This week, we explore the gravity anomaly at Hudson Bay, Canada, find out the estimate for the maximum number of T. rexes to ever walk the Earth, and investigate whether you can actually sniff out an oncoming downpour. Subscribe to the IFLScience newsletter for all the biggest science news delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday […]
Ancient Babylonian Flood Myth That Inspired Biblical Tale Had A Dark Twist
The flood story you may be most familiar with is probably Noah’s Ark, but it’s far from the only tale of a great flood sent by a god to destroy a civilization. There are eight basic plots in storytelling, not seven: Overcoming the monster, rags to riches, the quest, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy, rebirth […]
Does The Brain Really Mature At The Age Of 25?
When can you really consider yourself to have an “adult” brain? People often claim that the brain is fully cooked at the age of 25, making us more rational but also harder to change – but in reality, things are a lot more complex. Does the brain stop developing at 25? The short answer: No. […]
Suspected Real-Time Gravitational Wave Detection Of A Black Hole Eating A Neutron Star
A likely detection has been made of gravitational waves from a long-sought event: a black hole consuming a neutron star, and telescopes worldwide are hoping to confirm it. The signal was picked up by LIGO during an engineering run, and the circular alerting astronomers acknowledges uncertainty remains. Nevertheless, there is a better than even chance […]
Forensics Are Different When Someone Dies In A Body Of Water. First, You Need To Locate Them
While the iconic “crime scene – do not cross” tape may be a familiar sight on land, it’s a different story when it comes to water. With no way to tape off an entire lake or a slice of the vast expanse of the ocean, investigations in, under or beside the water present a unique […]
Scientists Once Scanned The Brains Of 3 Suspected Zombies In Haiti
The undead don’t usually participate in clinical studies, although three supposed zombies once agreed to have their brain activity measured by researchers in Haiti. Like an episode of Scooby Doo, the investigation was launched in an attempt to uncover the identity of the spooky trio, each of whom had been recognized by locals as long-deceased […]
Germania: Hitler’s Dream For His Third Reich Capital Megacity
From the iconic Brandenburg Gate to the tranquility of the Tiergarten, modern-day Berlin is certainly not short of attractions. Germany’s capital is also peppered with clues to a tumultuous and sometimes troubled past. During one of its darkest episodes, as the Nazis rose to power and the world hurtled towards global conflict once more, Adolf […]
Amazing Footage Suggests That Octopuses May Have Nightmares Too
Keep an eye on an octopus taking a nap and you might catch their skin flashing between a sallow white tone and a vibrant color. Amazingly, scientists believe this is evidence of dreaming. While you might expect octopuses to dream happy thoughts of chasing shrimp, it appears that not all their dreams are pleasant – […]
Prehistoric Planet’s 5-Day Dino Party Is About To Kick Off – Here’s What To Expect
Prehistoric Planet is back for a second season on Apple TV+ as narrator David Attenborough and producers Jon Favreau, Mike Gunton, and Tim Walker take you back in time to enjoy life as it was 66 million years ago. Our jaunt through the Cretaceous will take place as a five-day viewing event that showcases dinosaurs, […]
Blue Origin Vs SpaceX Is Back On: NASA Awards Competitive Lunar Contract To Bezos
Blue Origin is the second private company to receive a contract to develop a lunar lander for NASA. After SpaceX, it’s Bezos’ company that will be ferrying the Artemis astronauts from Lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. The goal is to have this new landing system ready and tested for Artemis […]
Why Did Early Humans Have Perfectly Straight Teeth?
Fossil records suggest that ancient humans usually had straight teeth and wisdom teeth. Today, between 25-50 percent of people require some kind of orthodontic intervention. So, what happened? It appears humans having crooked teeth is a relatively recent development. Dentistry isn’t cheap, so where did it go wrong for us? Advertisement Credit: TED-Ed Deborah BloomfieldSource […]
Hope Diamond: Legend Of A Curse Follows This Precious Jewel
There’s a centuries-old myth that whoever owns the Hope Diamond will inevitably fall into misfortune. Taking a quick look at a few of its ill-fated owners, it’s easy to see how this tall tale came about. The Hope Diamond is a 45.52-carat diamond, measuring around 25.60 millimeters by 21.78 millimeters by 12 millimeters (1 inch […]
What Time Is It On The Moon?
Time shapes our lives and we can’t avoid it. We are influenced – and stressed out – by clocks and alarms, and even if we were to get rid of our tech and go back to nature we’d be at the mercy of the rotation of our planet on its axis and around the Sun. […]
The Mythical Lost Land Of Lyonesse Was England’s Very Own Atlantis
The world is full of human-made wonders, and to take them all in would probably require way more free time and money than most of us have at our disposal. But if you’re OK with seeing a fast-track, kinda mockbuster version of humanity’s greatest accomplishments, you could do worse than a trip to England: sure, […]
What Is The History Of Druids And Who Were They Really?
Despite their popularity within certain fantasy games or among some new age Pagan movements today, there is much we do not know about the Druids, an ancient social class often associated with mysticism and magic. That is because we have little contemporary evidence relating to them, which has enabled subsequent generations to imagine and add […]
What Is The Heaviest Element In The Universe?
The physical properties of elements are crucial – they have shaped every interaction in the universe, and are a consequence of how they have been produced, and determine how we have utilized them. As usual there are a few good answers to the above question, but there are also a lot of nuances as well. […]
Illegal, Occasionally Deadly, And Not Much Fun. What Is The Frog Toxin Kambô And Why Do People Use It?
Kambô is an oozy substance harvested from the defensive skin secretions of the Amazonian giant monkey tree frog. In the traditional medicine of some indigenous peoples of the Amazon, Kambô is applied to superficial burns on the skin of participants to produce an intense purging effect. In the past decade, Kambô use has also been […]
An Engineer Once Accidentally Took Off In A Jet, But Didn’t Know How To Fly It
We’ve all made mistakes on the job. Luckily, our mistakes don’t often put us in an almost certain death scenario that we narrowly escape from, becoming a legend of the aviation community in the process. However, one man that did exactly that is Walter “Taffy” Holden in his infamous flight in 1966. An engineer by […]
The World’s Oldest Fire Has Been Burning For 6,000 Years
When explorers came across Burning Mountain in the 18th century, they mistook it for a volcano. However, it turned out they had stumbled on something much stranger. Found in Australia’s New South Wales, this is the site of the world’s oldest known coal fire that hasn’t gone out for thousands of years. Most scientists believe […]
Glorious New Images Of Jupiter’s Moon Io Are The Closest Yet From Juno
NASA’s Juno has completed its 51st perijove, the closest passage to Jupiter in its elongated orbit around the gas giant. But it did not just get up close and personal to the planet on May 16, it also flew by Io, getting as close as 35,500 kilometers (22,060 miles), and taking its closest pictures yet […]
