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Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. Advertisement Could we use volcanoes to make electricity? – Lawrence, age 7, Dublin, California Turning red-hot lava from an active volcano into electricity would be dangerous and unreliable. Volcanoes don’t […]

This week, the massive aurora-sparking solar storm we experienced this spring has given Earth a new ring, human trials for a universal flu vaccine may begin in 1-3 years after success in ferrets, and we investigate why the Rift Valley may not be the cradle of humankind. Finally, we explain how you use supermassive black […]

If you could be any cephalopod, which would you be? Perhaps a jellyfish-riding paper nautilus, or maybe even an adorable deep-sea dumbo? No doubt those are excellent choices, but we think we’ve found a strong new contender: the small and stripy sea-dwelling dumpling that is the striped pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolate). Advertisement What’s in a […]

Alaska’s snow crabs have suffered a population collapse in recent years, with numbers declining by a shocking 10 billion between 2018 and 2021, and more losses are set to come. In a new study, scientists looked into the mass mortality event and concluded that it was over 98 percent likely to have been caused by […]

A spectacular rare white southern right whale has been spotted off the coast of Argentina. Thought to be a young albino whale swimming with its mother, the calf was sighted in July. Advertisement Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) can grow to be 17 meters (55 feet) long and weigh 80,000 kg (176,370 pounds). They are […]

People have reported hearing meteors for more than a thousand years. Back when no one knew what they were, there was little reason to doubt them. Once we understood what caused lights to flash across the night sky, the sounds were assumed to be a collective delusion. Proof that meteors are sometimes accompanied by noises […]

It’s rare enough to find a plant encased in amber, rarer still to find part of a dinosaur – so imagine paleontologists’ surprise when they discovered this feathery “flower” was in fact a feathery tail that once belonged to a juvenile theropod. Advertisement The fascinating case of mistaken identity began back in 2015 when Lida […]

Mention cetaceans and your first thought might be of blue whales and orcas, but this group doesn’t consist solely of giants. In the coastal waters of New Zealand can be found a member smaller than the average human: Hector’s dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori).  Advertisement What do Hector’s dolphins look like? The title may well have clued […]

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted on a new definition of what counts as a planet. This has since made a lot of people very angry; whether it was a bad move remains to be seen. The definition was seen as a demotion of Pluto from the category of planet to the category of […]

Researchers have discovered that the long-term administration of low-dose tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive part of cannabis, may have an overall anti-aging effect, especially in the brain. Although this study focused on mice, the researchers hope the results may set the stage for future treatments of age-related cognitive decline in humans. Advertisement Cognitive decline is […]

Birdwatchers in France think they’ve seen a wild case of hybridization between a grey heron and a little egret. Should that be a hergret or an egron? Advertisement The hybrid waterbird with “mixed features” was spotted near Park Marquenterre in the Somme department of northern France in July 2024, according to French birdwatching outlet Ornithomedia.com.  […]

During the 1914-1917 Antarctic expedition, the crew of the Endurance experienced a harrowing journey after becoming trapped and eventually stranded in the Weddell Sea. The crew, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, were forced to make an arduous trip across the notorious Drake Passage in a lifeboat to reach the coast of South Georgia Island. Advertisement The […]

This week on Break It Down: Earth has a snazzy new radiation belt, the Wow! signal finally has an explanation and spoiler: it’s still not aliens, whales have joined the list of animals using tools (but do bubbles really count?), a universal flu vaccine is one step closer to reality thanks to some ferrets, the […]

Archaeologists in Kenya have unearthed a jawbone belonging to an ancient hominin species that walked the Earth at the same time as some of the earliest human ancestors. Known as Australopithecus anamensis, this ape-like creature was previously thought to have appeared after the original human forebears, yet this fossil suggests that it may actually have […]

The intervals of time we can capture with devices are getting shorter, opening up a window on physical phenomena we have yet to study. Researchers at the University of Arizona have announced the development of the world’s fastest electron microscope, which can capture an interval of a single attosecond. Advertisement An attosecond is a mindboggling […]

Every small town has its local legend. In Inverness, Scotland, it’s Nessie; in Ocracoke, North Carolina, it’s Blackbeard. In Fredericton, New Brunswick, it’s… well, it’s a little different.  Advertisement It’s a massive, taxidermized frog. “People come from all over the world to see it,” said Penny Pacey, then manager of the Fredericton Region Museum in […]

Sweden’s annual brown bear hunt kicked off on Wednesday, with over 150 bears killed in the opening days. The country’s government has approved the killing of 486 brown bears – 20 percent of the wild population – between August 21 and October 15.  Advertisement By Thursday afternoon, less than two days in, 152 had already […]

New COVID-19 vaccines could soon be on their way to a pharmacy near you, as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved updated mRNA shots from manufacturers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Advertisement The vaccines have been approved and granted emergency use authorization, according to a statement from the agency. Changes have been made to […]

Coastlines are eroding under pressure from rising oceans and more powerful storms, but help could come in a surprisingly modest form; a gentle electric voltage applied to wet sand. Advertisement Sea level rise is among the greatest threats posed by human-induced global heating. However, the imagined problem of cities and farmlands permanently sunk beneath the […]

A universal flu vaccine – one that would protect against multiple strains and could spell the end of yearly shots – is something virologists have been striving towards for a long time. Now, one candidate has moved a step closer to fruition, showing positive results in ferrets. Researchers hope to begin human trials in as […]