News

Legends tell of gold-hungry Conquistadors encountering a steaming river of boiling water within the depths of the Amazon rainforest. Surprisingly, this sensational tale holds a remarkable degree of truth. The unbelievably hot waters of Peru’s Shanay-timpishka – also known as La Bomba or simply the Boiling River – have been known to Indigenous Amazonian communities […]

It’s one of those hidden-in-plain-sight rules of life: the opposite faces of standard dice always sum to seven. Six is opposite one; five is opposite two; three is opposite four. It’s just how it is. But have you ever wondered why? It wasn’t always such a given. High and late medieval dice were often designed […]

If you found yourself on Google’s homepage yesterday, you would have noticed that there was a fun little card game in which you match cute cards and learn about the lunar cycle. This is the name for how the Moon’s appearance changes over a month, or specifically, the 29.5 days of its orbit around the […]

There is still plenty to learn about the pyramids of Egypt. For instance, it would be nice to know what is in the massive void sealed inside the Great Pyramid of Giza 4,500 years ago, or precisely how the materials were transported to the area before construction. But let’s start with the basics: how many […]

The transition from symbols like hieroglyphics to writing may have happened much earlier than had been thought, an archaeologist has claimed. However, if the evidence stands up to scrutiny, it poses the question of why one of humanity’s greatest inventions appears to have taken so long to gain widespread use. There’s probably no way to […]

How do you work out what an extinct animal sounded like? One place we can look to is their fossils, and a new research project has set out to do just that for Parasaurolophus, creating a set of pipes they’ve nicknamed the “linophone” inspired by chambers in its skull. The name comes after its creator, […]

Another day on the internet; another disturbing urban legend threatening to ruin your entire childhood. And this time, it’s got generational juice: if what we’re hearing is right, it’ll upset not just you, but about a thousand of your ancestors, too. Of course, that’s a pretty big if. Advertisement What’s the claim? Like so many […]

Ever been told to “have a good cry”? It seems like an oxymoron, but there’s truth behind the idea that crying can make you feel better. As well as providing a release for stress and emotional pain, crying can release feel-good hormones. If you’ve been looking for a sign to stick on Inside Out and […]

In an odd turn of events, it’s not unusual for the average couple to cozy up on the sofa together after a long workday and unwind by watching a horrific story about a serial killer. Whatever floats your boat. In the spirit of this, IFLScience are pleased to announce a new series called True Crime […]

The Martian moons Phobos and Deimos may be remnants of an asteroid that got too close to Mars and was destroyed by its gravity. The explanation, backed by supercomputer simulations, could resolve a long-standing debate between two options, both with substantial flaws. The existence of Phobos and Deimos has puzzled astronomers for a long time, […]

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 […]