The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced that the Doomsday Clock has been moved forward to 89 seconds to midnight. This is the closest to “Doomsday” it’s ever been. The clock is a symbolic portrayal of the state of the world, with midnight representing the annihilation of our species. And we are closer to […]
Asteroid 2024 YR4 Is Level 3 On The Torino Scale, With A Very Close Approach In 2032. That’s Not Great
An asteroid discovered in 2024 has been placed at level 3 on the Torino impact scale, with a small chance of impact with Earth in 2032. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Asteroid 2024 YR4 was first discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on December 25 last year. In what could be considered “not the best Christmas […]
Planet With Requirements For Life Confirmed Just 20 Light-Years Away
A suspected planet that appears well-suited to life has had its existence confirmed – and it’s very much in our neighborhood, galactically speaking. Unfortunately, the planet HD 20794 d does not transit from our perspective, cutting off our primary method for checking the atmosphere of planets like this, but advances in telescopes will soon make […]
Why Does This Image Make You Feel Like You’re Falling Into A Hole? A New Paper Has An Explanation
Look at the image above. Looks like you’re falling into it, doesn’t it? Like the darkness is approaching, threatening to overtake you if you stare too long. Why is that? ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE A new study has an explanation – and it all comes down to how the individual cells in our eyes interact […]
Watch Live Today: Boom’s XB-1 Jet Strives For Its First Supersonic Flight
More than 20 years after the death of Concorde, a new contender is set to attempt supersonic speeds in its first test flight later today. Even better, you can watch the action live through a streamed video. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Boom’s XB-1 test vehicle is scheduled to start its historic first supersonic test flight […]
Ever Wondered How Often People Visit The ER For A Sex Toy Mishap? Well, We Did!
Butt toy stuck up the arse, cock ring locked into place on the penis, vibrators lost in deep dark holes. Every year, many Americans scramble to the nearest Emergency Room to get help following some unfortunate bedroom antics. We took a look at the data that is submitted every year to determine what is happening […]
Newly Discovered Amazonian Microbes Could Have Massive Influence On Climate Change
Newly discovered microbes living in the peatlands of the Peruvian Amazon could play a dual role in the carbon cycle. These tiny organisms have the potential to either stabilize carbon for storage or release it into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The archaea were found in the Pastaza-Marañón Foreland Basin, a […]
Powerful Ultraviolet Laser Reveals How Particles Move Through Diamonds
Diamonds are forever and they are a girl’s best friend. They are also among a class of materials known as ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors. These are seen as a key component of next-generation electronics as they can handle higher voltages, operate at higher frequencies, and are more efficient than traditional silicon designs. One issue, however, is that […]
Newly Declassified Biden-Era CIA Report Says COVID Lab Leak “Likely” – What Does That Mean?
A newly declassified report, released by the CIA on Saturday, is once again stoking the debate around the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. The report is not based on any new intelligence and was completed under the agency’s previous leadership at the request of the Biden administration. What it finds is that the […]
$1 Million Prize Offered To Whoever Deciphers This 5,000-Year-Old Script
A writing system developed by one of the world’s earliest urban societies has given linguists nothing but grief since it was first discovered on an unintelligible stone seal in the ancient city of Harappa, in what is now Pakistan, 150 years ago. Hoping to finally crack the code, authorities have now announced a $1 million […]
Stag Beetles Fighting, Bee-Eaters Flying, And A Camera Trap Bear: Marvel At The Winners Of Close-Up Photographer Of The Year
The sixth Close-up Photographer of the Year competition has come to a close in spectacular style with the winners announced in all 11 categories, as well as the overall champion. From more than 11,000 entries, the team whittled it down to the very best to award prizes in everything from Fungi & Slime Molds to […]
Miles Below Earth’s Surface, A Diverse Array Of Underground Life Thrives
In the mid-1990s, scientists made a discovery that shook up the understanding of life on Earth: vast reservoirs of microbes can be found beneath the planet’s surface, often buried kilometers deep in rock with no sunlight. It’s now estimated that at least half (50-80 percent) of Earth’s microbial cells live in the subsurface. ADVERTISEMENT GO […]
To Keep Us Safe From Bears, Drones Are Humanity’s Best Friend
The return of brown bears to parts of North America where they had been nearly eradicated is a win for conservation, but it creates a new set of problems. One wildlife officer has tested four approaches to preventing bears from attacking humans where their ranges overlap, and has some clear advice for others. ADVERTISEMENT GO […]
New Fast Radio Burst Location Hints At Completely Different Cosmic Beast
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief emissions of radio waves, lasting a fraction of a second but with as much energy as the Sun’s over days or even longer. Several FRBs have been linked to a subclass of neutron stars known as magnetars that possess, as the name suggests, stupendous magnetic fields. A recently observed […]
People Are Just Learning Humans Can “Gleek”, And Lord We Wish They Hadn’t
Have you ever looked at a spitting cobra, firing venom at their enemies from their fangs in self-defense, and thought “I wish humans can do that”? No? Well, it turns out humans have our own sort of projectile attack, which, while it won’t strike down our enemies, will leave them pretty grossed out nonetheless. ADVERTISEMENT […]
How Does Neanderthal DNA Influence Our Brains?
How different are we from Neanderthals? The answer is “not as much as we used to think”. Or, to put it another way, the more we learn about this group of archaic humans, the more similarities we are discovering. This process of discovery has increased significantly since we learnt that some humans have Neanderthal DNA, […]
Third-Ever Pig Kidney Transplant Patient Still Doing Well A Record 2 Months On From Surgery
Towana Looney, a woman from Alabama who last year became the third person to undergo a pig kidney transplant, is reportedly still recovering well after her surgery. Having now passed two months since the operation, this makes Looney the longest-surviving recipient of such an organ to date. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Looney had her pioneering […]
A German Aerospace Engineer Lived Underwater For 120 Days. It’s A New Record
A German aerospace engineer has set a new world record, after living for 120 days under the sea in an attempt to prove that humans could expand to living beneath the oceans. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE For the record attempt, Rudiger Koch lived in a fairly comfortable environment 11 meters (36 feet) under the sea, […]
System Of Three Dead Stars Has Suspected Smallest Exoplanet Ever Found
Astronomers have found evidence for what might be a planet with about half the mass of the Moon orbiting the pulsar PSR J0337+1715 – this would make it the least massive planet we have ever detected outside our Solar System. The pulsar and the objects that orbit it are already some of the most extreme […]
Near-Earth “Asteroid” Spotted By Astronomers Turns Out To Be Elon Musk’s Car
A near-Earth “asteroid” recently spotted by astronomers poring through telescope data has turned out to be Elon Musk’s car. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE On January 2, the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center announced the discovery of a new asteroid. The object was dubbed 2018 CN41 after the year and month when the telescope observations […]
