In a schematic view, an engine uses a thermodynamic change to produce work. For example, when a gas is ignited, it expands and so pushes a piston. Now, researchers have been able to develop a similar kind of engine but instead of using the relationship between temperature, pressure, and volume, the new device uses quantum […]
Four New Luminous Snails Come To Light In Second-Of-Its-Kind Discovery
Japanese and Thai researcher have identified four species of luminous snails in what is only the second discovery of this kind in 80 years. Bioluminescence is actually quite rare among animals. To date, scientists have only identified around 7,000 species of animals that can glow this way, most of which are located in the world’s […]
Red Queen Hypothesis: The Never-Ending “Arms Race” That Fuels Evolution
The Red Queen hypothesis was coined by biologists to explain the relentless “evolutionary arms race” that spurs the evolution of species. When it comes to natural selection, species must constantly adapt to survive being pitted against competing organisms and adversarial enemies that are also constantly evolving. The idea was first described by Leigh Van Valen […]
What Are Tachyons And Do They Even Exist?
In 2011 physicists at CERN made one of the great “huge if true” claims of their field, reporting that neutrinos had been observed to get from Switzerland to Italy faster than light. Although subsequently disproven, this wasn’t the first, nor the last, time these poorly understood particles were claimed to break the great cosmic speed […]
It’s Impossible To Keep Mountain Gorillas In A Zoo – Here’s Why
Chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and lowland gorillas can all enjoy long lives in captivity, but one great ape you’ll never see in a zoo is a mountain gorilla. Some zoos have tried to capture and contain these wild beasts, but it didn’t end well. Mountain gorillas are a subspecies of the eastern gorillas, found in high-altitude […]
Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Umami – Now Meet The Sixth Taste
Scientists believe they have identified a new basic taste that’s detectable by the tongue. Joining the ranks of sweet, savory, sour, bitter, and umami, a new study suggests the tongue might also detect ammonium chloride as a basic taste. Researchers have known for decades that the tongue responds to ammonium chloride, but new research from […]
Futurist Predicts Human Immortality Will Be Achievable By 2030
Computer scientist and futurist Ray Kurzweil has set some very specific timelines for when humanity will achieve immortality, and artificial intelligence (AI) will reach the singularity. The good news, if his predictions prove to be accurate, is that you just need to ride out the next seven years for your chance at living forever. Kurzweil has a […]
Legendary Ancient Temple Believed To Be Lost Has Been Found In Mexico
Archaeologists have found the remains of an ancient Mexican temple that was thought to be little more than a legend. Within the city of Atlixco in central Mexico, there has long been a rumor of a lost temple, or teocalli, that was built centuries before the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century. According to […]
Fossil Frogs Dating Back 10 Million Years Become The World’s First Gingers
The first molecular evidence for a ginger pigment in the fossil record has been described by palaeontologists at University College Cork. Looking at fossil frogs that date back 10 million years, the team discovered the earliest known molecular evidence of phaeomelanin, arguably making these anurans the original gingers. The discovery will help future palaeontologists to […]
How Is Climate Change Affecting Glaciers And What Are The Consequences?
Glaciers are disappearing around the planet, and the questions of how scientists monitor glaciers and how these glaciers affect global sea level rise are very important for the future. For The Big Questions, IFLScience’s podcast, we spoke to Dr Peter Davis, a physical oceanographer from the British Antarctic Survey to discuss these questions and his […]
First Modern Humans Out Of Africa Didn’t Have To Swim Or Float
Stone tools have been found in a dry river channel in Jordan that may mark the beginnings of humanity’s great migration out of Africa. The tools have been dated to 84,000 years ago, and coincide with a time when these channels would have been filled with water. The findings suggest people left Africa through the […]
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards Are Back For 2023 And Better Than Ever
It’s that time of year again when the team at the Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards rounds up the best and the most hilarious wildlife images of the year for your viewing pleasure. This year’s selection features an owl getting a telling-off, an otter practicing their ballet, and more than one attempt at flying gone wrong. […]
Should We Treat COVID-19 Like Flu? Or Instead Treat Flu Like COVID-19?
Should COVID-19 be treated like the flu? Or is it time we started treating the flu like COVID-19? It’s a question considered by new research from New Zealand where scientists are suggesting that we’ve got things the wrong way around. Rather than downgrading the severity of COVID to that of other infectious diseases, perhaps it’s […]
Mounds On Distant World Arrokoth Open A Window On How It Formed
Back in 2019, NASA’s New Horizons probe flew by Arrokoth, a two-lobed small object in the Kuiper Belt far beyond Neptune. Observations of the object reveal mounds on the surface of the lobes and their size, shape, and composition. They are all remarkably similar, suggesting that these were the original building blocks for this far-away […]
Highest-Energy Light Ever From A Pulsar Is Coming From One Of The Closest To Earth
Scientists have observed some incredibly energetic light coming from a nearby pulsar, the highest-ever from this type of star and close to the highest-ever seen from a cosmic source. Each photon had an energy of 20 TeV which is roughly 20 times the kinetic energy of a flying mosquito – and that comes from a […]
Audience Members At Classical Music Gigs Can Physically Sync Up
Nothing feels quite like the shared experience of hearing live music in a room full of other people. But new research is demonstrating how that experience may go far beyond how we feel, by showing how physiological processes can sync up across audience members at a classical music concert. The study, led by Wolfgang Tschacher […]
NASA Finds “The Very Best Problem” When Opening Up Bennu Sample
When you are firing a spacecraft at an asteroid, touching the spacecraft down on that asteroid very briefly to collect a sample, and then returning the sample to Earth, there are a lot of opportunities for problems. Despite the difficulty of the task, NASA successfully returned a sample of asteroid Bennu to Earth in late […]
Earliest Human Footprints In North America Verified At 23,000 Years Old
Two years ago, when a team of archaeologists made the mind-blowing claim that they had identified 23,000 to 20,000-year-old human footprints in New Mexico, many were surprised but not everyone was convinced. However, new research has affirmed this dating, indicating that people were wandering around North America during the Ice Age. “The immediate reaction in […]
Over 10,000 Ancient Human Structures Could Be Hidden In The Amazon Basin
According to new research, there are probably more than 10,000 pre-Columbian archaeological sites hidden throughout the Amazon basin. Indigenous societies have lived within the Amazon basin for more than 12,000 years. Throughout their history, these ancient peoples developed various techniques to cultivate and transform the land that surrounded them. They had a profound knowledge of […]
The Moon Has Been Caught Shrinking By 50-Year-Old Lunar Seismometers
The Moon is appearing smaller and smaller in our skies. Over time, the number of total eclipses will decrease until one day, around 600 million years from now, humans (or whichever breed of dog takes over once we’re gone) will look up and see the final total eclipse as the Moon no longer covers the […]
