A collection of artifacts oozing with color, culture, and sexuality has been discovered among the ruins of an ancient city found along Italy’s Almarli coast. Chief among those finds is a vibrant red figurine that depicts Eros, the Greek god of love and sex, riding a dolphin. The relics were unearthed at the site of […]
A Sinkhole Swallowed A Man’s Bedroom In 2013. No Trace Of Him Has Been Found
A distressing story has resurfaced on Reddit over the last few days, concerning a man who was swallowed up by a sinkhole in Florida on March 1, 2013. Jeff Bush, 37, was asleep when a sinkhole opened up beneath his home in Seffner, Florida. The hole – about 6 meters (20 feet) across and deep, […]
Extra-Long DMT Trips Could Help Researchers Study “Entity Encounters”
While people tripping on DMT often lose all perception of time, the peak effects of the drug only last for about 10 to 20 minutes before subsiding completely in around half an hour. However, in a yet-to-be-published paper, researchers say they have managed to extend the acute phase of the DMT state to a full […]
First US State Ban On TikTok Has Been Passed By Montana
Montana has become the first US state to pass legislation banning TikTok from nearly all devices. There are still some uncertainties about how the ban will actually work, but many suspect other states might be looking to roll out similar laws to prohibit the social media platform. Montana’s House of Representatives voted in favor of […]
Male Contraception Could Be Edging Closer Thanks To New Genetic Discovery
A gene that’s only expressed in the testicles of various mammals, including humans, could be the key to an effective, reversible, non-hormonal form of contraception for men. A new study details how manipulating the Arrdc5 gene in mice led to infertility in males, and scientists say that a drug targeting this gene could be a […]
Watch Starship’s First Flight Live Here – There’s A Chance It Might Explode
Starship is finally ready to take the sky. The launch window opens at 7 am Central Time (12 pm UTC) and Elon Musk promises that while it might not be successful, it will be anything but boring. Starship is a huge project for SpaceX, quite literally. It is going to be the biggest rocket ever […]
TWIS: 1,750-Year-Old Text Reveals Hidden New Bible Chapter, New Mineral Found In The Charred Remains Of A Lightning-Struck Tree, And Much More This Week
This week, AI sharpens the first-ever image of a black hole with incredible results, it turns out it’s pretty easy to die from soy sauce consumption, and we weigh up just how many organs the human body can afford to lose. Subscribe to the IFLScience newsletter for all the biggest science news delivered straight to […]
Astronomers Have Directly Detected A Massive Exoplanet. The Method Could Transform The Search For Life Beyond Earth
Finding life on other planets might well be the holy grail of astronomy, but the hunt for suitable host planets that can sustain life is a resource-intensive task. The search for exoplanets (planets outside our Solar System) involves competing for time on Earth’s biggest telescopes – yet the hit rate of this search can be […]
“Unprecedented” Pre-Hispanic Ceremonial Structure May Have Been Used For Controlling The Weather
A strange circular structure in the cold, harsh highlands of Bolivia may once have hosted rituals designed to control the region’s hostile climate, researchers have suggested. Reporting the discovery of the unusual pre-Hispanic ceremonial center, the study authors say the “surprising” construction is unlike any other ever found in the Andes. The ruin was located […]
A City-Sized Patch Of Fallen Trees Is Piling Up In Arctic Canada
Deep in the Canadian Arctic, you can find a 51-square-kilometer (20-square-mile) pileup of fallen trees and ancient wood. Scientists have recently mapped this woody pile-up – the largest “logjam” in the world – and believe it’s likely to be having a massively underappreciated impact on the planet’s carbon cycle. The pile-up is located in the […]
The Ancient Persians Built Windmills Over 1,000 Years Ago That Still Work Today
Some of the oldest windmills in the world are found in Nashtifan, on the windswept plains of northeastern Iraq. These vertical-axis windmills are thought to have been built over 1,000 years ago. They still work today and could be used to mill grain into flour. Advertisement Credit: Great Big Story Deborah BloomfieldSource Link: The Ancient […]
All The Silver Discovered In The World Would Fit In A 55 x 55 Meter Cube
Despite the fact that the largest silver nugget ever found weighed around the same as an adult bison it is thought that all the silver in the world would be able to fit into a 55 by 55 meter (180 by 180 foot) cube. Just FYI, this cube is bigger than the gold one, which […]
Lubricant Is Leaking From The Seabed, And It May Be Raising Earthquake Risk
Scientists have found a strange warm liquid spewing out from the seabed “like a firehose” near Oregon, which they suspect could provide some hints about earthquake activity in the Pacific Northwest. Researchers led by the University of Washington named the first-of-its-kind discovery Pythia’s Oasis. Located around 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Newport, […]
Two High School Students Discover “Impossible” Proof Of The Pythagorean Theorem
When a result has been around for as long as the one we now know as the Pythagorean Theorem – it’s maybe 4,000 years old at least, at last count – you might expect there wouldn’t be much new to say about it. But as two high school students from New Orleans may now have […]
Last Year’s Tonga Volcanic Eruption Was The Largest Natural Explosion In A Century
The 2022 underwater eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcano released energy equivalent to 20 megatons of TNT in five explosions, the largest of which was 15 megatons. That puts it well behind Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear bomb ever tested, but far ahead of America’s largest nuclear bomb, the 1.2-megaton B83. It also […]
Discovery Of 60 New Genetic Diseases Finally Brings Answers For Thousands Of Children
Around 5,500 children with rare genetic diseases can put a name to their condition for the first time, thanks to a decade-long study. Sixty of the diseases diagnosed are brand new to science, and three-quarters of the genetic mutations identified were not inherited from the children’s parents. Understanding the genetic causes of their conditions means […]
At 4.4 Billion Years Old, This Is The Oldest Piece Of Earth Ever Found
This beautifully blue speck of zircon crystal is dated to around 4.4 billion years old, making it the earliest confirmed piece of the planet’s crust and providing some clues about how life on Earth came to be. The ancient crystal was found in the sticks of Western Australia at a remote rock outcrop called Jack […]
Exclusive: Europe Is Off To See If The Moons Of Jupiter Could Host Life
Get ready icy moons of Jupiter, Europe is coming for you. Today the first-ever European mission to Jupiter, JUICE, successfully launched from French Guiana, and is now on its peculiar flight towards the Jovian system. It will reach the gas giant in July 2031 and once there will provide new insights into its three large […]
The Flannan Isle Mystery: What Happened To Three Lighthouse Keepers 123 Years Ago?
In 1900, three lighthouse keepers posted on a remote Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides went missing and were never seen again. The account of the crew of the Flannan Isle Lighthouse has become a popular story that evokes all the tropes of a gothic mystery, and has generated a plethora of explanations ranging from […]
Tilapia Skin Grafts Won’t Turn You Into Aquaman But They May Save Your Skin
In an unexpected and unintentional ode to Aquaman, a rather unusual biomaterial has been trialed in Brazil, where it’s been used to great success in the treatment of burns. If something seems fishy to you, that’s probably because it is: the secret ingredient in all this is tilapia, the freshwater fish native to Africa but […]