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 Jupiter from close up, as Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2 flew […]
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Very Hungry “Plastivore” Caterpillars Get Fat From Eating Plastic
Why wasn’t this ever mentioned in The Very Hungry Caterpillar? It turns out, some caterpillars aren’t content with eating through apples, salami, and a piece of cherry pie – they’re insatiable gluttons of plastic bags too. The caterpillars of the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella), known as waxworms, are one of the few animals that […]
“Nobody Expected This”: Earth’s Rotation Will Speed Up Tomorrow, 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. Tomorrow on July 9, the first of three especially short days, it is expected to be 1.30 milliseconds shorter than usual. Though there are clear reasons for the increased rotational speed […]
Chimps Are Sticking Grass In Their Ears And Rears As They Embrace “Pointless” Fad
It may be Paris Haute Couture Week, but the French capital isn’t the only place that fashionistas are making waves: In Zambia, a group of avant-garde chimpanzees have been sporting blades of grass protruding from their ears… and rears… It’s called fashion, look it up. The cutting-edge chimps appear to be doing this for no […]
Hui Te Rangiora: Old Māori Legend Suggests They May Have Discovered Antarctica 1,000 Years Before Europeans
Europeans first discovered Antarctica in the early 19th century. An old Māori legend potentially suggests they were beaten by Polynesian explorers sailing over 1,000 years before them. Other than at a research station or occasional expedition, humans have never settled in Antarctica. While the evidence suggests the continent was once home to rainforests, swamps, and […]
“Potential Impact On Saturn”: Astronomers Appeal For Help As Video Appears To Show Object Hitting The Gas Giant
Astronomers at the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory (PVOL) are appealing for help, after an image taken by NASA’s Mario Rana appears to show an object slamming into Saturn. Saturn, like Jupiter, is a gas giant. With their impressive masses, you would expect these giants to attract their share of asteroid impacts. Unlike terrestrial planets, […]
What Is Prosopometamorphopsia? The “Exceedingly Rare” Condition That Made A Patient See Faces As Dragons
Science can’t resist a long, hard-to-get-it-out-in-one go name. Case in point: prosopometamorphopsia (which we will now call PMO to save me from wearing out the “p” on this keyboard). “Prosopometamorphopsia is this exceedingly rarely diagnosed condition,” said neuroscientist Dr Austin Lim to IFLScience. “It essentially causes a person to see other people’s faces progressively transform […]
Are We In An Enormous Void? It Could Explain What’s Wrong With Our Model Of The Universe
The universe is undergoing an accelerated expansion, but the rate of that expansion has been a very controversial topic over the last few years. Different methods suggest slightly different numbers. It is possible that our model of the universe is wrong, or that one or both of the main methods are underestimating their uncertainty. A […]
Woylies Boing Back Into Western Australia Thanks To Groundbreaking Wildlife Project
Over 100 endangered woylies have been set free from a fenced-off area of Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary, marking an energetic leap in their return to life in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region. Never mind kangaroos or koalas, woylies have to be up there with the most audaciously Aussie of all animals. Picture a mouse crossed with […]
North America’s Oldest Pterosaur And Turtle Fossils Found In Arizona’s Petrified Forest
A single deposit has produced a wealth of fossils revealing the late Triassic ecosystem, where giant amphibians cohabited with newcomers, including turtles and pterosaurs. The 12 million years leading up to the end-Triassic extinction have been relatively poorly represented in the fossil record, making this find particularly precious. Almost 209 million years ago, Arizona was […]
Proposed “Dark Dwarfs” Near The Galactic Center Could Reveal The Nature Of Dark Matter
The way to find the darkness could be to look for the light. It might be a Zen, but the statement is also the latest proposal to find the nature of dark matter. The authors think that objects powered by dark matter could be small but detectable sources of light near the center of the […]
Watch: 18-Kilometer-High Ash Cloud Looms Over Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki After “Explosive” Eruption
An enormous column of ash estimated to be 18 kilometers (11 miles) high is currently looming over Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki on the Indonesian island of Flores, after the volcano explosively erupted on Monday (July 7) morning. According to a report from the head of Indonesia’s geological agency, Dr Muhammad Wafid, observations of the volcano […]
“ShipGoo001”: Mystery Of Entirely New Lifeform Discovered Coating A Great Lakes Ship
Researchers investigating a strange “goo” discovered when maintaining a ship in Cleveland have discovered an entirely new lifeform. Last September, the research vessel Blue Heron – the largest US academic research fleet vessel on the Great Lakes – was brought out of Lake Erie and into the Great Lakes Shipyard to fix a noisy propeller […]
Rare White Humpback Whale Calf Filmed By Drone Off Australia’s East Coast
Between May and August, thousands of humpback whales migrate north along Australia’s East coast to warmer waters. They travel from the chilly Antarctic waters to tropical regions such as the Great Barrier Reef to breed, and sometimes babies are born along the way. One such humpback calf is making waves for being a rare white […]
Who Was Buried At Cave Of Salome: A Female Disciple, Jesus’ Midwife, Or A Princess?
A 2,000-year-old burial cave in Israel is continuing to stir debate. Who exactly was buried here? Was it one of Jesus’ female disciples, a woman said to have assisted at the birth of Christ, or an ancient Jewish princess related to one of the biggest bad guys of the Bible? The Cave of Salome is […]
“Hidden” Changes To US Health Data Swapping “Gender” For “Sex” Spark Fears For Public Trust
A new analysis has found that over 100 health datasets from US government agencies were “substantially altered” in the two months after the beginning of the new administration earlier this year, in many cases switching the word “gender” to “sex”. Only a small number of the changes were logged, something the authors behind the analysis […]
Easter Island Was Never As Isolated As We Thought – Study Puts That “Strange Argument” To Bed
Famous for its colossal stone heads – or moai – Easter Island is the scene of one of the great archaeological mysteries, as a unique monolithic ritual culture emerged and then vanished here – all for reasons unknown. Until now, it was widely believed that this rise and fall occurred in isolation from the outside […]
If Birds Are Dinosaurs, Why Are None As Big As T. Rexes?
The discovery that birds are dinosaurs shook up how we structure the tree of life, and led to a lot of jokes about chicken nuggets. However, it has made some people wonder why they’re all so diminished in size compared to the giants of the past. There were plenty of small dinosaurs pre-asteroid, but the […]
Psychologists Demonstrate Illusion That Could Be Screwing Up Our Perception Of Time
Psychologists have demonstrated a robust psychological illusion that distorts how we remember when something happened. The illusion causes a mistaken belief that repeated experiences actually occurred longer ago than they really did. How do you judge when an event occurred in the past? For big things that happened across years, we have calendar reminders; holidays, […]
Why Are So Many Enormous Roman Shoes Being Discovered At Hadrian’s Wall?
We often assume our ancestors were smaller than us – and usually, it’s true. Out on the northern fringes of the Roman Empire, however, there appears to have been a small population of giants standing guard some 2,000 years ago – at least, if their shoes are anything to go by. “I think there is […]