News

Earth’s first (water) oceans are thought to have been too acidic for life. A new study has estimated the timelines of the processes that changed this and puts a figure on when they reached the right pH to host the first organisms. ADVERTISEMENT Modern oceans are slightly alkaline, with a pH of around 8.1. The […]

Newly discovered frescoes unearthed at Pompeii reveal glimpses of a wine-fueled cult that embraced the “wild, untamable side of women”. ADVERTISEMENT The Pompeii Archaeological Park recently announced the discovery of a large-scale frieze that covers three walls of a banquet hall dated to 40-30 BCE. It depicts the initiation rites for a cult dedicated to […]

A volcano erupted in Central America tens of thousands of years ago, creating an explosion so enormous that scientists believed it triggered prolonged enough global cooling to kick off an ice age. Known today as the Los Chocoyos supereruption, it was one of the largest of the Quaternary period, but a new study looking at […]

Some of the health effects astronauts suffer on the International Space Station (ISS) may not be a consequence of weightlessness, as previously thought, but of the ISS being too clean, a new study proposes. If so, there’s a relatively simple solution – make it dirtier. Whether the ISS has a long enough future to test […]

Two US states – Texas and New Mexico – are currently grappling with measles outbreaks that have so far affected more than 100 people. Sadly, the first reported death from the highly contagious disease in 10 years has now been confirmed in West Texas. The child who passed away was not vaccinated.  ADVERTISEMENT In light […]

Flying is, for many people, a fearful experience, alongside the stress of traveling, the confined space, and the many common annoyances of airports. Flight safety has been in the news lately as several serious crashes took place over the last several weeks, with insiders saying that firings at the Federal Aviation Administration planned by Trump […]

When purchasing milk there’s a world of possibility: cow, goat, sheep, yak, and even buffalo, but there’s one farmyard staple that’s conspicuously absent: pigs. As mammals, these intelligent creatures nourish their offspring with milk, but of all the milks we humans have dared to pour over Cheerios, pig’s just doesn’t make the cut. ADVERTISEMENT The […]

Texas state health officials have reported the death of a child from measles, the first death in an ongoing two-state outbreak of the disease and the first in the US since 2015. ADVERTISEMENT The child was hospitalized in Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock last week and tested positive for measles, the Texas Department of State […]

A video that has gone viral in the last few days shows two artificial intelligence (AI) agents having a conversation before switching to another mode of communication when they realize no human is part of the conversation. ADVERTISEMENT In the video, the two agents were set up to occupy different roles; one acting as a […]

Every now and then, people are grossed out to learn a surprising truth about how their various foods are made. For instance, the cheese you sprinkle on your Bolognese involves a lot more baby cow stomach juice than is ideal. ADVERTISEMENT Today, people are learning the shocking truth about how panko breadcrumbs – those delicious […]

We’re sure we don’t need to tell you that math is awesome. It’s surprising; it’s useful; and in fields like geometry, it can be really, really pretty. But for some people, that’s not enough. The study of shapes isn’t just cool and nice to look at, they say – it has to be magic as […]

The outbreak of a currently unknown disease in northwest Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has seen hundreds of people sickened and more than 50 killed since mid-January, health officials have reported. ADVERTISEMENT In a February 16 bulletin, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that “two clusters of cases and deaths from an unknown disease […]

A private spacecraft on a pretty badass mission has sent back even more footage of the far side of the Moon, on its way to land in the Mare Crisium region of our satellite on March 2. During this latest approach, a NASA instrument placed on board the spacecraft set a new record. ADVERTISEMENT Blue […]

The fate of the Colorado River is hanging in the balance after President Trump halted payments for a 4 billion-dollar program designed to keep its water flowing.  ADVERTISEMENT It’s all tied up with one of the executive orders signed by President Trump on the first day of his second term, “Unleashing American Energy,” which aims […]

Protons sit in the nuclei of all atoms, but they are not fundamental particles: They are made of three quarks held together by the strong nuclear force. The strength of this interaction is actually more intense than electromagnetic force and immensely more intense than the gravitational pull between particles. A new study has mapped this […]

Over 14,000 new samples of food crop seeds are being added this week to a “doomsday” vault located on an island in Svalbard, Norway. These seeds are part of an effort launched in 2008 to back up thousands of the planet’s essential plant species, ensuring a biodiverse future food supply. You know, saving for a […]

For months now, we have been teased by the planets in the night sky. Uranus and Neptune need a telescope to be seen, but Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus can be seen with the naked eye. All of these six have been out in the night sky, and last week they were finally joined by […]

Earth was a very different place during its Cryogenian period, around 700 million years ago. It was covered head-to-toe in kilometers-deep dice as huge frozen rivers churned across the planet’s rocky surface. Now, new research has described how the destructive power of these ancient glaciers may have set the stage for life by acting like […]

Invasive species are a serious problem, but what’s the best way to deal with them? One solution might be to stick ‘em in a stew and gobble them right up. What is an invasive species? ADVERTISEMENT Invasive species are non-native species that cause harm. Introduced either on purpose or accidentally to areas where they don’t […]

The Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah is home to the Mussentuchit Member, a site where the first fossil eggshell from the Cenomanian age (~100 million years ago) was described 50 years ago. The diversity of fossil eggs – known by the fun word “oodiversity” – had been limited to just one unstable taxon, Macroelongatoolithus carlylei. […]