Intrepid microbe hunters have discovered 20 new viruses lurking in the bat populations of the orchards of southwestern China. Along with new species of bacteria and protozoan parasites, the find has sparked concerns about the potential risks to humans, as two of the viruses are in the same genus as the deadly Hendra and Nipah […]
“Nobody Expected This”: Earth’s Rotation Will Speed Up In July And August, Bucking The Downward Trend
The Earth is predicted to increase its rotation speed in July and August, once again bucking the trend of a slower rotation over time. Though there are clear reasons for the increased rotational speed this summer, the cause of the recent increase in speed is a little puzzling to scientists. The Earth’s rotation has altered […]
What Is The “Heat Dome” Causing Baking Temperatures In The Eastern US This June?
Tens of millions of people in the US are still up to their necks in an intensifying heatwave. This week, a “heat dome” parked over central and eastern regions is driving possible triple-digit temperatures and oppressive humidity, set to turn half of the country into a sweltering, sauna-like oven. The Midwest and eastern US are […]
Over 500 Bird Species At Risk In Next Century As We Face “Unprecedented” Extinction Crisis
Many species are facing threats to their population sizes, from climate change and habitat loss to illegal poaching and the wildlife trade. While protections are put in place to help species, sometimes these fall short of the mark. A new study has looked at almost 10,000 bird species and come to the worrying conclusion that […]
World First: Mice With 2 Dads Father Their Own Offspring
In a world first, scientists have created mice with two fathers, capable of having offspring of their own. It’s a huge step forward for our understanding of mammalian reproduction, and could, in theory, have implications for us humans – though this is still a long way off becoming reality. Led by Yanchang Wei of Shanghai […]
Largest Ever Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatory Begins Construction
LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, will be a revolutionary instrument that will allow humanity to observe gravitational waves from events we can’t track with the observatories on Earth. They are simply not big enough. For such a task, three spacecraft will be flying in perfect formation while precisely shooting lasers at each other across […]
Plastic Trash? This Bacterium Can Turn It Into Paracetamol – AKA Tylenol®
Paracetamol. Tylenol®. Acetaminophen. Whatever you call it, chances are you’ve had it. As one of the world’s most common drugs (though we only just recently figured out how it works), we produce tons of the stuff globally, but it may surprise and disappoint you to learn that it comes from fossils fuels. What if we […]
What Is The Earliest Evidence For Blue Eyes In Humans?
In the history of Homo sapiens, blue eyes just showed up fashionably late. Throughout most of the species’ existence, all humans had brown eyes, until a random genetic mutation emerged over 6,000 years ago in a single prehistoric person. This trait eventually spread, giving rise to the millions of blue-eyed people in the world today. […]
Now 124 Years Old, Henry Is The World’s Oldest Known Crocodile – And He’s A Big Boy
At the ripe old age of ~124 years old, Henry is the oldest known crocodile in the world – and what a life he’s led. In the past few decades alone, the mature gentleman has fathered thousands upon thousands of offspring. With all those decades under his belt, Henry has amassed a gigantic size. The […]
What Happened When A Kansas Family Lived With 2,055 Brown Recluse Spiders For 5 And A Half Years
A case report details the story of a family who lived with 2,055 brown recluse spiders in their Kansas home over the course of five and a half years. Spiders have a pretty bad reputation amongst humans for a group of species that is so good at pest control. But while most species are harmless, […]
The Last Thing A NASA Spacecraft Saw Before Plunging Into Saturn
Though our telescopes have become pretty darn good over the last century, there’s nothing quite like seeing a planet from the point of view of an approaching spaceship. In 1979, 1980, and 1981, humanity got our first brief glimpses of Saturn from close up, as Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2 flew past the […]
Neolithic Ireland Wasn’t Ruled By Incestuous “God-Kings” After All
Unlike ancient Egypt, Hawai’i, or the Inca Empire, Neolithic Ireland probably wasn’t governed by a dynasty of demi-gods who married their own siblings. This finding contradicts the narrative hastily put forward by the media in 2020 following the discovery of a rare case of incest in a 5,500-year-old passage tomb. Located in the Boyne Valley, […]
NASA’s Voyager 1 & 2 Were Not The First Missions To Reach The Outer Solar System
For almost 48 years, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have traveled across the Solar System and beyond. The missions have been pivotal in our understanding of the gas giant planets of the Solar System, and later of interstellar space, becoming the first human-made objects to enter it. However, they were not the first missions designed […]
See Incredible First Images From Space Mission That Will Weigh All The World’s Forests
How much does a forest weigh? This sounds like a philosophical question, but we will be able to answer it soon thanks to the European Space Agency’s Biomass spacecraft. The mission possesses a special radar that can map woodland areas from space. Now, it has released its first-ever images, and they cover more than just […]
Nudes Of The Stone Age: 6,000-Year-Old Kołobrzeg Venus Is A Prehistoric Masterpiece
It might look like a prehistoric gummy bear, but this palm-sized figurine is an exceptional piece of art and a mysterious outlier in both time and place. The figurine was found in December 2022 near Kołobrzeg in northern Poland near the Baltic coast. Archaeologists have carefully pored over the object for a couple of years, […]
Cannabis And Human Remains Sent To Space Go Missing After Returning To Earth On SpaceX Mission
On Monday (June 23), Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket into low-Earth orbit from the Space Launch Complex at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The dedicated rideshare mission contained 70 payloads, including a few unusual and notable experiments, as well as human remains. Unfortunately for researchers and families of the deceased, the […]
Mercury’s Steep Cliffs Might Be The Result Of The Sun Squeezing The Planet
Mercury is an odd little planet. The closest world to the Sun has some extreme surface structures, steep hills and cliffs, which have long been suspected to be the effect of the planet’s interior cooling and shrinking. However, certain features cannot be explained by shrinking alone, and a team of researchers suspects that the Sun’s […]
Dennis Hope: The Man Who Allegedly Sold Presidents Land On The Moon (That He Doesn’t Own)
Who owns the Moon? If you ask a hippy or a space lawyer, the answer is pretty clear: nobody. But according to Dennis Hope, the answer is “Dennis Hope” and “anyone Dennis Hope sells the Moon to”. The latter category, according to Hope, includes presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. In 1967, […]
Video: Which Animal Has The Largest Brain?
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Amazing First Images From World’s Largest Digital Camera Revealed
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially unveiled its first images, and truly, it is going to be as revolutionary as people expect it to be. Thanks to its incredible eye on the cosmos, which is the largest digital camera in the world, the images are absolutely breathtaking – and we can’t even share the […]
