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How do anesthetics stop us from perceiving the world around us? Some may knock us out by making the brain temporarily more unstable, a new study focusing on the drug propofol suggests. Advertisement Anesthesia: the word itself comes from the ancient Greek “an” (without) and “aesthesis” (sensation). Anesthesia is medically described as a combination of […]

With 200 billion trillion (ish) stars in the universe and 13.7 billion years that have elapsed since it all began, you might be wondering where all the alien civilizations are. This is the basic question behind the Fermi paradox, the tension between our suspicions of the potential for life in the universe (given planets found […]

In a quiet pocket of Mexico, archaeologists have used LiDAR imaging to reveal long-lost structures built by the Maya culture centuries ago. Among the discoveries are grand pyramids and a civic-ceremonial center, plus a subterranean structure found beneath a Maya ball court. Advertisement The recent archaeological work was carried out by Mexico’s National Institute of […]

New research shows that the Cambrian explosion, one of the most important interludes in the story of life on Earth, may have been triggered by a small increase in oxygen levels. Using datasets from an international consortium of scientists, the team show that modest changes in oxygen levels may have been enough to cause the […]

Your face is the result of thousands of years of lovemaking between multiple human species, with Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo sapiens being the main players in this ancient three-way romance. Because of a lack of physical evidence, however, we don’t really know how the features we’ve inherited compare to those of our extinct lovers – […]

Astronomers have spotted a neutron star whose jet is changing direction for the first time. Likened to a garden sprinkler, the jet is coming from the phenomenal object Circinus X-1, one of the brightest and best-studied objects in the X-ray sky. However, it turns out that there is a lot more to discover about this […]

A tunnel has been identified under the surface of the Moon for the first time, appropriately on the Sea of Tranquility where humans first set foot. Although this particular spot is not a likely place to build a future colony, where there is one cave there are likely to be more, boosting the prospects for […]

It has been two years since the JWST revealed its first science images and since then, the telescope has contributed massively to furthering our understanding of the universe near and far. From discovering new features in the atmosphere of Jupiter to spotting the most distant galaxies yet, JWST deserves its accolades. To mark its second […]

We don’t like saying it any more than you like hearing it, but COVID-19 has not gone away. Many of us know people who’ve recently gone down with coughs and sneezes, and you may even have asked yourself that timeless question: do I have hay fever or COVID? But what about symptoms that don’t mimic […]

A spade-toothed whale, the world’s rarest whale species, has been found washed ashore on a beach in Otago, New Zealand, one of only six specimens to have ever been documented. Advertisement While marine mammal strandings are relatively common in New Zealand – there are around 85 per year – when experts from the Department of […]

The internet was meant to be an “information superhighway” – a place where all human knowledge could be available, allowing humanity to find the truth of any situation at the touch of a button. Advertisement Instead, it’s a place where anti-vaxxers tout deworming tablets for viruses and people pretend that birds aren’t real. It’s a wild […]

A high school student has completed an ambitious project after three years of work: creating a model rocket that lands vertically. Advertisement Landing a rocket vertically is a pretty difficult task, being literal rocket science. Just ask SpaceX, who have blown up many a rocket stage in their attempts to land rocket boosters, though sometimes […]

El Niño, at its worst, can be devastating. It’s the climate phenomenon that sees the Pacific jet stream moved southwards by reduced equatorial winds, causing everything from heatwaves in Canada, to droughts in Africa, to intense storms over the west coasts of the Americas.  Advertisement Well, bad news: according to a new paper, those worst-case […]

It wouldn’t be a day ending in “y” without a tourist having a mishap at Yellowstone National Park.  Advertisement The latest snafu comes courtesy of five visitors who accidentally drove their SUV into the Semi-Centennial Geyser – a hot, acidic pond located near the park’s Roaring Mountain, between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junction. The […]

Have you heard of saki monkeys? It wouldn’t be surprising if you hadn’t – they’re incredibly elusive, and unless you live deep in the Amazon rainforest, you’re unlikely to see one even by accident. Advertisement But you really ought to know more about them. Not only are they fashion icons, they’re also incredible athletes and […]

A man in China has been caught trying to smuggle more than 100 live snakes into the country inside his pants – bringing new meaning both to the term “trouser snake” and also the term “holy cow dude, seriously, why would you EVER DO that?” Advertisement The traveler was intercepted by customs agents in Futian […]

Once upon a time, COVID-19 was two weeks of coughing and an inability to smell your new candle. Then we discovered the existence of Long COVID – a vague conglomeration of more than 200 symptoms that can be debilitating months or even years after the original disease seems to have cleared up. Advertisement Now, four […]

You’ve got your shiny new luggage, battled your way through the airport, and now you’re only one step away from that much-needed vacation. Just 14 hours on a plane and you’ll be there. But what happens to your body spending all that time up in the air? Advertisement Feeling Dry Why it happens Ever feel […]

QR codes enjoyed an unlikely resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a “touchless” system to relay information. Even today, the legacy of lockdowns still lingers in some restaurants and bars that ask patrons to scan a QR code to look at a menu (much to their dismay). However, not many people know the surprisingly long […]