News

Phubbing. Depending on who you ask, it’s either the scourge of modern society or really not that big of a deal. It’s been linked to all sorts, from loneliness, to relationship woes. But one recent study produced a surprising result – contrary to every depiction of family life that you’ve ever seen on 21st-century television, […]

The remains of a 240-million-year-old marine reptile with an uncanny resemblance to a mythical Chinese dragon have been pierced together by paleontologists for the first time. Known as Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, the 5-metre (16-foot) long beast was a native of southwestern China during the Triassic period. While the species was first identified in 2003, its appearance […]

“What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the Moon and we are transmitting.” Those were the words from flight director Tim Crain yesterday, as private company Intuitive Machines confirmed its lander Odysseus successfully touched down on the lunar surface, making history in the process. It marks the […]

The supernova 1987a left behind a neutron star, and the JWST has finally found it, offering astronomers their best chance to examine the early days of this astronomical phenomenon. Although older supernova remnants within our own galaxy provide much closer opportunities to study matter in its most extreme form, this helps build a picture of […]

The elementary charge is a fundamental constant of the universe. We call it simply e. Protons have a value of +e and electrons are -e. Depending on how familiar you are with physics, you might have heard that the quarks that make protons have a fractional charge, but we do not worry about that because […]

You may think of granite as little more than a fancy material for making kitchen countertops out of, and that’s… not wrong, exactly. But it’s not the whole story. Granite is born in the Earth’s molten mantle, and turns up just about everywhere on the planet. It’s hard and durable, so good for building; it […]

Over on Reddit, one user has an unusual question about their vision: why is it improved by looking through the holes in Country Cheese crackers? “I was just in bed eating crackers and decided to look at the TV through the holes in the cracker,” the Redditor explained in the AskScience subreddit, “low and behold […]

A new study has identified a protein that, when it persists, appears to be linked to the symptoms of long COVID. As a result, it could represent an easier way to diagnose the condition and potentially even a new avenue for treatment. Researchers first recruited 55 patients with long COVID, all of whom were experiencing […]

There have been a number of ancient fossil dolphins discovered over the years that are famous mostly for their big teeth, though one species lost theirs to slurp up squid. Most believe the teeth of these ancient dolphin species were used for thrusting forwards towards large prey; however, a newly described dolphin called Aureia rerehua […]

Three and a half billion years ago life had not only found a way, but diversified, so that all these years later we can observe differences in what was left behind. The Earth has undergone so many cycles of geologic uplift and destruction that there is very little left of the rocks from the time […]

Working in a zoo presents challenges of all kinds, from working to engage the public with conservation issues to making sure every animal has the highest standard of care and welfare. Over at Houston Zoo, the team is doing just that – down to some of the smallest residents. In the Bug House, a Peruvian jumping […]

When animals are killed by predators on land in the wild, there’s a good chance scavengers will descend upon the carcass pretty quickly, saving everybody the problem of burial. The same is true in the ocean. Essentially, if there are predators out there who do not finish the whole meal, you better believe something will […]

NASA hopes to have astronauts on Mars in the near future. It is not going to be an easy journey and being on another world will be extremely dangerous. The space agency wants to be there as prepared as possible. And part of that requires volunteers who want to take part in a 12-month-long simulation […]

Today is the day! In just a few hours, Intuitive Machines might be making history. They could become the first private company to soft-land on the Moon. The company’s lander, named Odysseus (also known as IM-1), launched last week, and it is scheduled to land on February 22 at 17:49 EST (22:49 UTC) inside Malapert […]

More than 100 new species have been discovered on an underwater mountain range off the coast of Chile. Among the never-before-seen critters seen on the expedition are corals, glass sponges, sea urchins, amphipods, lobsters, plus a gaggle of peculiar fish and squid that are already known to science (but no less strange). The discoveries come […]

In the Cretaceous Period, dinosaurs were big, and mammals were small. At least, that’s been the general view – until very recently, when a slew of larger ancient fuzzies started turning up in the fossil record. None, however, come anywhere close to the size of Patagomaia chainko: a brand-new Late Cretaceous mammal reckoned to have […]

Around 26,000 light-years from Earth, at the center of our galaxy, lies Sagittarius A* – a supermassive black hole 4.1 million times the mass of the Sun. While it poses no threat other than to the nearby stars it demolishes, it’s still nice to know where it is at all times. A new app for […]

Breathing liquids is generally a bad idea. In fact, few ideas could be worse for anybody who enjoys breathing. But there is a concept – which has been tested on animals and humans – that we should be able to breathe in certain liquids that are rich in oxygen. It sounds like the stuff of […]

If all goes well, Intuitive Machines might be making history tomorrow, becoming the first private company to soft-land on the Moon – one of the many attempts to get to the Moon this year. Theirs will be the closest lander to the Moon’s South Pole, an area of extreme interest for future human settlement of […]

A type of complex adhesive found on stone tools made by Neanderthals has provided researchers with new insights into the intelligence of this extinct human species. Made of a mix of bitumen and ocher, the multi-compound glue resembles that employed by early Homo sapiens in Africa, indicating that our ancient cousins may have had a […]