News

Africa is the homeland of humanity – at least, that’s what most experts currently think. Like all families, Homo sapiens has a complicated story marked by disagreements, unanswered questions, and glaring gaps in our understanding. The idea that all members of Homo sapiens (that’s us) can trace their ancestry back to Africa is known as the “Out of […]

As a science website, it is easy to get caught up in the mysteries of collapsing civilizations and the fine structure constant, while people out there on the Internet are struggling with why flying against the planet’s rotation doesn’t decrease flight times, and what the “Muffin Man” nursery rhyme is actually about. This week, it […]

As much as we have explored and modeled our planet, there are a number of mysteries that surround the Earth’s inner core.  This isn’t that surprising, as it’s pretty difficult to study a region over 5,100 kilometers (3,170 miles) beneath our feet, when the furthest we have physically drilled into the Earth is a measly […]

The fellowship that we call humanity contains some unlikely characters, not least of all a diminutive extinct species known as Homo floresiensis. Residing on the Indonesian island of Flores until around 50,000 years ago, this stocky, big-footed hominin wouldn’t have looked out of place at Bag End, and is therefore widely referred to as “the […]

You’d be surprised what you can learn about the human mind from some nonsense words and childlike doodles. Take a look at the two shapes in the image above and ask yourself: which one is called “kiki” and which one is “bouba.” Regardless of your cultural background or mother tongue, there’s an extremely strong chance […]

Manatees are a well-known staple of Florida waters, where they’ve been seen cavorting with dolphin pods, forming chaotic “mating balls”, and even being the victims of political graffiti. However, new research into the species’ Florida populations has suggested they might be a relatively new addition to the Sunshine State. The paper – co-authored by University […]

Even for nature lovers, there are some animals out there that give even the most dedicated naturalist the heebie-jeebies. Tailless whip scorpions might just do the trick with their impressively prehistoric-looking bodies and frankly too many limbs.  What is a tailless whip scorpion? Tailless whip scorpions, also known as whip spiders, belong to the order […]

Fire, as you learn from a very young age, is as dangerous as it is hot. If you see it and you don’t have the equipment to put it out, it is best to keep your distance – but not all fires are visible under normal conditions.  Hydrogen, for example, burns with a very pale […]

Fat cell “memory” could help explain why weight loss can be difficult to maintain, according to new research. In experiments using mice and samples of human fat tissue, the scientists found that epigenetic changes persist even after weight loss, in effect meaning that the cells “remember” what it was like to be at a higher […]

Dogs like to get up to mischief, from shoving kids in the Seine to *checks notes* even sparking international conflicts. At least, that’s what is said to have happened in 1925 when an errant pooch began what has become known as the “War Of The Stray Dog” after its owner chased it over enemy lines […]

Chemists from University College London (UCL) have created the world’s thinnest spaghetti using regular flour, liquid, and an electrically charged device that can create a strand that is just 372 nanometers across – narrower than the wavelength of blue light. It is so thin, it can only be seen with an electron microscope. The nanopasta […]

A team of astrophysicists says they may have found evidence for “cosmic strings”, long-hypothesized “cracks” in the universe left over from early in its expansion. Cosmic strings were first suggested in the 1970s by theoretical physicist Tom W. B. Kibble, and later revived in the context of string theory. The one-dimensional strings, far narrower even […]

Humans learned the hard way in 1908 that sometimes classical conditioning can come back to bite you in the arse – or, as it were, shove your kids into a river. The tale goes that a “hero” dog who was rewarded with a steak for saving a drowning child decided to make it into a […]

Life in the city can be dangerous, but one way you don’t expect to perish on the streets of London is by drowning, and least of all in beer. Yes, yes, , but this horrifying nightmare became reality on Monday October 17, 1814, when the city was literally flooded with beer. The disaster began at […]

Astronomers have been studying star WOH G64 for a while. It’s a red supergiant in the galaxy next door, the Large Magellanic Cloud, and it is believed to be in the last stages before going supernova. Researchers have now broken a record by actually photographing it in detail – this had never been done before. […]

We know that viruses infect cells, but what does that process actually look like? Sure, diagrams can be helpful, but there’s nothing quite like seeing the real thing. Trouble is, doing so with the kind of microscopes you get in a classroom can be pretty difficult – but in some first-of-its-kind footage, researchers have successfully […]

A new study has thrown into question the link between cannabis use and the development of psychosis spectrum symptoms in adolescents – though not in the way you might be hoping for. While the association between the two factors remains solid, what is now less certain is the direction between them – in other words: […]

Solar Orbiter, a European Space Agency mission with support from NASA, has been studying the Sun like never before. It just delivered some incredible new observations of the Sun, which include the highest-resolution view of the full disk in visible light. Get ready to see our star in unprecedented detail. The spacecraft’s Polarimetric and Helioseismic […]

Nutritionally speaking, tuna is an outstanding source of nourishment, offering high-quality protein, fatty acids for heart and brain health, and essential vitamins and minerals like vitamin D, B12, and selenium. However, not to mention its huge sustainability concerns, this nutrient-loaded fish has a major downside: it’s packed with mercury, a neurotoxic heavy metal. How much […]

Satellite imaging captured four tropical storms present over Southeast Asia at the same time. The phenomenon is not something that scientists have recorded before in the month of November.  On November 11, NASA’s EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) imager on the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) satellite saw something not seen in this month of […]