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Mount Everest has received its first ever drone delivery in a proof-of-concept test conducted in April this year. The incredible achievement was a first of its kind mission to use drones to deliver supplies to mountaineers. Advertisement The delivery was conducted by the technology company, DJI, in collaboration with Nepalese Airlift, the video production company […]

With razor-sharp claws, a neon blue neck, and a tall, brown helmet, Southern cassowaries are quite the sight to behold – but also an increasingly rare one, as these notoriously grumpy birds are at risk of extinction. Advertisement Southern cassowaries are generally considered to be the world’s most dangerous bird, at least in terms of […]

Creationists hate it, scientists loathe it even more, yet the “March of Progress” continues to be the defining image of human evolution.  Since its creation in the Victorian era, it’s arguably become one of the most iconic illustrations of modern science. The drawing shows a series of primates going from left to right, starting with […]

On June 5, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko became the first human to have spent 1,000 days in orbit. The space traveler had already beaten the record of longest time spent beyond Earth back in February, surpassing the record of his countryman Gennady Padalka who was in space for 878 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes, and […]

A man in Mexico has died after contracting the first lab-confirmed human infection with H5N2 bird flu. It’s unclear how the man was exposed to the virus, but this type of avian flu has previously been found in poultry in the country. The risk to the general public is still considered to be low. Advertisement […]

As well as wondering why flight attendants never seem to drink hot drinks and why airplane windows have those tiny little holes in them, you may have wondered at some point why so few pilots have beards. Advertisement While it’s not a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policy, several big airlines do have strict policies about […]

Clinical trials of a new form of long-acting pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV, commonly known as PrEP, have launched in the US. As well as hopefully leading to a new option for HIV prevention, the trials are aiming to address an unmet need in HIV research by focusing on two populations that have often been passed […]

Who could resist an ancient elephant-like creature that roamed the Earth long before humans came onto the scene, especially after multiple Ice Age films made us fall in love with Manny.  But do you know your mammoths from your mastodons? It’s time to take a closer look at the differences between these two ancient beasts.  […]

Here’s a statistic that might surprise you: around one in five people in the US have a sexually transmitted infection at any one time. There’s nothing wrong or shameful about that – in this age of modern medicine, many are curable and all are treatable – but if you have one, you at least ought […]

The fourth test of Starship has been a success. The Starship and Super Heavy booster combo lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:50 am local time. The test was for Super Heavy to demonstrate that it could land back on Earth and for Starship to successfully reenter through the atmosphere after […]

During the mid-late Eocene epoch, 44-34 million years ago, large parts of Antarctica were ice-free, creating room for river systems now long frozen. Sediments from the Amundsen Sea came all the way from the mountain range that spans the continent, revealing there was no inland sea in between to capture them. Advertisement The world was […]

Indigenous Americans played a more active role in shaping early trans-Atlantic trade than they are given credit for. Typically, European colonizers are seen as the main drivers of these ancient exchange networks, yet a new analysis of 370-year-old glass beads indicates that Native communities were conducting their own business transactions independently of any Old World […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the detection of negative ions on the lunar surface, days after the Chinese National Space Agency’s Chang’e-6 lander placed their detection equipment on the far side of the Moon. Advertisement Chang’e-6 landed on the Moon at 22:23 UTC on June 1, before collecting samples from the lunar surface […]

Is it a snake? Is it a fish? No, it’s a northern snakehead! This bizarre creature – technically a fish, though someone should tell its face – is an invasive species capable of breathing air and slithering like its reptilian doppelganger. Last month, one was caught in Missouri by an astonished angler. Captured on May […]

In the early hours of Tuesday, the US Air Force test-fired a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile “to provide confidence in the lethality and effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear deterrent.” Advertisement To flex their muscles, the military also released video footage (below) and images of the missile as it blazed into the sky of California, […]

Australian magpies are renowned for their intelligence, but they’re not all equally smart. A new study shows you can spot a stupid magpie by looking out for the ones who are nasty to their neighbors. Far from aggression being a survival trait, it might even be a response to being too stupid to know how […]

Malaysia has announced a plan to send orangutans to its major palm oil trading partners, in an effort to demonstrate its dedication to conserving the endangered species – but the strategy is being called out before it’s even begun. Advertisement The announcement was made by Malaysia’s Plantation and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani at a […]

In recent years skywatchers have been increasingly fascinated by the phenomenon known as STEVE, initially thought to be a type of aurora, but now recognized as being a sort of cousin. However, all STEVEs have been spotted before midnight – and not just because that is when amateurs are out taking photographs. A mirror image […]

Astronomers have discovered a planet that has made them question both what we know about hot Neptunes and what the future of Earth might be like – not bad for a single object. The world is smaller, hotter, and older than scientists expected for its class.   Advertisement It is called TIC365102760 b, but nicknamed […]

Fears of the death of the Hubble Space Telescope have turned out to be greatly exaggerated, with plans announced for it to go on, operating on a single gyroscope. Practical observing time will be reduced, as it will take Hubble longer to move from one target to another, but there are no plans to shut […]