Laying at the bottom of an ancient rock tomb, the remains of giant mummified crocodiles have been unearthed. While it’s not uncommon to find mummified animals at ancient Egyptian sites, this bask of crocodiles has been mummified in a particularly unusual way that’s caught the eye of archaeologists. The mummified remains of five isolated skulls […]
AI System Can Predict COVID-19 Outbreaks Up To Six Weeks In Advance
Scientists in the United States have developed a machine learning algorithm that can predict a surge of COVID-19 cases at county level across the US, in the vast majority of cases. Such a tool could have a powerful impact in protecting people, and let healthcare systems prepare up to six weeks before a major outbreak. […]
Magnets May Be Able To Tell Left From Right As Well As North From South
Most of the directions we use to describe the world center the self. We say up or down, in front or behind us, and left and right. These latter two are the most difficult to explain in fundamental terms given the symmetry of most physical laws. But in nature, there are molecules that have a […]
Greenland’s Ice Sheet Hasn’t Been This Hot For At Least 1,000 Years
Ice cores collected from central-north Greenland provide a fine-grained record of climatic conditions in the area, and it’s not good news. Among other things they reveal the decade from 2001-2011 was 1.5°C (2.7°F) warmer than the 20th century average, as well as being the area’s hottest since at least 1000 CE. Greenland’s mighty ice sheet shapes […]
New Anti-Aging Pills For Dogs Hope To Make Them Live Longer
Dogs are among the most loved of pets, but hinging your happiness on a fluffy, four-legged pal comes with one mortal downfall: they don’t live for very long. Now, a start-up is looking to see if we can change that by making an anti-aging pill for dogs with the goal of increasing their longevity. Better […]
Drinking Milk Made Ancient Humans Bigger
When humans first made the switch from hunter-gathering to agriculture, we were quite a wee bunch – yet new research suggests we may have grown taller and stronger as we started drinking milk. After analyzing thousands of ancient skeletons, the study authors found that increases in human body size tend to coincide with the genetic […]
Mystery Of Medieval Pendant Full Of Bones Solved Using Neutrons
A gold-plated pendant thought to date back to the late 12th century has been analyzed using a neutron-based imaging technique, revealing its innermost secrets for the first time. The painstaking work was conducted by a team from the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie at the Technical University of Munich. The ornately decorated pendant was first unearthed in […]
After Five Centuries, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Bubble Mystery Finally Has An Answer
If you’ve ever watched air bubbles rising through water, you may have pondered the same thing as Leonardo Da Vinci: why don’t all of them travel straight to the surface? If so, you were more than 500 years too late, and probably insufficiently famous, for people to take much notice of your question, but the […]
World’s Oldest Living Person Dies Aged 118
The world’s oldest confirmed living person has died in her sleep aged 118 years and 340 days. Lucille Randon was a Roman Catholic nun who took the name Sister André in 1944. According to Guinness World Records, Randon was both the second-oldest French person and European person ever recorded, taking the title of world’s oldest […]
Humans Will Walk On The Moon In 2025, NASA Announces
NASA has announced its plan for the Artemis III mission, including that it is scheduled for 2025. If everything goes well it will see the return of humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. The location of the planned Moon landing is somewhere that humans have never […]
Charge Up To Three Devices Wirelessly For Less Than $50
No one, and we mean no one, can have enough chargers in their electronic life. Chargers are simply the magic that keep us and our electronics going all day long. Sure, we don’t like the messy cables and having to share our beloved chargers between several devices — how does one decide which device to […]
China’s Population Has Officially Dropped For First Time In Decades
The population of China has dropped for the first time since the 1960s, with the country’s birth rate slipping to a record low of -6.77 births per 1,000 people. China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced on Tuesday that the population stood at 1.4118 billion at the end of 2022, a decrease of 850,000 from 2021. […]
What Did People Think When They First Dug Up Dinosaur Fossils?
In 1822, Mary Ann Mantell was accompanying her husband, obstetrician and paleontologist Gideon Mantell, on a visit to a patient, when she noticed something shiny at the side of the road. Looking closer, she found large teeth embedded into the rock. Her husband Gideon, in a major breakthrough, realized that the fossil belonged to a […]
Joe Rogan Podcast Sparks Hunt For Mammoth Bones In New York’s East River
Dozens of treasure hunters have been diving in New York’s East River, on the hunt for a hoard of mammoth bones they believe to be in there – partly thanks to Joe Rogan’s podcast. In December, Alaskan gold miner John Reeves appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. During the appearance, Reeves told Rogan that […]
The Catholic Church Officially Has A Moon Bishop
When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the Moon, it probably didn’t cross their mind that there was a lack of religious infrastructure and a complete dearth of priests. However, should they have been struck by a sudden urge to convert to Catholicism and then go to confession, it seems the Catholic […]
Solar Storm To Graze Earth With Effects Visible From Tomorrow
On January 14, the magnetic field lines around AR3182, one of the several sunspots presently on the Sun, erupted releasing a coronal mass ejection (CME). High-speed plasma from the Sun is currently racing across the inner Solar System toward Earth. The bulk of it will miss our planet but the wave of particles will graze our […]
Are Gas Stoves Really Dangerous?
A row over gas is bubbling up in the US after new research linked the use of gas stoves to childhood asthma. Yet with 35 percent of households across the country currently cooking with gas, many are now unsure if it’s safe to continue using their gas-powered appliances. Why are people worried about gas stoves […]
Echidnas Blow Snot Bubbles From Their Snoots To Keep Cool
One of Australia’s most unusual mammals is actually even weirder, according to a new study looking at how the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) can survive in the harsh heat of the Australian outback. Previous studies have thought that since echidnas are not able to sweat, pant, or lick as a form of heat loss in […]
Antidepressants Should Never Be Quit Cold Turkey, Say New Guidelines
Stopping use of antidepressants should be done under the care of medical experts and use should be reduced slowly, as opposed to “cold turkey”, according to new guidelines from the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The new recommendations mark the first update in 11 years, an important move in helping the […]
Rare Genetic Liver Condition Could Be Treated With New Drug
Alagille syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal genetic condition primarily affecting the liver, currently has no known cure and limited treatment options – but that may not be the case for too much longer, as researchers are hard at work investigating a new potential therapy. In a study in zebrafish, they’ve demonstrated the ability of […]
