News

Quantum dots can cool themselves by turning low energy light into higher-energy photons, which are radiated away. The idea, which runs against classical physics, might avoid the need to expend energy to actively reduce temperatures, although the economics are doubtful, even in a world struggling to keep its cool. Every now and then, residents of […]

In our quest to obliterate fellow humans, humans have attempted some pretty whacky and ghoulish ideas, from the pain ray and Greek Fire to firing the corpses of plague victims at the enemy using a catapult. One suitably stupid (and short-lived) invention was the flying tank, dreamed up by the Soviet Union during World War […]

It was already pretty hot by the time Donald Johanson and his graduate student, Tom Gray, arrived at the site at Hadar, Ethiopia, on the morning of November 24, 1974. The two had initially set out to map the location but decided to have a look around for any signs of fossils while they were […]

Our cosmos is 13.7 billion years old and it all started with the Big Bang. When we look for really distant objects, we can’t really see the Big Bang because the universe was so hot and dense that light was not free to move. The farthest we can see is light 400,000 years younger than […]

Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest is home to an abundance of amazing wildlife, but there’s one group of animals that’s particularly special. They’re big, fluffy, and deliciously cream-colored – it’s the spirit bears. A rare black bear variant Found primarily in the aforementioned Great Bear Rainforest on Canada’s north and central coast, spirit bears – also […]

With increasingly more people opting for plant-based diets – whether it’s for health, environmental, or ethical concerns –  a new study has highlighted that switching to vegetarianism may entail an undesirable side effect: eating more ultra-processed foods. In a new study, scientists looked at the consumption of ultra-processed food, plus “minimally processed food” across nearly […]

Long before humans began creating nuclear reactors to fulfill our ridiculous energy needs, back when the Earth was dominated by microbes, in fact, nature beat us to it and built the first nuclear reactor on Earth. In May 1972, a physicist at a nuclear processing plant in Pierrelatte, France, was conducting analysis on uranium samples […]

Most governments around the world, especially those of high-income countries, are failing to achieve the target of the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 by 195 countries and the European Union. As carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase, for many the solution is to develop technologies to simply remove this greenhouse gas from the air. A […]

As Thanksgiving rolls around once again, so too does an increased chance of spending the following days sitting on the toilet, fighting for your life. Not just from eating too much of your grandma’s delightfully creamy mashed potatoes (curse you, lactose intolerance), but from some pretty dodgy food handling – including the big no-no that […]

Of the five dwarf planets in the Solar System – including Eris, Ceres, Makemake, and Haumea – Pluto is easily the best-known due to its brief categorization as a regular planet. Long before it could even make one turn around the Sun, it was demoted again. A surprising number of astronomical bodies have been discovered […]

When you think of a squirrel, your mind is probably more drawn to images of cute little woodland creatures, or even a critter burying acorns in the park. However, for researchers in Japan the tale gets a little more grisly, as they observed a squirrel chowing down on a bone. Japanese squirrels (Sciurus lis) are […]

If you own a freezer, it’s likely you’ve at some point had to contend with freezer burn. That package of meat or bag of leftovers you tucked away safely for another day has come out looking a funny color and covered in ice. Is it still safe to eat, and how can you stop this […]

There’s only one country in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) in elevation: Lesotho. Known as the “The Kingdom in the Sky,” for obvious reasons, the entire territory of the landlocked kingdom in Southern Africa sits above 1,400 meters (4,593 feet).  In other words, the entire territory of Lesotho is at […]

With the world’s polar regions melting at a dizzying rate, scientists have toyed with the idea of constructing giant underwater “curtains” around ice sheets to protect the wider world from rising sea levels. Beyond the perils of radical geoengineering projects, experts in international relations warn that the plan could spark political turmoil like we’ve never […]

There’s an incredible meme that depicts a chicken looking to the skies Simba style and being met with a Tyrannosaurus rex saying “Remember who you are.” It’s a fantastic visual and one that carries some truth, because the closest living relative to T. rex could well be a chicken, or possibly an ostrich. This was […]

There was a period in the 1950s and 60s when sleep deprivation was all the rage. Sparked by radio DJs attempting to outdo each other’s wildly dangerous – yet presumably quite boring – publicity stunts, the record for staying awake was repeatedly broken and extended. Eventually, however, Guinness World Records called a halt to the […]

The death of six tourists visiting Laos is suspected to be the result of mass methanol poisoning, after all are believed to have consumed alcoholic drinks tainted with the toxic substance. With officials issuing fresh warnings about the dangers of ingesting methanol, here’s what you should know about what it is and how it affects […]

Earlier this year, a former US Air Force pilot and intelligence officer raised hopes that Amelia Earhart’s plane may have been discovered after scanning the Pacific Ocean floor using sonar. Unfortunately, after further investigation, the plane-like object appears to be a rock. On July 2, 1937, while attempting to become the first woman to circumnavigate […]

There are a lot of particles that come from space and rain down on us, every second of every day. If we include neutrinos, we think trillions of them are passing through your body right now, but if we just focus on cosmic rays from beyond the Solar System, we still get a fair amount […]

Birth control, contraception, family planning – whatever you call it, how long have people been coming up with ways to prevent (or strategically time) a pregnancy? The first oral contraceptive was approved in the US in 1960, but methods of contraception have been around much further back in history than that. In the beginning One […]