News

Just how similar were Neanderthals to Homo sapiens? Are we a single inseparable species or just siblings (perhaps merely cousins) in the great, messy family tree of humans? These questions have been debated since Neanderthal fossils were first unearthed in the 19th century, but a new paper aims to advance the discussion and move it […]

Welcome to True Crime in Science. Over six episodes, we will discuss some well-known true crime cases, as well as some cases you may not have heard of, and then delve further into the science and the forensic details behind them. Watch episode two on Harold Shipman now. In episode one, which you can watch […]

Whether they’re trekking 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) or discovering new viruses, cats are pretty great. Unless, of course, you’re allergic. But what if there was a way to create felines that don’t leave your throat feeling akin to sandpaper? It’s early days, but new research into the protein that triggers allergies to cats has hinted […]

If you’ve ever visited a medieval castle – or read a book about them, or watched a TV show about them, or just have one of those friends who likes to come out with weird bits of trivia every now and then – then you’ll have heard this one before: the staircases in castles, it […]

The addition of lead to gasoline in the United States was responsible for 151 million cases of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and hyperactivity among Americans, a new study concludes. The cost of doing the same thing to what the rest of the world calls petrol is yet to be calculated, but presumably scales […]

Portrayals of futuristic activity seldom include nature in its wildest state. Sure, there are intriguing visions of the future where the two coexist but usually, we see the wild in opposition to the sleek aluminum-colored vision of the day after tomorrow. In reality, this is not true. Around the world, nature and cutting-edge technologies already […]

Scientists may have figured out how the earliest known culture in North America spread so rapidly across the continent. By reconstructing the diet of a toddler who lived almost 13,000 years ago in what is now Montana, the study authors discovered that the youngster and his tribe were likely specialist mammoth hunters who exploited this […]

The oldest known wild bird – an albatross named Wisdom – has laid an egg at the ripe old age of 74, after finding a new mate earlier this year. Wisdom was first identified and banded by biologists after she laid an egg at Midway Atoll in 1956. As albatrosses do not lay eggs before […]

We are getting better at discovering small asteroids and predicting where they are going to hit our planet. For the first time this year, four asteroids were successfully found and their orbit and predicted ahead of their collision with our planet. The fourth one was predicted and flew over Russia just yesterday, disintegrating into a […]

Humanity’s longstanding friendship with dogs may be even deeper than previously realized. Archaeological remains of a well-loved hound in Alaska suggest that people in the Americas had a close relationship with canine companions at least 12,000 years ago, around 2,000 years earlier than physical evidence previously suggested.  Back in 2018, archaeologists unearthed a tibia, or […]

The importance of the North Star, Polaris, is so great we use it as a metaphor for something that reliably guides us; it’s aspirational enough for companies to name themselves after it. In the days of GPS, its use may have declined, but memories of its importance linger on. However, there is no equivalent South […]

Some animals capture people’s imaginations more than others and old favourites return to familiar spots time and time again. Whether it’s the world’s oldest wild bird or a tortoise birthday party, we love to celebrate animals we recognize. Good news from California: Frosty the orca is back. Frosty was spotted on November 24 by whale […]

An associate professor of physics at the University of Portsmouth has suggested possible types of simulation humanity could be in, following highly controversial claims that evidence could support the idea we are not living in base reality.  Dr Melvin Vopson made headlines last year when he claimed to have found evidence for a new law […]

Chicxulub is the asteroid impact that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and many other living organisms across the planet 66 million years ago – but it was not the last major impact. Two asteroids that were almost as big fell to Earth 35.65 million years ago, but their effect was very different. Despite the devastation, […]

The Kepler-51 system, known for having some of the least dense planets ever found, has a fourth member. We don’t know if the newly discovered Kepler-51e shares this notable trait of its sibling planets, as we only know its mass, not size, but the discovery adds an extra level of intrigue to a truly extraordinary […]

If you’ve ever wanted to experience the world as a bear, then boy do we have a treat for you. Remarkable footage has captured the lives of Andean bears, also known as spectacled bears, like never before. Using collar cams (like the ones people love attaching to their cats), a team with the National Geographic […]

An “unknown disease” has reportedly killed 143 people in a rural part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa. Symptoms include fever, headache, cough, and anemia, but little is currently known about the illness.  The deaths were recorded between November 10 and November 25 in the DRC’s Panzi health zone of […]

Like Gina Montana in Scarface, Barbarian soldiers potentially sniffed narcotics from dainty little drug spoons when heading into battle against the ferocious Roman army, according to new research. Somewhat classier than a rolled-up banknote, these ancient instruments were often attached to soldiers’ belts and may have been used to deliver hits of anything from opium […]

Every now and then a horrifying news story reaches the airwaves, detailing a gaping chasm that’s appeared seemingly without warning beneath our very feet. These sinkholes can be deadly, growing large enough to swallow entire buildings – but where do they go? What’s waiting at the bottom of a sinkhole depends on how it was […]

In a matter of hours, a small asteroid will burn over the Siberian skies. This is only the 11th time that an asteroid has been predicted to hit our planet before it actually happened, but it shows that the system of planetary defense is working! At around 4:15 pm UTC today, the asteroid will burn […]