Science fiction writers once imagined Venus as a world of oceans or swamps underneath all that cloud. It’s possible they were not so much wrong as very, very late. Modeling suggests the planet closest to Earth in size and distance from the Sun may not only have oceans, but they could have survived for more […]
Think Tortoises, Mallards and Giraffes Are Vegetarian? Think Again
Most people get taught in school that certain animals eat certain things: the lion hunts the antelope, the spider catches the fly, and the herbivores of the animal kingdom happily chow down on the tastiest leaves they can find. Not that this is necessarily wrong, but the truth is a little more complicated. Take the […]
The Origin Of Dark Matter? Maybe It Came From A Dark Big Bang
According to the leading model of the Universe, there is an invisible substance that outweighs regular matter, which makes us, by five-to-one. This is known as dark matter because it doesn’t interact with light. The properties of this substance are still uncertain with no experimental evidence showing it exists. And researchers have considered some pretty […]
Japanese Astronomer Captures Video Of Meteor Slamming Into The Moon
A Japanese astronomer has captured a video of a meteorite slamming into the Moon. Curator in charge of astronomy at the Hiratsuka City Museum, Daichi Fujii, recorded the moment of impact from his home in Hiratsuka. “I was able to catch the biggest lunar impact flash in my observation history,” Fujii wrote on Twitter, as […]
The Source Of River Nile Still Mystifies After Thousands Of Years
What is the source of the River Nile? While that might sound like a straightforward question, the origin of the longest river on planet Earth has befuddled people for thousands of years. Even today, in an age of prolific satellites and geophysical know-how, the romantic conundrum of the Nile’s source is still not as simple […]
Disney Demonstrates A “Real Lightsaber” In Front Of Live Audience
Disney have demonstrated a retractable lightsaber at tech, film, and music festival South by Southwest (SXSW). Videos from the talk show Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Josh D’Amaro fire up and then retract the device in front of the crowd. “I have the coolest job in the world,” D’Amaro told the audience, adding […]
Are All Babies Born With Blue Eyes?
Babies’ eyes are still developing when they come into the world. In the first few months of life, their visual acuity and light perception will change, but what about color? It’s an often-repeated myth that all babies come into the world with blue eyes, but the truth is that eye color depends on genetics and […]
Redditor Accuses Samsung Of Faking Its “Space Zoom” Moon Shots
Taking pictures of the Moon from Earth is difficult. Unless you have the right kit, you’ll likely end up with a blurry, bright mess. Samsung introduced a system called “Space Zoom” with its Galaxy S20 smartphone camera that it claimed can zoom in to deliver details of the lunar surface, but some are calling foul […]
Watch This Endangered Mussel Squirting Like A Water Pistol
The thick-shelled river mussel (Unio crassus) has been observed doing something that scientists have never seen before. Incredible footage captured by an international team, led by Professor David Aldridge of the University of Cambridge, shows a female mussel squirting a jet of water through the air and back into the river where these mollusks make […]
At Last, We Have A Scientific Definition For Whether You Are A “Grower” Or A “Shower”
Scientists have finally provided a definition of whether erections can be deemed “growers” or “showers”, and found several differences between these penis types. If you’re wondering why right about now, there is actually a noble cause. They hope it might help with making surgical decisions. Advertisement “It is important to be able to predict if […]
Why Does Music Bring Back Memories? What The Science Says
You’re walking down a busy street on your way to work. You pass a busker playing a song you haven’t heard in years. Now suddenly, instead of noticing all the goings on in the city around you, you’re mentally reliving the first time you heard the song. Hearing that piece of music takes you right […]
How Can You Test If Gold Is Pure? Some Methods Are More Destructive Than Others
When it comes to gold, how pure is pure? And how does anybody know? As recent revelations about the Perth Mint have shown, gold buyers and sellers take purity very seriously. Questions have been raised over impurities found in some A$9 billion worth of gold sold to the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Advertisement While the gold […]
Is The Honeybee’s Iconic Waggle Dance Learned Or Innate? New Research Provides The Answer
As we progress through life, we learn many essential behaviours from more experienced people around us. For example, through observing adults, we go from being babbling babies, to using single words, to speaking in full sentences. This is an example of social learning. And it turns out it isn’t unique to our species. Advertisement Honeybees […]
TWIS: 50-Meter-Wide Asteroid May Hit Earth In 2046, Hidden Underground Chamber Discovered Beneath Leicester Cathedral, And Much More This Week
This week, dysania could explain some people’s physical inability to get out of bed in the morning, a new geological model enables us to look back over the Earth’s last 100 million years, and we reveal why airplane shutters have to be up during takeoff and landing. NASA Can’t Rule Out A 50-Meter-Wide Asteroid Hitting […]
Eating This Hallucinogenic Fish Can Make You Trip For Days
Psychedelic toad slime may be all the rage these days, but it’s thought that people have been tripping on fish since Roman times. In particular, a species of sea bream called salema porgy has gained a reputation for its fishy side-effects, and is known in Arabic as “the fish that makes dreams”. Found throughout the […]
Kew’s “Noah’s Ark” Seed Vault Hits 40,000 Species From Around The World
Safe from extinction, 40,020 different plant species are now housed inside Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) in Wakehurst, Sussex, UK. As of March 1, the MSB has banked more than 2.4 billion individual seeds. This vitally important conservation project holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest seed bank and contains seeds from 190 […]
Incredible Complete Map Of Insect Brain Released After 12 Years’ Work
The most complex brain map ever created has been released by scientists, depicting the intricate inner workings of the insect mind. They state that the new map could be a crucial step into actually beginning to understand how the brain works, including how thoughts originate. “If we want to understand who we are and […]
“Mummy Brown” Paint Used Ground Up Human Remains To Make Art
The grim paint color Mummy Brown takes the saying “suffer for your art” to a new level by instead monopolizing on the suffering of others, or at least their death. Made of the ground up remains of mummified humans, it was used for centuries and is thought to have been incorporated into some famous paintings, […]
Turns Out Star Trek’s Planet Vulcan Doesn’t Exist After All
A few years ago, astronomers excitedly shared the news that a candidate exoplanet was spotted around star 40 Eridani A, which has a particular significance for fans of Star Trek. It’s the system that hosts Vulcan, the world where Spock, T’Pol, and countless other characters come from – but it seems that the planet will […]
Roman Gladiators Fought In Britain, And We Finally Have The Evidence To Prove It
The Roman Empire, according to the first-century poet and satirist Juvenal, owed its survival to two things: bread and circuses. While that may sound tame, what you have to remember is that “circuses”, back in the days of death by multi-species dogpiling and communal poop sponges, meant something a little more X-rated than Bozo the […]
