Believe it or not, this is a photo of sand. At 10 times magnification, sand from the beach at Point Spencer, Alaska, looks like a handful of glittering gemstones. This dazzling, colorful array can tell us much about the history of this wild, remote region. An ancient crossroads Nestled between the Kotzebue Sound to the […]
Entering These “Unspeakable” Words Makes ChatGPT Act Strangely, Researchers Find
A team of researchers from the SERI-MATS research group have found some strange and partially inexplicable behavior in OpenAI’s ChatGPT, when the chatbot is presented with certain key words and phrases. Jessica Rumbelow and Matthew Watkins, who conducted the research, found that a number of unusual strings of characters result in the odd responses from […]
A Mysterious Russian Satellite Has Disintegrated In Orbit, Concerning Space Agencies
A mysterious Russian satellite has created a large cloud of debris after breaking apart in orbit in early January, posing a potential problem for years to come. According to the US Space Force’s 18th Defense Squadron (SDS), which tracks artificial objects in space, the event created at least 85 separate pieces of junk that will […]
Netflix’s Crackdown On Password-Sharing Spreads To More Countries
It looks like Netflix is ramping up its efforts to stamp out the scourge of password sharers. This week, the video streaming company announced it had updated its policy on password sharing in four more countries: Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. In these four countries, users will now have to set a primary location […]
We’d Like You To Meet Pat, The Record-Breaking World’s Oldest Mouse
We previously introduced you to Flossie, the world’s oldest living cat, and Bobi, the oldest dog on record. Now, meet Pat. At the whopping age of 9 years and 209 days old, he’s just been dubbed the oldest living mouse in human care by Guinness World Records. The fantastically named Pacific pocket mouse is the […]
Google’s Rival To ChatGPT Makes Embarrassing JWST Error That Wipes $100 Billion Off Shares
Google’s wannabe rival to ChatGPT is off to a shaky start after its launch video featured a glaring error about the JWST and exoplanets. As a result of the blunder, shares in parent company Alphabet plunged by around $100 billion on Wednesday. In a promo video posted on Wednesday, Googles’s new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, […]
BCG: How A Century-Old Vaccine Is Being Used Against Everything From Cancer To Autoimmune Diseases
In March 2020, as the UK was preparing to go into lockdown, two new trials were posted on the clinicaltrials.gov database. The researchers were proposing that BCG, an old vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), should be tested for its protective effect against COVID. As vaccines tend to activate very specific immune responses against their target disease, […]
Cretaceous Fossil Fruit Proves Dinosaurs Had The Ancestors Of Coffee and Potatoes
The family of plants that give us such treasures as tomatoes, potatoes, our most popular herbs, and even coffee coexisted with the dinosaurs, a single fossil has revealed. That doesn’t mean any of these individual plants existed in the Cretaceous, let alone the eras giant herbivores took advantage – but we can certainly be grateful […]
Battle Of The Brains: Pigeon Vs. AI Learning? It’s Pretty Similar
The champions of unclouded thought were recently put to the test in a study that sought to explore if an illogical puzzle could be more easily solved by an animal with the associative learning approach of a computer. It saw researchers put a group of pigeons to the test to investigate their performance in a […]
Huge New Titanosaur Discovered In Patagonia Had A Femur Longer Than A Human
A new species of titanosaur has been unearthed in Patagonia and based on the measurement of its femur, it was an absolute beast. With a thigh bone about the same length as a tall adult human, it’s a rare find and one that’s teaching us that there’s a lot more to learn about a group […]
Where Do Birds Go When It Rains?
We’ve all been there at one time or another: caught out in the rain. The sensible among us take shelter, while others might choose to stay out (ahem, Drew Barrymore) or turn to an umbrella or raincoat for protection. But what about birds? Do they don their metaphorical wellies and splash about? Or will you […]
Old Boy Bobi Is Officially The Oldest Dog On Record At 30 Years Of Age
The world’s oldest dog has been crowned a record-breaker at 30 years and 268 days old, toppling the previous winner Spike who was announced just two weeks ago at the age of 23. Spike the little Chihuahua has achieved a great age, but has been beaten by almost 10 years by Bobi, who almost lost […]
1,600-Year-Old Pure Gold Bead Uncovered In Jerusalem Is A Rare Find
A unique gold bead dating back to the Roman era has been discovered in Jerusalem by an 18-year-old volunteer. The find was uncovered during painstaking sifting of dirt removed from the Pilgrimage Road excavation site. “I poured the pail onto the sieve and began to wash the material that was brought from the excavations in […]
Scientists Investigate Whether Moondust Could Save The Earth From Global Warming
In the desperate quest to find a way to avoid cooking the planet, scientists have run the numbers on using dust as a sunshade. They found it might just work, but only if the dust came from the Moon. The idea of blocking sunlight to offset the effects of human activity on the global climate […]
Unexpected Rings Discovered Around Dwarf Planet In Our Solar System
The worlds at the edge of the Solar System, beyond the orbit of Neptune, continue to show just how peculiar things can get far from the Sun. For example, the heart of Pluto, the curious shape of Arrokoth, and the rings of Haumea. And now we can add the unusual rings of Quaoar to the […]
Curiosity Finds Delicious Chocolatey Meteorite On Mars
Curiosity has discovered an exciting new rock on Mars, and not just any old rock, a delicious chocolatey meteorite. It’s not the first time the rover has found meteorites on Mars but it makes a nice change from its usual rocky scenery, and frankly, meteorites are cool on any planet. This one has been nicknamed […]
New Montana Bill Would Prevent Schools Teaching “Scientific Theories”
Amongst a flurry of questionable bills being introduced in American states recently, a new piece of legislation in Montana would prevent scientific theories from being taught in schools. According to the Republican that sponsors the bill, it is a move to prevent the teachings of things that “aren’t true”. It calls into question exactly how […]
What Happens If An Elevator Cable Breaks?
We’ve all heard horror stories of a malfunction causing an elevator to plunge into freefall like the Tower of Terror ride at Disney World. An incident supposedly like this occurred in November 2018 at Chicago’s fourth-tallest building. Six people were reportedly stuck after the elevator at the former John Hancock Center in Chicago “plunged” from […]
Catatumbo’s Lightning Capital Of The World Sees 1.6 Million Strikes A Year
The lightning capital of the world can be found in Venezuela, where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo. Here, the unique geography and climate combine to create a landscape that lends itself to nocturnal thunderstorms that peak in September as a result of humid air being swept inland, colliding with cool mountain air. Known as […]
The Matrix Did Not Glitch Over The Sky Of Hawai’i
January 28 saw a peculiar event taking place above the sky of Hawai’i. Green lights were seen coming down from the heavens. The bizarre effect, reminiscent of the computer-inspired title screen of The Matrix, was not proof that we live in a simulation. It was a NASA satellite taking observations. #SubaruTelescope pic.twitter.com/5hhIsewuNp— Subaru Telescope Eng […]
