The frequently changing tale of the quest for life in the most studied planetary system beyond our own has had another twist, this one in an encouraging direction. Taking into account previously neglected factors, new research rejects the theory planets like TRAPPIST-1 e were once so hot their crusts turned into magma oceans and vented […]
Offshore Wind Turbines Get Giant Bird Boxes To Protect Rare Gulls
In the hopes of making offshore wind farms a bit more seabird-friendly, a trio of first-of-their-kind artificial nesting structures have been planted off the coast of Britain in the North Sea. By providing shelves for nests, the giant bird boxes aim to help with the protection of one of the UK’s most troubled seabird species, […]
Alien-Like Antarctic Feather Star With 20 Legs Joins Four New-To-Science Species
The 20-legged Antarctic strawberry feather star, Promachocrinus fragarius, is one of four new-to-science species described in a paper that explores the cryptic diversity of a genus of free-swimming stemless crinoids. Looking a little like a face hugger that got a leggy upgrade, these alien-like organisms are related to starfish, sea cucumbers, and other echinoderms. Antarctic […]
Real Paleo Diet: Early Hominids Ate Just About Everything
Reconstructions of human evolution are prone to simple, overly-tidy scenarios. Our ancestors, for example, stood on two legs to look over tall grass, or began to speak because, well, they finally had something to say. Like much of our understanding of early hominid behavior, the imagined diet of our ancestors has also been over-simplified. Take […]
Understanding Carcinization: The Evolutionary Trend Toward Crab-like Forms
If you’ve been on the Internet for long enough, you’ve probably come across the meme that – sooner or later – everything turns into crabs. According to the meme, sooner or later – be you a fish or Sean Penn – you are to become a crab. While this is of course just a fun exaggeration, […]
Plastic Rocks, Plutonium, And Chicken Bones: The Markers We’re Laying Down In Deep Time
Rocks keep time. Not on our human-scale time, but deep time: the almost unimaginable span of billions of years which have already come and gone. Let’s say you’re in the far future and you’re looking for evidence of previous civilisations. Where would you look? The first place would be in the rocks. Advertisement For decades, […]
The World’s Largest Time Capsule Won’t Be Opened For Another 6,000 Years
The Crypt of Civilization was sealed 83 years ago. It won’t be opened again until the year 8113 CE. While studying Ancient Egypt, Dr Thornwell Jacobs was struck by how little accurate information about ancient civilizations had survived. He realized that virtually all our knowledge of life in Ancient Egypt came from just a few […]
Looking Back Toward Cosmic Dawn − Astronomers Confirm The Faintest Galaxy Ever Seen
The universe we live in is a transparent one, where light from stars and galaxies shines bright against a clear, dark backdrop. But this wasn’t always the case – in its early years, the universe was filled with a fog of hydrogen atoms that obscured light from the earliest stars and galaxies. The intense ultraviolet […]
Discover Your Home’s Location During The Time Of The Dinosaurs
Simply type in your address into this interactive map and you can see what your location looked like at the time of the dinosaurs and beyond. Using the Ancient Earth Map – freely accessible at https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth – you can easily click through these colossal changes and see how the Earth appeared through the eons. Advertisement The appearance […]
Researchers Dig Deep Underground In Hopes Of Finally Observing Dark Matter
Physicists like me don’t fully understand what makes up about 83% of the matter of the universe — something we call “dark matter.” But with a tank full of xenon buried nearly a mile under South Dakota, we might one day be able to measure what dark matter really is. In the typical model, dark […]
Perfectly Preserved Dinosaur Embryo Found Inside Fossilized Egg
An incredibly rare, fully articulated dinosaur embryo has been found inside a fossilized egg that had been collecting dust for over a decade in the storage room of a museum in China. Thought to be between 66 and 72 million years old, the unborn specimen reveals an incredible link between dinosaurs and modern birds. Belonging […]
Two New Types Of Mole Could Have Been Living Undetected For 3 Million Years
When researchers discover a new species that has been hiding away for many thousands of years, unsurprisingly, the discovery is usually fossilized. However in Turkey, scientists have now discovered not one, but two new species of living moles that they think have remained hidden away for around 3 million years. The adorable new discoveries have […]
The Longest Living Animal On Earth Can Live For Over 2,000 Years
The Greenland shark is the poster child for animals with extreme longevity – and with good reason. As the longest-living vertebrates on Earth, they develop incredibly slowly in their frosty Arctic home, but when it comes to the longest-living animals on Earth, they’re not all that. The ocean quahog is a pretty unremarkable-looking clam, reaching […]
“Vampire Child” Padlocked And Buried Facedown Unearthed In Graveyard
Archaeologists have found the remains of a 17th-century burial near Pień in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. The infant occupant of this grave had been padlocked and buried facedown, in a practice used to stop the wicked dead from returning to haunt the living. The discovery was found close to another grave where a female […]
What’s The Oldest Surviving Religion In The World?
Around 85 percent of the world’s people identify with a religion, most of which are thousands upon thousands of years old. Of all the countless religious belief systems globally, Hinduism is most often cited as the oldest surviving major religion. However, there are a number of spiritual belief systems that deserve a mention when exploring […]
Waves 3 Times The Size Of The Sun Break On Enormous “Heartbreak” Star
Brightness fluctuations on a star with 10,000 times the Sun’s volume have been explained by enormous waves rippling in its outer layers. Instead of sloshing endlessly around the star, these waves break once a month, throwing gases into orbit. Naming a star MACHO 80.7443.1718 makes it sound tough. However, this star is called that because […]
How Much Does Google Know About You? A Short Video Shows All
If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. That’s especially true when it comes to the internet and the many free services you’re offered, whether it’s social media platforms or search engines. Internet companies often make their billions by advertising and harvesting their users’ data. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get a […]
Why Is Russia Introducing Bison To Replace Extinct Woolly Mammoths?
Russian scientists have introduced 12 bison to the Russian Arctic in the hope they will restore the ancient ecosystem that was once maintained by woolly mammoths. In addition, the scientists involved hope these animals will help slow down the damage being caused by climate change. The bison (Bison bison bison – easy to remember), also […]
A Mysterious Interstellar Radio Signal Has Been Blinking On And Off Every 22 Minutes For Over 30 Years
Last year, we made an intriguing discovery – a radio signal in space that switched on and off every 18 minutes. Astronomers expect to see some repeating radio signals in space, but they usually blink on and off much more quickly. The most common repeating signals come from pulsars, rotating neutron stars that emit energetic […]
6,000-Year-Old Human Remains Hint At Ancient Funerals In Spanish Cave
One of the oldest burial chambers in the Iberian Peninsula has been identified in a cave in northern Spain, with bones from within the pit dated to over 6,000 years ago. Representing some of the earliest Neolithic human remains ever discovered in the region, the find provides a rare insight into the funerary customs of […]
