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The Northern Hemisphere’s summer was a scorcher, pushed off the charts by a combination of global heating and El Niño. Given the much higher baseline today, and how exceptional it was, some people speculated last summer may have been the hottest for 100,000 years, if not longer. That’s not a claim that can currently be […]

If you favor an evening over a morning shower (and that’s a whole other debate we’re not getting into now!) you may well have been tempted to hop in bed while your hair is still wet. Who has time for blow-drying when there’s sleep to be had? But if this is you, you might also […]

Amongst the remains of the Great Temple at Hattusa, located in modern-day Turkey, is a feature that stands out: a large monolith of nephrite, carved into the shape of a cube. Advertisement The stone, called a “wish stone” by locals to the area, was found in the remains of the Hittite empire that settled in […]

After a brief hiatus, it looks like the boat-attacking orcas of the Mediterranean are back. Two sailors had to be rescued this weekend after their boat was reportedly struck by a group of orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar. Advertisement The sailboat, named Alborán Cognac, encountered the feisty cetaceans on the morning of Sunday, May […]

At the Veerabhadra Temple in Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh, India, there are hundreds of ornate features, carved out in the 16th Century CE. Advertisement At the complex, as well as a monolithic bull (carved from one giant slab of granite) in the image of the Hindu god Shiva’s mount, there is one particular feature that draws […]

It is undeniable that we are changing the planet’s climate. The reality of this is backed by study after study – and the latest one shows that the rate at which carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere now has no natural counterparts over the last 50,000 years. Advertisement Researchers analyzed the gas that […]

New research has found that lowland populations of Papua New Guinea have Denisovan genes that may have helped them develop a resistance to malaria. The findings are part of a larger study that examined whole-genome sequences from highlanders and lowlanders living in the southwestern Pacific country. Advertisement Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a diverse range […]

How would you feel to be surrounded by 10 million bats? For wildlife cameraman Josh Aitchison, it was an “extraordinary spectacle,” and one that he had to spend three weeks living in a tree to capture from a unique angle. Advertisement Straw-colored fruit bats, Eidolon helvum, are a large species of Old World fruit bats, […]

An international team of astronomers has announced the discovery of a truly odd-ball planet. The planet has an extremely low density, so low that it has been compared to cotton candy. It is 50 percent larger than Jupiter but seven times less massive, orbiting its star every 6.25 days. It is called WASP-193b. Advertisement The […]

A “La Niña watch” has been issued by the Aussie Bureau of Meteorology after hints of change were noted in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Advertisement Conditions in the Pacific are currently considered neutral, but the weather agency states there’s evidence that La Niña may form in the Pacific Ocean later in 2024, the Bureau of […]

Did viruses play a role in the extinction of Neanderthals? That’s what researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo have been trying to figure out, and in doing so, ended up uncovering the oldest known human viruses in a set of Neanderthal bones from over 50,000 years ago. Advertisement To make this finding, the […]

Last week, a “portal” was opened between New York, USA, and Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Before even a week was up, the portal had to be closed again temporarily due to “inappropriate behavior” on the Dublin side.  Advertisement The idea behind the portals, a creation by Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys, is pretty neat. Both cities […]

Two species of giant hummingbirds inhabit the Andes, rather than just one as previously assumed, a new study has revealed. The birds are distinguished by only tiny differences in their bodies – but their lifestyles could hardly be less alike, with one undertaking epic migrations while the other stays at high altitudes year-round. Advertisement Humanity’s […]

Graphene is a very weird material. It’s a single layer of carbon atoms organized in a honeycomb lattice. It has incredible strength and can conduct heat and electricity in a record-breaking way. The conductivity is based on the fact that electrons in the material behave like a viscous liquid. And like in any liquid, vortices […]

The world’s largest national park also happens to be one of the remotest and harshest places on planet Earth. Located within the Arctic Circle, the Northeast Greenland National Park is more than twice the size of the next biggest protected hotspot and consists mostly of frozen tundra. Advertisement Established in 1974, the park was expanded […]

What’s the longest you can hold your breath for? A minute, maybe even a few? That definitely feels like a long time when you’re doing it – but a few minutes has got absolutely nothing on the animal that can hold its breath the longest. Advertisement Under the sea If you were guessing in the […]

The plan to create the successor to the US Air Force’s Nightwatch aircraft – the so-called “Doomsday plane” that acts as an airborne strategic command and control post in the event of nuclear war – is gaining traction.  Advertisement In April, Sierra Nevada Corporation won a $13 billion contract with the Pentagon to build the […]

When was the last time you wrote something down by hand? For many of us, writing by hand may have become an infrequent – if not abandoned – practice. The ability to make notes on phones or to type out ideas with keyboards is generally quicker and easier, but is the value of writing by […]

Energy storage company BaroMar is preparing to test a new kind of grid-level energy storage that relies on water to function. If it works, it will be a cheaper way to stabilize renewable energy over longer periods of time.  Advertisement The world is gradually moving towards zero-carbon energy options, but the road ahead is not […]

How and when flowering plants evolved has been a longstanding question in botany – one that has a huge impact on the field and beyond, also affecting conservation, agriculture, and even medicine. Now, with the creation of the most detailed tree of life so far, we are poised to get some answers. After a mammoth sequencing […]