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Plunge 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) below the ocean’s surface, and there can be found the midnight zone, where the complete lack of sunlight and extreme cold and pressure have led to the evolution of all manner of ethereal weirdos. One of the rarest members of the gang? The giant phantom jellyfish (Stygiomedusa gigantea). The rest […]

Mammals are vertebrates famous for, among other talents, having milk-producing mammary glands, having hair or fur, giving birth to live young, and being warm-blooded. While these traits, along with having a complex neocortex in their brain, are generally found in all mammals, they are not universal rules. For obvious example, monotremes such as platypuses do […]

It seems that in the last few years, we have been collecting a lot of objects, phenomena, and events that challenge our best understanding of how the universe and galaxies in it have evolved. Thanks to new telescopes coming online, we are seeing with more accuracy into the past, and this means new insight. Insights […]

The Bayeux Tapestry, the medieval embroidery depicting the events surrounding the Battle of Hastings in 1066, may have been hung up in the refectory of St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury, new research suggests. If this is true, then the famous artifact may have been created as reading material for medieval monks as they ate their […]

Have you ever wondered why the Hawaiian language, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, is heavily sprinkled with so many diacritical marks and other special characters? These lightly swishing symbols are there to guide pronunciation and meaning, which is especially important in a language with such a small, tightly-knit alphabet. With just 13 letters, the Hawaiian language is among […]

A mouse that was part of an elite team that spent two weeks in microgravity on board China’s Shenzhou-21 spaceship and Tiangong space station has proven there is no conflict between career and motherhood for space-traveling rodents. She gave birth to nine pups and although three of them died soon after, this is considered a […]

Did you know that a warm-blooded fish lives hundreds of meters below the sea? It’s a strange thought, but a 2015 study proved it to be true as it declared the opah, or moonfish, to be the first fully warm-blooded fish known to science. Just like a mammal, it circulates heated blood through its entire […]

There’s a cave in Spain that seems to have held some sort of ritual significance to Neanderthals, though researchers have no idea why the site was so revered by these extinct hominins. What we do know, however, is that Neanderthals kept coming back to the cave to stash horned animal skulls, and that the practice […]

The Earth, unless you subscribe to the flat-Earther “model”, rotates on its axis once every 24 hours. But this hasn’t been the case forever, and one (long) day in the distant future, it could potentially even stop, becoming tidally locked to the Moon. But astronomical events (and, you know, death) may prevent us from ever […]

Evidence for ammonite survival into the Paleogene era is solid, a new study confirms, indicating that these ancient mollusks were well positioned to inherit oceans now cleared of competitors. Yet for some reason, the fossils stop within 200,000 years, leaving the mystery of ammonite extinction even more puzzling than before. There’s a reason the film […]

Parts of the world are experiencing the extremes of cold at this time of year, and with low temperatures comes a shocking phenomenon: cat zapping. If you’ve been trying to pet your cat only to wind up both getting a miniature shock, fear not. You aren’t alone. The rest of this article is behind a […]

This week, legal rights have been granted to the planet’s oldest bee species in a world-first, commonly used ADHD medications don’t work in the way we thought they did, and the human body gave up making its own vitamin C – we might finally know why. Finally, 2025 was a big year for oncology. Here […]

It’s a new year, and what better way to kick it off than by looking back on some of the biggest conservation wins we’ve achieved in the last quarter-century? From making “runways” for the UK’s largest bird to re-wiggling rivers, conservationists have come up with all sorts of ways to give nature a helping hand. […]

Scientists have used AI to identify two novel subtypes of multiple sclerosis (MS), which could offer new, targeted treatments for patients. MS affects around 2.8 million people across the world. It’s a chronic condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the protective cover, called myelin, that surrounds nerve cells. The damage to this sheath […]

For 140 years, a leggy mystery has eluded scientists working in Antarctica. Here, you’ll find enormous sea spiders that are a great example of something called “polar gigantism”, a phenomenon where animals get supersized in cold environments compared to their warmer relatives. Weird thing is, despite their enormous size, nobody knew where they came from. […]

China has decided to take hypergravity to a whole new level – testing both materials and fundamental physics in a regime we have not been able to explore in the lab. After breaking the record for most powerful centrifuge in September last year, Zhejiang University has now got an even better version. The rest of […]

Meet the smallest member of the Antarctic true seals: the Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii). This species is the rarest, least studied, and least frequently seen of the Antarctic seals, which also include Weddell’s seals and four other species. They are so elusive, in fact, that it’s thought no underwater photographs of this species existed – […]

A couple of decades ago, anthropologists unearthed an enigmatic ape-like fossil that roamed the Sahara region over 7 million years ago. It didn’t fit neatly into their existing understanding, but it was clearly significant. Now, a new study has weighed in on the bones with more evidence that this species walked on two legs and may […]

In 2018, scientists described a new species of spider-like arachnid that lived 100 million years ago. Like modern spiders, it had spinnerets, a palpal organ for sperm transfer, and four paired walking limbs. Very much unlike modern spiders, however, it also had a tail. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign […]

GLP-1 receptor agonists, developed as treatments for type 2 diabetes, have become some of the most in-demand drugs on the market. Studies are published at least weekly on their effects, reporting both unexpected bonuses for health, and worrying side effects. With millions of people now taking them, and many more likely to in the near […]