Do you love cilantro, or do you hate it? The common kitchen herb, also known as coriander, is a staple in parts of the globe – and yet some people think it tastes like soap. Fresh cilantro is the leafy part of the Coriandrum sativum plant, which is entirely edible. As well as fresh leaves, […]
How Do Large Wind Farms Impact Sea Life?
In a concerted effort to tackle the climate crisis, humans are turning to offshore wind farms (OWFs) as a source of renewable energy – how does this affect the surrounding sea life? OWFs are, quite literally, one of the biggest forms of renewable energy. The world’s largest covers an area of 462 square kilometers (around […]
Found A Mysterious Blob On The Beach? You Could Be Looking At Sea Pork
Mysterious blobs are the ocean’s bread and butter, as anyone who’s lived near a beach will tell you. All kinds of suspicious lumps can wash ashore, but among them, one of the most peculiar is sea pork, a porcine-like blob that’s meaty, but probably not all that appetizing. Sea pork refers to several species of […]
The White Dots On Strawberries Are Not Strawberry Seeds
You might already be aware that the name “strawberry” is a misnomer, as strawberries aren’t really berries at all. Well, it seems strawberries are full of surprises, or rather covered in them because those seedy-looking white dots aren’t actually seeds. The strawberries’ pitted accessories are called achenes, and they are in fact the plant’s fruit, with each […]
We May Finally Know Why Humans Have Such Big Brains
The size of the human brain has roughly tripled over the past four million years of hominid evolution, yet the factors driving this encephalic expansion are not fully understood. Attempting to solve this conundrum, a very brainy biologist has devised a computer model that recreates the development of our cognitive contraption, revealing that the human […]
Bees Can Keep Track of Neighborhood Antimicrobial Resistance
The humble honeybee could become the newest recruit in the fight against a growing global health threat. In a new study, researchers enlisted honeybees, using them to keep track of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment. AMR is the result of bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens evolving to the point where they are no longer […]
69-Million-Year-Old T. Rex Cousins Found Among Africa’s Last Dinosaurs
Two new dinosaur species have been described by scientists in Morocco, dating back to the period just before an asteroid wiped out 90 percent of life on Earth 66 million years ago. They were primitive cousins of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, only with bulldog snouts and even tinier arms. Bless. Dating back to the end […]
India Claims Moon First, Measuring The Temperature At The Lunar South Pole
India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has made a world (or moon) first: measuring the temperature of the soil at the lunar south pole. Last week, the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover successfully touched down on the lunar surface, making India the fourth nation on Earth to land successfully on the Moon, and the first to land near the […]
Uncovering Zealandia: The Hypothesized Continent That’s Actually Real
The world map was not always as complete as it is today and for centuries explorers spent time, money, and, sometimes, their lives, traveling the planet to fill in the gaps. Relying on a mix of observation, hypothesis, and pure myth-testing, these explorers searched for landmasses and peoples both real and imagined. As you can […]
Could Sargassum Be Behind The Myth Of The Bermuda Triangle?
For years, people have claimed that ships and aircraft that pass over the Bermuda Triangle – a loosely defined area between Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico – tend to go missing or get wrecked at a higher rate than elsewhere on the planet. Pushing through the Bermuda Triangle is the Sargasso Sea, which some claim […]
How Do Psychic Predictions Work? I Visited One To Find Out
As I wait, shuffling nervously between the cramped shelves of Spiritualism for my psychic, Paula, to materialize from her sanctuary (the basement), I half-read the almost comically specific inscriptions of the “supernatural stones” the shop sells. “Bloodstone – A stone to overcome influences such as electromagnetic stress”. “Bronzite – known to protect against curses”. “Amethyst […]
First Emission Lines From The Outskirts Of A Supermassive Black Hole’s Accretion Disk
For the first time, the distinctive double peaks in emission lines detected from the heart of a galaxy have given us a chance to explore the edges of the bright disk surrounding the central black hole. This has not only confirmed many things we suspected about the region around supermassive black holes, but also allowed […]
Noises Heard In Biggest Hunt For The Loch Ness Monster In 50 Years
For some reason, 2023 was the year that people decided that the Loch Ness Monster has been fannying around for too long and it’s time to show its face. A huge hunt took place over the weekend for Nessie, the beast first “photographed” 89 years ago and which occasionally turns out to be a fish. […]
Brain-Dead Woman Gives Birth To Live Baby – How Is This Possible?
A new case report describes how a brain-dead woman was able to carry a fetus almost to term before the healthy baby was eventually delivered by cesarean section. Though similar incidents are rare, a recent systematic review uncovered 35 examples of pregnant women becoming brain-dead, 27 of which ended with a live birth, including three […]
New Blended Wing Body Aircraft Could Take To The Air In Just 4 Years
A revolutionary blended wing body (BWB) aircraft could take to the skies in as little as four years after the US Air Force selected JetZero to head up the next phase of its development program. This will be a seriously futuristic-looking craft, but the idea of rethinking airplane design in this way is nothing new. […]
What Your Hands Say About Your Health
Your hands reveal a lot about the state of your health. This is something that has been recognised since at least the time of Hippocrates – the father of modern medicine. The ancient Greek physician first described “clubbing” in a patient with empyema (where pus fills the space between the lungs and the membrane around […]
COVID: Should We Start Wearing Masks Again?
One thing that can be guaranteed about COVID is that evolution will provide us with a more or less constant stream of new coronavirus variants, some of which will be more successful at infecting people. Talk of mutations sounds scary and it can lead to serious problems, but it would be a mistake to think […]
Human Cells Have “Memory” Wiped In Major Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough
Scientists have found a way to reprogram human cells so that they mimic the highly plastic embryonic stem cells that have so much promise for use in regenerative medicine. By essentially wiping the cell’s “memory”, the team have created so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which could be used to regenerate or repair diseased tissue and […]
Bad Breath? You May Have Tonsil Stones
If you look down the back of your throat, you may be shocked to discover a small lump of hard material nestled in the folds of your tonsils. These are called tonsil stones, but what exactly are they made of? Firstly, what are tonsils? Despite what some people believe, the dangly thing at the back […]
New Gene Therapy Cuts Drinking In Alcohol-Dependent Monkeys By 90 Percent
A new gene therapy for alcohol addiction has shown impressive results in a study in monkeys. If these results translate to human trials, we could be looking at a whole new way of treating severe alcohol dependency. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a challenging condition to treat, with huge implications for the physical and mental […]
