Recent news has seen the dangers of deep-sea exploration, and the potentially catastrophic events that can happen as a result, thrust into the public eye. With it has come misunderstandings of what decompression and implosion actually are, and how they may arise. So, let’s explore both and what makes them different. What is an implosion […]
Regulators Sue Amazon For Making It Almost Impossible To Cancel Prime Subscription
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially sued Amazon for allegedly making it extremely difficult to cancel a Prime subscription once subscribed. The service, which costs $14.99 or £8.99 a month, has supposedly used tricky tactics to hold onto users for as long as possible, making them jump through hoops to cease payments, a practice […]
Both Humans And AI Hallucinate – But Not In The Same Way
The launch of ever-capable large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-3.5 has sparked much interest over the past six months. However, trust in these models has waned as users have discovered they can make mistakes – and that, just like us, they aren’t perfect. An LLM that outputs incorrect information is said to be “hallucinating”, […]
How Many Ants Are In The World? Think Millions Of Billions
If you’ve ever wondered how many ants there are on Earth, then look no further: there are approximately 20 quadrillion ants currently on planet Earth, according to the latest scientific estimate. How many ants are there in the world? The figure of 20 quadrillion comes from a study published in the journal Proceedings of the […]
Why Does Taking A Nap Make You Feel Groggy And Grumpy When You Wake Up?
Have you ever been longing for a nap all day, and once you have one, you wake up feeling terrible? Well, it is probably all to do with sleep inertia. There are many benefits to a little cat nap in the middle of the day. It is known to reduce stress, improve our mood, boost […]
Funky Fossilized Hand Of A New Species Of Theropod Dinosaur Is Like No Other
Some areas of the world are particularly rich in dinosaur fossils, and while some finds are spectacular or of particular scientific importance, some are just downright confusing. A new discovery in Mongolia fits into the latter category, with an unusual fossil of a theropod dinosaur hand that has some peculiar features. At the Pigeon Hill […]
Relics Of History’s First Known Goddess Emerge In Assyrian City Razed By ISIS
Amid the smashed ruins of an ancient town sacked by ISIS, archeologists have returned and yielded all kinds of ancient artifacts. Among the new relics discovered at the site are ones from a 3,000-year-old temple that was dedicated to Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war, who’s the goddess with the earliest written evidence. […]
Apollo: The Revolutionary Wearable that Enhances Your Well-Being
In today’s fast-paced world, finding effective ways to manage stress and achieve better sleep can seem like an impossible challenge. Thankfully, Apollo Neuro, a new company pioneering discoveries in neuroscience to make products to improve mental health and well-being, has arrived on the scene with its groundbreaking wearable device. The Apollo wearable offers a holistic […]
Some People Don’t Believe Vitamin K Exists. What Does It Do And Why Is It Important For Babies?
There is a rising trend of people in health misinformation circles on the internet claiming that vitamin K does not exist and therefore babies should not be given this injection at birth, despite it being standard practice approved by the CDC. There have always been disgruntled people on the internet that do not like this […]
Google Translate For Cuneiform? Archaeologists Have Used AI To Find A Way
Archaeologists and computer scientists have worked together to create an artificial intelligence (AI) program capable of translating ancient cuneiform texts. The researchers say their goal is for the program to form part of a “human-machine collaboration”, which will assist future scholars in their study of archaic languages. Cuneiform is thought to be the oldest writing […]
Organs Have Been Frozen, Thawed, And Transplanted For The First Time
For the first time, scientists have successfully transplanted an organ that’s been frozen and “defrosted.” The novel feat has only been performed on lab rats so far, but the researchers believe it could someday boost the availability of human organs for life-saving transplants. Organs can be preserved through long-term cryopreservation methods like vitrification, a process […]
Huge 4,000-Year-Old Solar Calendar Sanctuary Unearthed In Netherlands
A 4,000-year-old solar calendar sanctuary has been unearthed by archaeologists in the Netherlands who have described it as the first of its kind. The size of four football pitches, this vast religious site appears to have been constructed so the sun shines straight through certain passages on the main burial mounds on the winter and […]
Tiny Frogs In G-Strings Reveal Insights Into Amphibian Rainforest Navigation
Poison frogs are famous for a lot of things: intense bright colors, tadpole cannibalism, and of course the toxins they secrete through their skin. Wearing teeny tiny trackable frog pants, however, hasn’t been one of them – until now. To explore how males and females of three different species of poison frog are using their […]
IFLScience The Big Questions: How Is Climate Change Affecting Polar Bear Populations?
Polar bears have long been the poster animal and early warning system for all things climate change. We asked experts what is really going on with the “white hairy canaries” of the Arctic. Host Eleanor Higgs spoke with Alysa McCall, Polar Bears International Staff Scientist and Director of Conservation Outreach, on the polar bear monster […]
Seven Coloured Earth: A Geological Wonder Found Nowhere Else On Earth
Located in Southern Mauritius, in the village of Chamarel, the Seven Colored Earth Geopark is home to a roughly 7-million-year-old, one-of-a-kind geological marvel. In keeping with Earth’s penchant for making things rainbow-colored, the sand dunes of Seven Colored Earth are aptly named due to their striking display of seven distinct colors. Thought to have formed […]
Roe v Wade: 1 Year On, What’s Happening With Abortion Rights In The USA?
June 24, 2022, was a watershed moment in US legal and medical history. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of upholding the state of Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, in a case known as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. By so doing, the court effectively ended the constitutional right to abortion in […]
What Would An Alien Astronomer Think Of The Milky Way? Turns Out, It’s Pretty Unusual
Astronomers have reconstructed the global chemical composition of our galaxy to understand how it compares to other galaxies in the Universe. It turns out that it is not unique, but it is certainly unusual. This is something that alien astronomers would be able to pick up, and that we can use to understand the peculiar […]
Stellar “Demolition Derby” Leads To Never-Before-Seen Star Destruction
Stars have been seen to die in three ways. Small ones turn into white dwarfs after having exhausted their fuel and swelling up into red giants. Bigger ones explode in supernovae, forming black holes or neutron stars, or even leaving nothing behind. And then star and stellar remnants in binary systems can merge and go […]
Chimpanzee Vs Bonobo: Do You Know The Difference?
Your average ape-admirer will probably have a hard time spotting the difference between a bonobo and a chimpanzee. In fact, until relatively recently, bonobos were simply known to scientists as “pygmy chimpanzees” and their own name wasn’t widely used until the 1950s. However, it’s now clear that there are some notable differences between these two […]
The Archaeologist Who “Found” Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs In The Grand Canyon
There are, in certain corners of the Internet, people out there who believe that the Smithsonian Museum are covering up evidence that Ancient Egyptians came over to the Grand Canyon, leaving hieroglyphs and mummies hidden for thousands of years. The conspiracy theory goes back further than most, to 1909, when readers of the Arizona Gazette […]
