Lightning is no doubt one of nature’s most impressive creations, from the 11-hour lightning marathon after the Tonga eruptions to bright green lightning bolts captured on Jupiter. Down on Earth is no exception with this spectacular composite image taken in the Turkish sky. Amateur astronomer Uğur İkizler made this incredible image by combining images of the different […]
Detecting HIV Could One Day Be As Easy As Picking Up The Phone
Monitoring HIV status could become easier than ever before, thanks to an innovative new device developed by a team at Johns Hopkins University. The device is powered by a smartphone and uses CRISPR technology to produce a result in just 15 minutes, giving patients a rapid and accurate measurement of their viral load. “We want […]
Do You Crush Microbes When You Step On Them?
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. Do viruses, bacteria and other small things get crushed like an ant when stepped on? – Ryan L., age 12, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Advertisement When you step on some […]
How Uploading Our Minds To A Computer Might Become Possible
The idea that our mind could live on in another form after our physical body dies has been a recurring theme in science fiction since the 1950s. Recent television series such as Black Mirror and Upload, as well as some games, demonstrate our continued fascination with this idea. The concept is known as mind uploading. […]
People Are Only Just Discovering This “Secret” Feature On Toasters, And We Have Concerns
Inventors, bless them, are constantly coming out with new inventions. If this story is anything to go on, they’d be far better off putting their fancy new flying cars on hold and simply forcing everyone to learn how to use the inventions they already have. A video of a toaster has been widely shared on […]
Why People Would Not Sleep In The Catacombs Of Paris For $10 Million
Over the past week, people have been debating whether they would stay in the catacombs of Paris for a cool $10 million. The debate is entirely hypothetical, started by the account “creepy.org” on Twitter. $10 million is a lot of money, so why aren’t people keen? Well, as well as concerns about respect for the […]
Wolves Can Recognize Human Voices, Just Like Dogs
A new study has shown that wolves, just like dogs, recognize and respond to human voices, especially those they are familiar with. This has interesting implications for our understanding of both canine domestication and how species interact. Many animals can discriminate between members of their species (conspecifics) and recognize familiar individuals by sight, smell, or […]
Why Lemon Juice And Sodas Can Cause False Positives In Some Tests
The rumors are true: lemon juice, soda, and other beverages can be misused to provide false-positive results on certain tests, such as lateral flow tests. This piece of knowledge grew during the COVID-19 pandemic when schoolkids in the UK were reportedly using this trick to forge at-home tests to get out of class. However, there […]
Classic MythBusters Clip Demonstrates Just How Quickly Implosion Happens
The one fundamental law of the universe remains true – if something happens, MythBusters or The Simpsons foresaw it. With the recent catastrophic implosion of the Titan submersible while hunting the Titanic, a MythBusters clip of them testing out what implosion actually looks like has resurfaced and it’s pretty dramatic. The MythBusters team looked to […]
The Singing Sand Dunes Of Dunhuang: China’s Mysterious Musical Phenomenon
In China’s northwestern Gansu Province, the city of Dunhuang’s desert hills are alive with the sound of music. A fascinating, and somewhat eery, phenomenon causes the staggeringly high sand dunes scattered throughout the Kumtag Desert to “sing” in the wind. The Singing Sand Dunes range in size, with the highest peak reaching 1,715 meters (5,626 […]
Nearby Star Cluster May Be Nearly As Old As The Universe
A new technique has been used to estimate the age of globular star cluster M92 at 13.8 billion years, plus or minus 0.75 billion years. This is an almost exact match for the estimated age of the Universe, albeit with wider error bars. Either this nearby collection of stars formed as soon as possible after […]
Iceland Suspends 2023’s Whaling Season – And It’s Unlikely To Return In Future
Iceland’s government has suspended this season’s commercial whaling due to animal welfare concerns. While the suspension only lasts until the end of this summer 2023, animal rights groups are hoping it will be the final nail in the coffin for the dwindling whaling industry in Iceland. The move was announced on June 20 by Svandís […]
Study Finds Out What Happens When Students Stop Using Pornography For A Week
A study has taken a look at whether regular porn users experience withdrawal symptoms after seven days of abstaining (or attempting to abstain) from pornography. After the rise of the Internet, there has been a significant increase in pornography consumption, with PornHub – one of the most popular adult websites – reporting over 39 billion […]
The JWST Has Taken This Stunning Image Of Saturn And More
The JWST devoted more than two and a half hours of its precious time to observing Saturn this weekend, and the images above and below are among the products. The different images show the planet, its rings, and sometimes its moons as seen using different filters, in some cases really letting the rings steal the […]
Just A 3-Minute Activity Boosted Male Sexual Response In Study
Just three minutes of physical stress appears to increase males’ responses to sexual stimuli, according to one study. When shown sexual images, males that had done a short bout of exerting strong hand grip just prior had a stronger bodily response compared to the control group, suggesting physical exertion could boost mechanisms controlling arousal. The […]
This Is Why You Can Live In Hiroshima And Nagasaki But Not Chernobyl
Three of the most cataclysmic nuclear events of the 20th century took place in three cities, two in Japan and one in Ukraine. We are probably all familiar with what happened in each case, but what isn’t so clear is why people have been able to live and thrive in Hiroshima and Nagasaki but not […]
The Next Pompeii? Another Volcanic Titan Lurks In The Mediterranean
Mount Vesuvius is the infamous volcanic force that looms over the Gulf of Naples. However, it’s less known that this idyllic pocket of the Italian coast is also home to another peril: Campi Flegrei. Given its potential to rain hell on a major Mediterranean city, it’s been speculated that this active volcano could create the […]
People Are Asking Why The Titanic Didn’t Implode As It Sank
Last week, the Titan submersible imploded as it went down to explore the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five passengers. People now appear to be confused as to what caused the implosion, and why the Titanic did not suffer the same fate. On Thursday, conservative radio show host Jesse Kelly tweeted: “I have a […]
Is Exercise Really Good For The Brain? Here’s What The Science Says
The health benefits of physical activity are undeniable. Yet, a recent study based on data published over the past 30 years challenges the famous adage Mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body) and questions the importance of exercise for both brain health and cognition. Advertisement A few days after that […]
If Humans Went Extinct, What Would The Earth Look Like One Year Later?
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. If humans went extinct, what would the Earth look like one year later? – Essie, age 11, Michigan Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if everyone […]
