A study that looked at how tarantulas interact with other animals has revealed that they are actually pretty chill with a wide range of species. The eight-legged critters that get some of us humans in such a twist were found living alongside amphibians, reptiles, whip spiders, and harvestmen across the globe. In some cases, the […]
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IFLScience The Big Questions: Can We Make Dogs Live Longer?
Hinging our happiness on animals known to have a significantly shorter lifespan than our own was, in hindsight, a bad idea. Saying goodbye to a pet is an incredibly painful time in a person’s life, but what if there were a way we could help our pets live longer, better lives? That’s exactly what Celine […]
Dolce & Gabanna Launch New $108 Dog Perfume – But Should You Spritz Your Pooch?
Luxury Italian brand Dolce & Gabbana has created a “scented mist for dogs” – and it costs upwards of $100, making it some seriously spenny puppy perfume. Outrageous price tag aside, is it really a good idea to be dousing our dogs in this, or any other, fragrance? Advertisement Fefé – named for Domenico Dolce’s […]
Tail-Wagger Snails Look Like Adorable Gooey Dogs When They’re In The Mood
In the forests of South Africa a group of snails can be found doing something a bit surprising. Tail-wagger snails do what it says on the tin, throwing around small black protrusions like little dogs in a good mood. Advertisement Exactly what purpose the tail-wagging serves isn’t known for certain, but it’s been suggested it […]
Antarctica Is Being Hit With A Worryingly Long Heat Wave, Potentially Breaking Records
Huge chunks of Antarctica have recently been slapped with (potentially) record-breaking warm temperatures that have lingered for a worryingly long time. Advertisement New data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service shows that large parts of the ice-covered continent experienced temperatures that were 10 to 12°C (18 to 21.6°F) above average for this time of […]
NASA Delays Next Astronaut Launch While Figuring Out How To Bring Current Ones Home
The ongoing troubles of the Boeing Starliner capsule are affecting the schedule of launches to the International Space Station (ISS). The starship is on its first crewed flight test and it has been a partial success. While it flew to orbit with no issues, it experienced delays and once on approach, thrusters malfunctioned. Since then, […]
Can We Legally Require AI Chatbots To Tell The Truth?
In recent months, many people will have experimented with a chatbot like ChatGPT. Useful though they can be, there’s also no shortage of examples of them producing, ahem, erroneous information. Now, a group of scientists from the University of Oxford are asking: is there a legal pathway by which we could require these chatbots to […]
The Russian Sleep Experiment And Why We Believe In Urban Legends
In 1947, a covert Soviet test facility carried out experiments into sleep. The researchers took several test subjects – prison inmates – and sealed them in an airtight space that was then filled with an experimental stimulant gas designed to prevent sleep. Over the next few weeks, the researchers planned to observe their hapless test […]
Space Hurricanes Are Now A Thing – And They Happen A Lot
Just three years ago, researchers discovered a new geomagnetic phenomenon. Dubbed “space hurricanes”, scientists saw huge swirling arms of plasma in the Earth’s magnetosphere hundreds of kilometers long around a calm “eye of the storm”, just like in a regular hurricane. These events can disrupt satellites in low-Earth orbit and even cause aurorae closer to […]
First-Ever Archaeological Survey In Space Carried Out On The ISS
Archaeology and outer space may not sound like they should mix outside of science fiction – but on board the International Space Station (ISS), the first-ever archaeological survey in space has been carried out. Advertisement The ISS is the largest and most intensely inhabited space station to exist so far, boasting over 270 visitors from […]
Officials Issue Warning After Dog Sets House On Fire By Chewing On Power Bank
Pet cam footage released by the fire department in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has shown the moment a house caught on fire after the owner’s dog chewed into a lithium-ion power bank. Advertisement According to a statement from the fire department posted to social media, firefighters responded to the house fire back in May. Though the building […]
More Research Shuts Down Controversial Claims About Homo Naledi, Star Of Netflix Documentary
Yet another study has poured cold water on the sensational claims surrounding Homo naledi, an extinct human relative with a puny brain that has been claimed to have buried its dead. Advertisement In 2023, archaeologists working at the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa claimed they had found evidence that Homo naledi intentionally buried their […]
Forget Changing With Age, People’s Moral Values Change With The Seasons
If you ask citizens of wealthy English-speaking countries which moral values they consider most important, their answers vary by the time of year, according to a new study. Naturally, the variation is not enormous, or people would have noticed it before, but it is large and surprisingly consistent over many years and may shape choices […]
Swim Along With Sea Lion Scientists As They Explore Previously Unmapped Ocean Floor
Learning more about inaccessible places is often time-consuming, expensive, and comes with a multitude of other challenges. While technologies can be adapted to explore Earth’s more remote environments, researchers in Australia have found a perfectly adapted ready-made tool to help them learn more about the ocean floor: sea lions. Advertisement “Using animal-borne video and […]
A New Way To Recover Gold From E-Waste Is Being Used By The UK’s Royal Mint
The piles of old smartphones, obsolete computers, and broken laptops that are piling up in junkyards are hiding mini mountains of gold, and a new project in the UK is hoping to exploit the invisible riches. Advertisement The Royal Mint, the UK’s official maker of British coins, has signed an agreement with Canadian clean tech […]
“World’s Oldest Calendar” May Depict Catastrophic Comet Impact 13,000 Years Ago
A cataclysmic comet impact 13,000 years ago may have sparked the rise of civilization, according to the authors of a new study. The event – which many scientists believe never happened – may even be documented at the world-famous site of Göbekli Tepe, forming part of a series of carvings that the researchers say represent […]
Twin Peaks Director David Lynch Announces He Has Emphysema – What Is It?
David Lynch, co-creator of the hit TV show Twin Peaks and director of iconic and often surreal movies like Blue Velvet and Eraserhead, has announced that he has emphysema. Lynch referred to the diagnosis in a recent magazine interview and confirmed the news in a post on X. Advertisement ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from […]
A Million Dollar Math Puzzle Just Got A Little Bit Closer To A Solution
There are few problems in math as stubborn as the Riemann hypothesis. First proposed in 1859, there have been dozens of attempts at solving it, by some of the sharpest mathematical minds around – but all have come up short. Results on the hypothesis, therefore, when they do come, tend to be a bit… sideways. […]
Map Of First Ever Spanish City On The American Mainland Reveals Dramatic 14-Year History
The first Spanish city to be founded on the American mainland lasted just 14 years before it was burned to the ground amidst an Indigenous uprising. During its short existence, the settlement witnessed more than its fair share of drama and tragedy, as revealed by the findings of the first ever mapping study at the […]
Incredibly Tiny New Fossil Arm Bone May Resolve Mystery Of Ancient Hobbits’ Family Tree
Three new fossils, including part of a humerus, have been found at Mata Menge on the Indonesian island of Flores. They indicate that Homo floresiensis, popularly known as Hobbits, were descended from Homo erectus, and became small relatively soon after arriving on Flores. Indeed, it seems at least some Hobbits from 700,000 years ago were […]