Popular culture, especially in relation to sci-fi, is filled with nifty gadgets and incredible devices. One of the more entertaining and arguably iconic is the “shrink ray”, a staple of many TV and film plots, like Marvel’s Ant-Man, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and so on. The principle is simple – scientists have a gun […]
IFLScience We Have Questions: How Do You Begin Searching For Alien Life?
From the brain-exploding Martians of Mars Attacks! to the wonderful diversity of Men In Black’s extraterrestrial entourage, the possibility of alien life is a concept that has captured the imagination of our entire planet. Most of us only get to explore it at the movies – but for some scientists, the search for alien earths […]
The Weird Reason Why Trains In Switzerland Are Not Allowed 256 Axles
Trains in Switzerland are allowed to have up to 255 axles. They are also allowed to have 257+ axles. From this, you might infer that trains are allowed to have 256 axles, to which we say this; are you trying to get us all killed? ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE “Um das ungewollte Freimelden von Streckenabschnitten […]
Hybrid Fish Released In Religious Rituals Are Taking Over The Waters Of Hong Kong
Hybrid grouper fish, released into Hong Kong’s coastal waters as part of a religious ritual, could be wreaking havoc on local biodiversity. By exploiting unique ecological niches and asserting themselves as dominant predators, the hybrid giants have the potential to outcompete their native, non-hybrid counterparts and threaten the balance of marine ecosystems. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD […]
What Is The Pacific Ring Of Fire?
As Johnny Cash once sang: “Love is a burning thing, and it makes a fiery ring […] And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire; the ring of fire.” This isn’t wrong, apart from one little detail: the first word should have been not “love”, but “a 40,000-kilometer-long horseshoe-shaped tectonic belt running around the […]
FDA Authorizes Marketing For Nicotine Pouches For First Time – What Does This Mean?
Around this time last year, some US politicians were calling for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the marketing and safety of nicotine pouches after an uptick in sales and social media influencers touting them. Now, after reviewing the science, the agency has authorized the marketing of these pouches for the first time […]
Incredible Footage Shows Ultra Rare All-Black King Penguin On South Georgia Island
An ultra-rare all-black penguin has been spotted on South Georgia Island, standing out among its more typical black-and-white buddies by bucking the tuxedo trend with an entirely black body. Remarkably, the rare animal was captured by a photographer who’s no stranger to unusual color morphs, having snapped a peculiar yellow-and-white penguin back in 2021. ADVERTISEMENT […]
Why You Can’t Combine All The Elements Of The Periodic Table In A Single Compound
“There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium…” starts Tom Lehrer’s song The Elements. Since he composed it, humanity has created several artificial elements on top of the 92 that are found in nature. There are now 118 elements and we periodically see people asking a simple but profound question: can you create a molecule that contains all […]
Not Just For Weight Loss: GLP-1 Drugs May Affect Addiction And Dementia Risk
Booming interest in Ozempic and its sister drugs was a huge health story in 2024 – and it’s not going anywhere. Called GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), the drugs were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes, but really took off when their potential as weight loss aids was recognized. Now, with hints they might have […]
Contagious Urination Confirmed In Chimps For The First Time, Surprising Scientists
In chimpanzees, peeing is contagious. That’s the surprising conclusion reached by scientists at Kyoto University who described it as “an unexpected and fascinating result”. They conducted observational studies of chimpanzees at a sanctuary and saw that not only did they exhibit contagious urination, but that it was also more likely among individuals with lower dominance […]
What’s The Best Dinosaur Movie According To Palaeontologists? We Asked Some To Find Out
At IFLScience, we love a dinosaur movie. If anything, too much (rumor has it Managing Editor Katy Evans even got excited about The VelociPastor). Safe to say, our opinion on the best dino flick can’t be trusted – which is precisely why we decided to scroll our scientist contact list to find out what the […]
The Legend Of An “Evil Ancient Mummy” That Sunk The RMS Titanic
Ask around today, and most people will tell you that the RMS Titanic in April 1912 sank due to an ill-placed iceberg, poor visibility, the material weaknesses of the not-so-unsinkable ship, and a healthy dose of human error. However, in the early 20th century, when supernatural séances and recent archaeological discoveries were lighting up people’s […]
We’ve Caught A Glimpse Into What Early Human Relatives Ate 3 Million Years Ago
When the Paleolithic Period dawned, at least one group from which humanity may have descended had a diet that would infuriate most people who think they’re “eating Paleo”. In fact, a group of australopithecines had an overwhelmingly vegetarian diet. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Members of the genus Australopithecus, made famous by the individual known as […]
Meet “Inkathazo”, The Troublesome Monster 32 Times Wider Than Our Galaxy
A lot of things in space are so big that they make you scratch your head and go “Uh?” – chiefly among them are the Giant Radio Galaxies (GRGs), and they have everything you might want in a monstrous celestial object. These galaxies have extremely active supermassive black holes spewing jets of plasma across millions […]
Unlocking The Future Together: Why IFLScience Is Launching A Membership Model
ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE My name is Johannes Van Zijl, and I am the Managing and Editorial Director of IFLScience. I’m here to discuss an exciting yet essential evolution at IFLScience: introducing our new membership model. This change, grounded in our commitment to transparency and connection, marks a significant step forward in how we engage […]
The Sea Dragon Rocket Was A “Big Dumb Booster” And Would Have Been Truly Awesome
If you’ve watched the science fiction show For All Mankind, which explores an alternative history where the Soviet Union beat the US to the Moon and further fueled the space race, there’s one particularly cool moment where a gigantic rocket is launched not from a traditional launchpad, but directly out of the ocean. ADVERTISEMENT GO […]
Math Trick Has People Asking “Why Weren’t We Taught This In School?”
Math, though we promise you it really isn’t that daunting when you sit down and study it, has a reputation for being a tough subject. People can be put off by the basics, like multiplication, without even getting to the really difficult (and interesting) stuff like bunkbed conjectures and the Mandelbrot set. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD […]
Champion Trees, Assemble! New Register Seeks To Crown The United States’ Largest Trees
A new register seeks to identify “champion trees” in the United States, recognized for their enormous size and big leafy crowns. The first-of-its-kind initiative is called the National Champion Tree Program (NCTP) and has been judging trees since 1941. Now, after moving from the American Forests to the University of Tennessee School of Natural Resources, […]
Did Prehistoric Humans Really Live In Caves?
The first image that comes to most people’s mind when thinking about prehistoric humans is that of a caveman, possibly draped in a Fred Flintstone-style saber tooth tiger hide. However, while we Homo sapiens and our extinct ancestors undoubtedly spent some of our early years hanging out in caves, the reality is that we probably […]
Opening The Vault: Uncovering A World Of Strange And Intriguing Science
For the past few months, a dedicated team at IFLScience has been quietly working behind the scenes, plunging into the weird, wacky, and unusual sides of science. Now, we’re thrilled to step forward and share the fascinating discoveries we’ve uncovered with our readers. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE We have investigated the questions that have always […]
