially overlooked consequence of climate change: the increased risk of being bitten by a venomous snake. Looking at reports of hospitalizations in Georgia, USA, the team found evidence of an increase in snake-related envenomation in relation to a rise in average daily temperature. With the World Health […]
People Are Learning The Hard Way That Removing Your Own Earwax Isn’t Healthy
Earwax might look gross, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad for you, in fact, it carries out an important role in the delicate ear canal. Unfortunately, it’s become the norm to wage war against earwax and many people are unknowingly making their ear health worse by over-cleaning with unsafe tools. Put the cotton bud down […]
Watch Oppenheimer Deliver His Infamous “I Am Become Death” Speech
Ahead of the release of Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited Oppenheimer (and Lin Manuel-Miranda’s even more anticipated Hip Hoppenheimer) this week there has been a renewed interest in its central character, the real-life J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was the theoretical physicist often referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb” for his work as director of the […]
How A Wormhole Can Become A Time Machine
General Relativity predicts that wormholes could connect two distant parts of the universe in a way that could be traversed instantaneously, or nearly so. Given that Special Relativity had previously demonstrated that traveling faster than light would be the equivalent of traveling in time, this raises the question of whether wormholes could also allow us […]
Brand New Millipede Species Discovered In Orange County Park Has 486 Legs
It’s a commonly held belief that the best place to discover new species is your own backyard. While this newly discovered species of millipede doesn’t quite cut it, being discovered in a park on the outskirts of Los Angeles is pretty impressive given the suburban surroundings. It was first spotted in April 2018 by two […]
What Is An Anticyclone And Why Is It Responsible For The Heatwave In Europe?
Anticyclones are, as the word implies, the opposite of a cyclone. Where a cyclone brings stormy weather and fast winds, anticyclones are high-pressure zones where winds move more sluggishly. For these reasons, they are associated with sunny, warm weather. But they can easily become heat traps. The high pressure pushes air down, which warms as […]
Experts Stop Autopsy Of Beached Whale Out Of Fear It Might Explode
Wildlife experts have stopped an autopsy on a washed-up whale in Baile Uí Chuill Strand, Ballinskelligs, Ireland, out of fears it might explode. The dead 18.9-meter (62-foot) fin whale washed up on the beach earlier this month. Experts from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) examined the whale, and determined it probably died a […]
A New Way Of Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease Is On The Horizon
We’re entering an era of change in Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, with the announcement of a new set of diagnostic guidelines for the disease. It’s hoped that a greater emphasis on blood biomarkers could help more patients be diagnosed earlier, and reduce the need for more invasive and expensive tests. The new criteria have been developed […]
The £1 Million Hunt For The Abominable Snowman
In 1954, the Daily Mail sponsored a team of journalists and mountaineers to search the Himalayas for the elusive and very real (so they believed) Abominable Snowman. The whole venture was a failure that cost the newspaper the equivalent of £1 million in today’s money, but it also demonstrates the excitement that surrounded this supposed […]
The Unsettling Explanation of the Dark Forest Hypothesis: Why Aliens Haven’t Made Contact
You have probably heard of the Fermi Paradox, but if you haven’t, here it is in a nutshell: Given the high probability that alien life exists out there in the universe (bearing in mind the vastness of space and that we keep finding planets within habitable zones) why has nobody got in touch yet? If […]
Neanderthals Died Out 40,000 Years Ago, But There Has Never Been More Of Their DNA On Earth
Peter C. Kjærgaard, University of Copenhagen; Mark Maslin, UCL, and Trine Kellberg Nielsen, Aarhus University Neanderthals have served as a reflection of our own humanity since they were first discovered in 1856. What we think we know about them has been shaped and moulded to fit our cultural trends, social norms and scientific standards. They […]
Why Did People “Look Older” In The Past?
If you’ve ever had a look through your relatives’ old photo albums from when they were young, or watched old TV shows, this thought may have crossed your mind: why the hell do these teenagers look like they’re worried about mortgages and pensions on their way to their bi-annual prostate exams? While some of it […]
What’s Underneath The Ocean Floor?
There’s an old adage that we know more about space than we do about the depths of the ocean, as if it’s not rational to see what lurks down there and immediately want to leave the planet. The ocean is incredibly deep, with an average depth of 3.7 kilometers (2.3 miles). The deepest part of […]
Orb-Like Belugas Rely On Sea Ice To Escape Orcas, But It’s Rapidly Melting
A battle of cetaceans plays out beneath the Arctic sea ice where orcas pursue belugas. Orcas, known as killer whales, are ferocious predators, but the flukes on their backs can sometimes get in the way. While the orb-like beluga can slip beneath the sea ice and hide out in narrow air holes, orcas run the […]
