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The subtropical waters of New Zealand’s Northland region may have had a rare treat recently, after reported sightings of what could be the rarest subspecies of the world’s smallest marine dolphin. The species in question is Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori), which is split into two subspecies: the South Island Hector’s dolphin (C. h. hectori) and […]

Gaming has become a popular pastime for many people across the world at a time when the workplace has become increasingly digital. But do employers value the types of skills, knowledge, and abilities that gamers develop from this extracurricular activity? Or, to put it another way, if you list gaming on your resume, will it […]

The Surinam toad (Pipa pipa) doesn’t look like much. Flattened and brownish, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a squashed overripe fruit, but something remarkable happens when the time comes to reproduce. Something a lot of people find pretty horrifying. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe […]

The idea that a volcano could send the planet into a long-lasting winter might feel like something that only happened in the distant past or slightly dodgy disaster movies, but in the early 19th century, that very thing happened. The culprit? Mount Tambora, and it was responsible for the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. […]

The very ancient super-Earth TOI-561 b must have a thick atmosphere, data from the JWST indicates, or its day side would be even hotter than it is. This represents the strongest evidence yet of a rocky planet beyond the Solar System with such a substantial atmosphere. There’s no chance of life here – at least […]

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has declared that the Christmas Island shrew (Crocidura trichura) has been moved into the Extinct category. Once common across Christmas Island, it’s not been seen for 40 years. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full […]

The occupant of one of the most lavish Paleolithic burials ever discovered may have died one of the most agonizing deaths in all of human history. Nicknamed “Il Principe” (“The Prince”), the teenage boy found inside the grave died a few days after having his face and chest ripped apart by a large predator, which […]

The manumea, also known as the tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris), has been sighted for the first time since 2020. The observations, made in October and November near Uafato on Samoa’s island of Upolu, took an international collaboration and Samoan local knowledge to achieve.  There’s a reason it was the Galapagos Islands that inspired Darwin’s theory of […]

Imagine, if you will, you’re walking along the beach in the late 1890s when lo – what’s this? A great beast is sprawled across the sand, gelatinous and amorphous, stretching 5.5 meters (18 feet) long and 2.1 meters (7 feet) wide. A globular blob, and a real-life “globster” – the name given to a host […]

Stimulant drugs that are widely used in the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have a different mechanism of action than scientists thought. New data reveals these drugs primarily act on the brain’s reward and wakefulness areas, rather than the regions specifically focused on attention as had previously been assumed. ADHD is an increasingly common diagnosis, […]

Finding diamonds is notoriously difficult, but a recent discovery may have made the search slightly easier. Researchers have found that a far less prized gemstone can hold clues about whether diamonds are likely to be nearby, potentially speeding up the hunt for them. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in […]

In 1920, a farmer plowing a field in Grootfontein, Namibia, hit a sudden roadblock below the surface of the soil. Curious about what had stopped his plow, the farmer dug around and found a very strange sight. Beneath the soil was a giant slab of metal. In fact, at 60 tons, it turned out to be the […]

Issue 42 (January 2026) of CURIOUS is out now, bringing you science highlights for the month plus deep dives into intriguing topics, interviews, exclusives, diary dates, and explanations for some of Earth’s most perplexing natural phenomena and landscapes. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the […]

Humans have five senses, right? At least, that’s what Aristotle said back in 350 BCE. And despite the fact that several of the famed Ancient Greek philosopher’s scientific theories were proven more than a bit wrong, his idea about the senses has persisted – and now modern science is challenging him once again. The late […]

There’s an annual tradition of popular science articles looking forward to astronomical events to watch for in the coming year. There’s always at least one, and sometimes several, eclipses that might be worth traveling to, some meteor showers not overwhelmed by the full Moon, and sometimes an anticipated comet or conjunction. This year, we thought […]

In recent decades, atmospheric rivers that carry water vapor high above Earth’s surface have shifted position, a change that could affect weather patterns and rainfall worldwide. Scientists at UC Santa Barbara found that atmospheric rivers in both hemispheres have moved approximately 6° to 10° closer to the poles over the past 40 years. This means […]

Category 5: It’s the top tier of hurricane intensity, a storm status serving as a warning of imminent destruction and danger to life. But with a warming climate and scientists predicting that hurricanes are likely to only get stronger, is it still enough? Is it time to introduce something even higher – a Category 6? […]

During the Last Glacial Maximum, the materials you chose to build your house out of could make the difference between life and death. And for one group of hunter-gatherers in Ukraine, there really was only one thing for the job – mammoth bones. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in […]

While some volcanoes have spent the last 2,000 years sleeping soundly, Stromboli, a volcanic island to the north of Sicily, has taken no such rest. In fact, it’s spent nearly all of that time in an almost constant state of eruption. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe […]

Flat-headed cats have been successfully detected and filmed in southern Thailand for the first time in almost 30 years. One of the world’s rarest cats, it was last documented here back in 1995, leading some to believe it was “possibly extinct”. However, conservationists thought otherwise. “We had heard reports for many years and were confident […]