You may have heard about an asteroid set to fly near Earth that is the size of 18 platypus, or maybe the one that’s the size of 33 armadillos, or even one the size of 22 tuna fish. These outlandish comparisons are the invention of Jerusalem Post journalist Aaron Reich (who bills himself as “creator […]
Why Laundry Smells Better When Hung Outside To Dry
It has been recognized for quite a while that the human nose is capable of recognizing over 1 trillion different odors. With the old favorites like cut grass, freshly baked bread, and the smell of new books all set to please those with a sense of smell, research has explained why laundry dried outside in […]
This Lake Appears To Hang Above The Ocean Like Nature’s Infinity Pool
The natural world is full of all kinds of strange phenomena, from spooky Brocken specters to chocolate waterfalls. Now, we explain the optical illusion showing the lake that seemingly floats above the sea below. At the center of a rough triangle between the top of Scotland, the east coast of Iceland, and the west of […]
New Zealand Hunting Competition Challenges Children To Kill Feral Cats
A hunting competition in New Zealand has come under fire from the New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for asking children under the age of 14 to kill feral cats. The North Canterbury Hunting Competition, which aims to raise money for a local school, was offering $250 to the child […]
A Fly Lands On Your Food, Is It Still Safe To Eat?
Imagine the upset: a gang of hairy houseflies arrive at your dinner without an invitation and take a seat on top of your favorite dish. They take a few steps, rub their grubby hands together, puke, then rudely leave. Is your food still safe to eat? Generally speaking, the risk of falling sick is relatively […]
Religion Claims To Have Created A New Psychedelic Drug As Its Sacrament
Mix a tiger and lion and you get a liger, cross a polar bear and a grizzly and you have a pizzly, but what happens if you mush up some hallucinogenic toad slime with a bunch of magic mushrooms? According to psychonaut lore, this mind-mangling mix produces a hybrid psychedelic drug called psilomethoxin, and while […]
What Is Da Vinci Glow And How To See It This Week
This month’s new Moon on April 20 is giving skywatchers plenty of reasons to look up this week. Not only is it instrumental in the rare once-in-a-decade type of eclipse happening on Thursday but it’s providing an exceptionally good opportunity to catch the phenomenon known as the Da Vinci Glow. Instead of just seeing the […]
Cause Of Green Laser Lights Spotted Over Mount Fuji In 2022 Confirmed
If we had a dime for how many times green lasers falling from the sky have been caught on camera in the last six months, well, we would have two dimes, which is not much but it is weird that it happened twice. Just a few months back we reported on a Matrix-like glitch that […]
China Gave AI Control Of A Satellite, And It Started Staring At Bizarre Areas
Supposedly, artificial intelligence (AI) is coming for all our jobs. Well, maybe not all – researchers recently put AI in control of their satellite to take images of Earth targets, and it took a route that has absolutely bewildered them. Either it is operating at an intelligence far beyond our comprehension, or it just makes […]
This Is The World’s Oldest Bar Joke, But Literally Nobody Knows Why It’s Funny
Say, have you heard the one about the Abderite who saw a eunuch talking to a woman and asked whether she was his wife? Upon hearing that eunuchs couldn’t take wives, the Abderite replied: “so, is she your daughter?” Didn’t tickle your funny bone? It probably sounded better in the original Latin – along with […]
Why Do Spacecraft Take So Long To Get To Jupiter?
The European Space Agency mission JUICE launched last Friday with a lot of excitement and will reach Jupiter in 2031, after an 8-year journey. NASA’s Europa Clipper will launch next year and arrive in 2030. And yet the Voyager probes took just less than two years to get to the largest planet in the Solar […]
Humans Have Been Predicting Eclipses For Thousands Of Years, But It’s Harder Than You Might Think
The coastal town of Exmouth in Western Australia is due to experience one of the most spectacular astronomical phenomena on April 20 2023 – a total solar eclipse. Eclipses have entranced us for millennia. But it turns out calculating exactly when and where we can watch an eclipse in its full glory can be surprisingly […]
Princesses Played Critical Role In The Diversity Of Mongolia’s First Nomadic Empire
Painstaking archaeological research and new DNA evidence has revealed fascinating insights into the Xiongnu empire, the world’s first nomadic imperial power. The research not only shows how ethnically diverse this empire was, but also the critical role princesses played in building its political structure. The Xiongnu empire arose on the Mongolian steppe around 2,500 […]
What Scientists Found When They Studied The Shroud Of Turin
The shroud of Turin is a large piece of linen cloth that was used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ, according to those who believe in it. The cloth contains a faint image, which people have claimed shows the face of Jesus of Nazareth himself, complete with a crown of thorns and stains which […]
First “Pristine” Deep-Sea Coral Reef Found Off The Galápagos Islands
A four-week mission to explore the waters around the Galápagos islands has struck scientific gold almost immediately, with a reef lying 400-600 meters (1,300-2,000 feet) beneath the surface of the Galápagos Marine Reserve. The biology of the reef will take some time to explore, but may prove as distinctive as the islands above. Since Darwin, […]
Antineutrinos From Nuclear Reactor Spotted In Deep Mine Detector 240 Kilometers Away
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Plus (SNO+) is a neutrino detector located deep within Creighton Mine in Sudbury, Ontario. At 2,100 meters (6,890 feet) below ground, it is shielded from most cosmic particles coming from above. But not all. And those that can get there are its target: neutrinos. Neutrinos are elementary particles with very little […]
The Purpose Of Japan’s Huge “Rock Ship Of Masuda” Is Lost To Time
In the quiet hills of Japan, the “Rock Ship of Masuda” can be found hidden among the bamboo looking as if it’s just crash-landed from another planet. Despite its strangely smooth surfaces and angular indents, the structure has been around for centuries, although its original purpose has been long-forgotten. Bar the odd tourist blog, very […]
Will The Earth Last Forever?
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]. Will the Earth last forever? – Solomon, age 5, California Everything that has a beginning has an end. But the Earth will last for a very long time, and its […]
Why Did Gold Become The Go-To Element For Money?
There are a number of good reasons why gold became the go-to chemical to form the basis of money systems throughout history. After all, why didn’t people settle on copper or einsteinium? In short, gold is the ideal choice for a currency as it’s relatively unreactive, relatively rare, and has a relatively low melting point. […]
A Two-Year-Old Got An Ecstasy Pill Stuck Up Her Nose. This Is What Happened
The case of a toddler who became intoxicated after getting an ecstasy pill lodged in her nose has been detailed by a medical team in a new report. The 2-year-old had reached into a box above the fridge where her mother stored ecstasy pills, the authors explain. Unfortunately, the girl took one of the pills […]
