Tinder is by far the most popular dating app in the world, boasting an estimated 75 million users each month. And while it has offered many a chance to meet new people and start a fulfilling relationship, for others it has been a source of disappointment and confusion. The experience of being “ghosted”, where initially […]
What Was The Egyptian Book Of The Dead?
Like many ancient cultures, the Ancient Egyptians had a rich system of beliefs concerning the afterlife and saw death as just the beginning of a long and arduous journey to the eternal lands. Littered with obstacles and demons, the path to paradise was a treacherous one for the departed of Ancient Egypt, and the so-called […]
Death By Goo? This Spider May Hunt By Dribbling Toxic Digestive Fluids
Venom can be as potent as it pleases, but if you’ve got no way of delivering it, you’re looking at wasted toxins. That got researchers wondering how the feather-legged lace weaver kills its prey, considering it apparently lost the equipment needed to inject over the course of its evolution. Now, a new preprint (that’s not […]
What Was The Cambrian Explosion and Why Was It Important?
Time to cast your minds a long way back into Earth’s geological history, approximately 541 million years, to the beginning of the Paleozoic Era. This is a period long before the arrival of the dinosaurs and long long before modern animals we see today, right to the beginning of the appearance of the first ancestors […]
Closest Supernova Of The Last Decade Studied By Record-Breaking Number Of Citizen Scientists
In science, the more observations, the better the insights. And amateur astronomers are actually killing it when it comes to supernova (SN) 2023ixf. The event is in the Pinwheel galaxy, a spiral galaxy 21 million light-years from us, making it the closest of the last decade. It was discovered first by Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi […]
Kitum Cave Elephants Go Deep Into Caves To Mine At Night
On the Kenya-Uganda boundary lies Mount Elgon. Inside this extinct volcano, there is a fascinating animal population: Cave Elephants. Located on the eastern side of Mount Elgon, within Kenya’s Mount Elgon National Park, elephants serenely forage in the forested surroundings during the daytime. However, at sunset, these elephants make their way up the mountain and […]
Perseverance Discovers More Evidence Of Building Blocks Of Life On Mars
Organic molecules found by the Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater on Mars are more varied than those previously found in Gale Crater by Curiosity and in meteorites knocked off Mars. The molecules detected could have formed without the presence of life, but they do show the planet once had more complex chemistry than previously recognized, […]
People Discover How To Disable Self-Driving Cars With Just A Traffic Cone
People in San Francisco have discovered a ridiculous way to both “prank” self-driving cars and protest their existence by doing a process called “coning”. The simple trick involves placing a single traffic cone on the bonnet of the vehicle, which appears to fully disable the car and makes it immediately stop, switch its hazard lights […]
Olms Are Cave-Dwelling “Baby Dragons” Of The Balkans
When Johann Weikhard von Valvasor first described an olm in 1689, the famed Slovenian polymath believed he’d laid eyes on a baby dragon. After all, local folklore explained that ferocious dragons dwelled beneath the planet’s crust and these strange pale creatures seemed to magically emerge from Earth’s surface during heavy rains. While their mythical prowess […]
Do Dogs Cry? Signs Your Beloved Pup Might Be Sad
It’s well known they’re incredibly sensitive and intelligent pets, but dogs do not cry – at least, not in the sense of shedding tears. However, there are a few telltale signs that your canine companion is feeling blue. Just like cats and most mammals, dogs have tear ducts in their eyes, but they are only […]
People Are Not Happy After Learning How Crab Sticks Are Made
Every now and then on the Internet, people discover something about food that you thought everyone already knew. Hey, we’re all learning, right? A few months back it was the turn of paprika and allspice, but now it’s our old friend the crab stick which is under the spotlight. A video posted to Reddit shows […]
Old Person Smell Is A Real Thing, And This Is Why It Happens
Here’s a weird thing: a study in 2012 found that humans are able to tell whether someone is young or old based on smell alone. In the study, researchers collected the body odors of different age groups by asking them to wear T-shirts in bed for five nights with underarm pads to soak up their […]
Dark Portions Of The Moon Are 200 Million Years Older Than Thought
An international team of astronomers has found a way to make disagreeing estimates of the age of the Moon’s surface finally agree with each other. It turns out some features, such as the maria, which in many countries is referred to as the “Man in the Moon” are now estimated to be millions of years […]
How Common Safety Myths About Submerged Cars May Actually Kill
Falling into water inside a car is something that doesn’t happen to a lot of people, but still happens a surprisingly frequent amount: in 2004-2007, 384 traffic fatalities in the US listed drowning as a cause of death. Knowing what to do should it occur can be the difference between life or death, but there’s […]
Humans Made Giant Sloth Bone Jewelry Over 25,000 Years Ago In Brazil
The must-have accessory for fashionistas living in Ice Age South America was a polished pendant carved from giant sloth bone, it seems. Archaeologists have recently found artifacts made of giant sloth bones in central Brazil that date to over 25,000 years old, providing evidence that humans arrived in the Americas way earlier than once thought. […]
Studying Music Can Increase Brain Gray Matter In Older Adults
Music lessons have a positive impact on brain health in older adults and can even lead to an increase in gray matter, according to a recent study. The findings spark hope for a new non-pharmaceutical intervention to help protect the brain from gradually declining over time. Many of us are concerned about what will happen […]
America Once Made Niagara Falls Stop Flowing For Science
After seeing the sheer size of Niagara Falls, it is almost impossible to think that such a volume of water could ever stop, but it has – twice, in fact, and one of those was entirely down to humans. The first was a simple tale of unfortunate timing. On March 29, 1848, local people woke […]
Scientists Kept Finding Octagons On The Seafloor, Now They Know Why
Mysterious octagons stamped across the seabed of the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard had scientists scratching their heads. Some were mini while others were bigger than a basketball, but what was causing them? Remote-operated vehicles (ROV) were able to get to the bottom of the peculiar prints, discovering that they appear to be the […]
Man Develops Rare Case Of Green Hairy Tongue
A man presented to his doctors with an unusual and slightly worrying symptom: his tongue had turned green and hairy. The 64-year-old had noticed the change to his tongue over the few weeks prior to his appointment at the clinic. Advertisement “On physical examination, the tongue had elongated filiform papillae and green discoloration. No other […]
Shark-Infested Lakes Exist And You Might Have Already Swum In One
If you’ve planned a relaxing summer vacation by the edge of a lake you might think your chances of running, or rather swimming, into a shark are pretty low. Surprisingly there are several places around the world that are home to sharks capable of surviving in freshwater. Guess you’re going to need a bigger boat […]
