Like a champion sports team, some creatures really are greater than the sum of their parts. Known as colonial organisms, these bizarre beings appear to be a single, bounded organism – but are in fact assemblages of many tiny individuals all working together for a common cause. Weirdly enough, many of these conglomerates are also […]
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Meta Announces Subsea Cable Project “Longer Than The Earth’s Circumference”
Meta has announced plans to lay over 50,000 kilometers (31,069 miles) of subsea cables spanning five continents, the world’s longest project of its kind, dubbing the effort “Project Waterworth”. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE “Project Waterworth will bring industry-leading connectivity to the U.S., India, Brazil, South Africa, and other key regions,” Meta’s Vice President of Network […]
New Videos Show Massive Bleaching On One Of World’s Most Pristine Coral Reefs
Divers at Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia have recorded footage that looks more like the surface of the Moon than a healthy coral reef. The videos and stills have been released by the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), who have called on the state and federal government to reveal how they plan to protect one […]
Astronomers Puzzled By TV Signals Coming From The Sky For 5 Years Solve Mystery
A team of astronomers looking at data from the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in Western Australia were met with a bit of a puzzle recently. The telescope, designed to look at radio signals that have traversed space for over 13 billion years, appeared to have found a… television signal. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE This […]
First-Ever 3D Map Of Exoplanet’s Atmosphere Reveals Never-Before-Seen Climate
An international team of astronomers have been able to probe the atmosphere of an exoplanet like never before. Exoplanet Tylos, also known as WASP 121-b, is an ultra-hot Jupiter – a gas giant so close to its stars that one year lasts only 30 hours. This proximity allowed researchers to probe the atmosphere like never […]
Asteroid 2024 YR4’s Impact Risk Reaches 2.6 Percent – But Still No Need To Panic
Asteroid 2024 YR4 has reached the highest risk of impact yet, according to both NASA and the European Space Agency, with the agencies estimating a 2.6 percent and 2.4 percent chance respectively that the rock will hit Earth on December 22, 2032. The two measurements are independent of each other and continue to be in […]
“Life-Threatening” Cold To Hit US As Polar Vortex Returns For 10th Time This Winter
Bitter cold has descended on swathes of the US this week, as the nation faces its 10th – and coldest – polar vortex of the season. In a normal winter, you can expect to see this happen two or three times. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The anomalous Arctic chill is set to hit the Central […]
Watch Lava Melt Snow As It Flows Down Italy’s Erupting Mount Etna
Mount Etna is Europe’s highest and most active volcano and has recently been up to its usual albeit impressive tricks of shooting volcanic ash and debris into the air. Mesmerizing new footage captured lava flowing down the volcano’s snow-covered sides, melting it as it goes. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE It’s not surprising for Mount Etna, […]
Were Asylums As Bad As People Think? The Rise And Fall Of The So-Called “Madhouse”
What comes to mind when you think about asylums? I bet it involves some large, gothic building on a walled estate. Chances are you are also imagining long sterile corridors, barred windows, white-clothed orderlies, and of course, restrained and straitjacketed patients in various levels of distress. But how accurate is this image? ADVERTISEMENT GO AD […]
Reintroducing Wolves To Scotland Could Help Capture 1 Million Tons Of CO2 Per Year
A team of researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK has come up with a surprising way to help tackle the climate crisis; reintroducing wolves to Scotland. According to the team, introducing a population of wolves to the Cairngorms, South-west Highlands, Central Highlands, and North-west Highlands could help capture and store up to […]
Global Sea Ice Plummets To New Record Low Amid Unusually Warm Temperatures
The world currently has less sea ice than ever before according to a new analysis, with both the Arctic and Antarctic experiencing unusually warm temperatures. This has led to a massive melt in the region around the South Pole, while things in the north just aren’t freezing like they should be at this time of […]
Pineapple On Pizza? Here’s What Science Says About The World’s Most Divisive Topping
Nothing can set a room on fire quite like the old “does pineapple belong on pizza” debate. At IFLScience it cycles around time and again, and in a recent employee poll scored a clean 50/50 for and against. The conversation turned to other curious toppings to be found across the globe (banana and curry? We […]
Former Paralympian Becomes First Astronaut With Disability To Be Cleared For ISS Mission
Former Paralympian and current surgeon John McFall has become the first disabled astronaut to be cleared for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by feasibility studies. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE In 2000, aged 19, McFall’s right leg was amputated after he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. After being fitted with a […]
What Is A Geomagnetic Field, And What Sets It Apart From Other Electromagnetic Fields?
Electromagnetic fields are everywhere – and if the scam artists we’ve seen on our social media feeds are to be believed, that should terrify you. But should it, really? After all, there’s a gigantic one surrounding the Earth right now, and without it, we’d all probably be dead – and that’s gotta be a point […]
Santorini Earthquakes: What’s Been Happening – And Why?
The Greek island of Santorini normally conjures up images of beautiful white buildings and dreamy blue seas, but since January this year, its home in the Aegean Sea has been hit by a near-constant string of seismic activity – so what’s going on? ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE At the time of publishing, in the last […]
Miracle Seems Somewhat Unlikely After Blood Of Virgin Mary Statue Receives DNA Test
A statue of the Virgin Mary has been the unlikely recipient of a DNA swab, after it appeared to be weeping blood. Results from the test make a miracle appear unlikely, and a criminal case against its owner more probable. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Back in 2014, “mystic” Gisella Cardia bought a statue of the […]
Before Lions And Wolves, Bastetodon Was The Apex Predator Early Monkeys Feared
A 30-million-year-old skull from Fayum, Egypt, is thought to come from the apex predator of the times, which would have been the scourge of early hippos and elephants, snacking on our own ancestors in between. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The cat and dog families evolved about halfway between the death of the dinosaurs and today. […]
How Do Our Brains Make – And Break – Habits?
Is there a habit you wish you had? Maybe it’s something simple, like always leaving your keys in one specific place so you never lose them. Or is there an annoying habit you’d really like to kick, like biting your nails? Let’s take a step back for second, though: what actually is a habit? ADVERTISEMENT GO […]
Incredible 14.6-Million-Year-Old Fossil Bee Discovered In New Zealand
Finding fossils of any species is an exciting discovery for science, but some are a little bit more special than others. In New Zealand, a 14.6-million-year-old fossilized bee has been discovered, marking the first fossil bee to be uncovered from Zealandia. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Near the township of Outram in Otago on the South […]
Carbon Capture Is More Expensive Than Just Switching To Renewables
As the nations of the world continue to burn fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases – as well as air pollutants – continue to increase. The climate crisis is a consequence of those human actions. Wouldn’t it be great to just remove excess CO2? Carbon capture aims to do […]
