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This article first appeared in Issue 19 of our digital magazine CURIOUS.  Advertisement A photographic playground of a salt flat can be found sprawling across southwest Bolivia. Here, the remains of an ancient lake have created a salty crust that makes for great perspective games in the dry season – and turns into a massive mirror when wet.  Advertisement The world’s largest salt flat […]

Astronomers have discovered the most distant pair of interacting supermassive black holes. The duo was in the process of merging when the universe was just 740 million years old. The light of the system, dubbed ZS7, traveled over 13 billion years to reach us and the observations are providing insights into how supermassive black holes […]

In a world-first application for gene editing technology, Colossal Biosciences is attempting to use CRISPR to make the endangered northern quoll resistant to the neurotoxins of cane toads. Snacking on a cane toad can be a fatal error for a hungry quoll, but the world-first de-extinction company is striving towards introducing genetic resistance that could […]

As a wise and leonine monarch once said, “Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance […] we are all connected in the great Circle of Life.” Advertisement But what if that circle was more of an… oval? What if, instead of each species being just […]

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been declining month-on-month for over a year and has now reached the lowest rate in five years, according to data from Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE) analyzed by Mongabay. Advertisement The INPE’s DETER system also indicates that deforestation between August 2023 and April 2024 had dropped by 51 […]

Wegovy, an injectable prescription weight loss drug, can produce effective results that help patients keep weight off for up to four years, a new study suggests. The drug may also offer heart protection benefits for overweight and obese patients who had heart disease before starting the treatment. Advertisement The drug, which is developed by Novo […]

The past decade has seen an explosion of new research into some of the most fascinating sounds in the sea: the vocalisations of whales and dolphins. Scientists have uncovered how humpback whales learn songs from neighbouring populations, so that these songs travel from western Australia to South America. They discovered bowhead whales singing 184 different […]

Seashells may seem like a harmless memento from your trip to the beach, but there are a few good reasons why you let it be and leave them on the shore. Advertisement Beachcombing, if done carelessly, has the potential to cause real upset for coastal ecosystems. A study in 2014 investigated the removal of seashells […]

History is filled with stories about island and their civilizations that disappear after some cataclysm (I bet I can guess which one you’re thinking of). But I doubt many people have heard the story of Teonimanu, the landmass that has now vanished from among the Solomon Islands. We only now know of its existence because […]

The daily shower is a more controversial thing than you might think. Are we showering too much? Too little? Is the water too hot, or too cold? What is that rat doing in here anyway? Advertisement But for some reason, the one that really gets people grimacing is the question of when to shower. If […]

A father and son explorer team have successfully reached the most remote place on Earth after embarking on a harrowing journey to Point Nemo, a place where – most of the time – the nearest humans are whizzing overhead on the International Space Station (ISS). That all changed in 2024 when Chris and Mika Brown […]

The unfolding climate crisis puts humanity in danger – and usually, the ones who have contributed the least to it face the harshest consequences. The health impacts of the crisis have become more and more evident, and it seems that conditions that affect the brain are likely to be affected by the changing climate as […]

In early March, during its close flyby of Jupiter, Juno snapped a beautiful view of the planet. And among the stunning cloud formations, there is a dark spot. In one photo, it is over a dark band. In another, it is starkly clear over the Great Red Spot. A fitting place, given that Amalthea is […]

Palaeontology is currently experiencing something of a “golden age”, with a wealth of new, weird, and wonderful dinosaurs discovered each year. The question is just how long that golden age will last. Only a finite number of dinosaur species existed – so how many are there left to find? Advertisement There’s no exact answer to […]

Thunderstorms and volcanic eruptions are some of Earth’s most powerful natural phenomena. Combine the two and the result is truly dazzling. Onlookers at Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala were wowed to see lighting seemingly strike the edge of the erupting crater earlier this month. Advertisement Volcán de Fuego, a 3,763-meter (12,346-foot) tall stratovolcano, is Guatemala’s […]

For a group of animals that went extinct 60 million years ago, we know a remarkable amount about how dinosaurs lived, but what about how fast they could run? We’ve all seen the depictions in Jurassic Park of velociraptors chasing down humans with ease, but what was the fastest dinosaur? Advertisement Ascertaining dinosaur behavior generally […]

Scientists have detected “significant concentrations” of microplastics in the testicles of both humans and dogs. Worryingly, they also found some evidence that certain forms of microplastic might be having a damaging impact on sperm count.  Advertisement Researchers at the University of New Mexico looked for microplastics in 47 canine and 23 human testes taken during […]

This leggy, spiny fella is Douglassarachne acanthopoda, whom we’ll call Doug for short (only kidding). You might look at this fossilized specimen and confidently declare, “That there’s a spider.” But wait! While D. acanthopoda certainly shares many of the characteristics of modern arachnids, it has enough unique features to give palaentologists a headache when it comes […]

Large congregations of animals can be positive or negative. Large groups of whales seen for the first time may represent an important conservation milestone, while the upcoming cicadapocaplypse might not be everyone’s idea of a good time. Underneath the waves off the coast of California, however, a gathering of tuna crabs is causing a stir. […]

An oral antidote to acute alcohol intoxication has been developed and tested successfully on mice. The hydrogel is engineered using a milk protein that’s a by-product of cheese manufacturing, and it breaks down alcohol in the body without generating the usual toxic waste products. Advertisement In many communities, alcohol has historically played an important part […]