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In the bubbling, super-acidic hot springs of Yellowstone National Park there lives a strange gang of viruses with an ancient origin. Because thermophiles – organisms that thrive at scorching hot temperatures – are deeply rooted in the evolutionary “tree of life,” it might even be possible to learn about the origins of life by studying […]

If you are even vaguely interested in the way the universe works, you have likely read about a mysterious substance proposed by physicists called “dark matter“. Advertisement Dark matter is invisible matter that doesn’t emit, reflect, or absorb light, and only interacts with normal matter through gravity. We have never detected it directly – but […]

You’re in the gym, and it’s nearly the end of your workout. You’re finishing on the stationary bike, so you hop on and get pedaling, dreaming of what you’re going to cook for dinner…but then you look at the clock. You’ve been cycling for longer than that, right? According to a new study, time really […]

Two approaches to improving the amount of charge that capacitors can store look to be bearing fruit, based on simultaneous publications by unconnected teams. Each offers the potential to make supercapacitors more potent energy storage devices, and perhaps put them into the race for large-scale energy storage. Advertisement Supercapacitors have long had an advantage over […]

Silicon is the cornerstone of computing. Its properties and abundance have made it so. You are reading this on a device that uses silicon chips. Quantum computers are the next giant leap in computing, capable of doing calculations that not even our most powerful supercomputers can do. And they might still based on silicon, but […]

An invasive river monster has become a big problem for native wildlife in parts of the US and Canda. The flathead catfish is set to become an apex predator as it eats its way through America, having been detected as far as Canada. Advertisement The flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) really is a river monster, with […]

This weekend was a treat for lovers of the night sky all the way to mid-latitudes. The intense solar activity of the past week culminated in an extreme auroral event seen even to latitudes where you usually do not see such night sky spectacle. Social media was wonderfully inundated with pictures – probably helped by […]

If you’ve ever had good waffles (i.e. drenched in maple syrup), you have probably noticed a tiny little handle on the bottle. Advertisement Obviously, these handles are pretty impractical for pouring the syrup by anyone with hands bigger than a baby’s, and are largely ignored during the pouring process. So why are they there? One […]

This vivid rainbow of cells represents the largest-ever high-resolution 3D map of a section of the human brain. The largest, yes, but still just a cubic millimeter in size – about half a grain of rice. With this feat, scientists can now see the intricate web of 57,000 cells, connected by 150 million synapses and […]

Phosphorus is one of the few elements that may be essential for life, but its origins are something of a mystery. Core-collapse supernovae are known to form some phosphorus, but this source alone can’t explain its abundance and distribution within the galaxy. If novae, rather than supernovae, are the main source of phosphorus then what […]

Back in 2021, China instituted the world’s first series of national regulations to try and curb sedentary behavior in children. Almost three years on, a team led by scientists at the University of Bristol has taken a close look at the results of the measures. The conclusion? They seem to be working. Advertisement For a […]

Making the jump to warp speed might not require us to leap beyond the limits of physics, a team of researchers has argued. Previously, all models for achieving this ultra-fast propulsion have relied on whimsical energy sources that contradict the properties of matter, yet the new study suggests it may be possible to build a […]

The wait is almost over: Europe will once again have its own access to space as Ariane 6 is set to make its inaugural launch this summer. The date will be announced soon, but is expected to be some time between mid-June and the end of July. Across Europe and beyond, there is a lot […]

Sourdough is the oldest kind of leavened bread in recorded history, and people have been eating it for thousands of years. The components of creating a sourdough starter are very simple – flour and water. Mixing them produces a live culture where yeast and bacteria ferment the sugars in flour, making byproducts that give sourdough […]

It’s been 54 years since the infamous Exploding Whale of Oregon incident of 1970. Back in 2020, the Oregon Historical Society released footage of the frankly baffling event, in which the highway patrol, under the guidance of the Navy, turned a beached whale into a meaty rainshower. Advertisement The video puts the incident into glorious […]

People with high levels of psychopathic personality traits may move their heads less when they’re talking than those with lower degrees of psychopathy, new research has revealed. According to the study authors, this subtle pattern of nonverbal communication had previously been identified in male psychopaths, and their findings suggest that the same tendencies also apply […]

Working out the shape of the Milky Way Galaxy from the inside has been quite a challenge, but we’ve slowly found our place, which turns out to be in a minor arm. If you’re looking at the night sky with eyes alone, most of what you can see is part of this same arm. Douglas […]

This week, the “near-collapse” of Earth’s magnetic field 590 million years ago may have helped complex life form, rock art depicting cows suggests the Sahara was a very different place 4,000 years ago, and could psychedelic toad venom be the next big thing in antidepressants? Finally, we consider the dinosauroid and explore how dinosaurs may […]

The gentle chime of the Oxford Electric Bell can barely be heard, but what it lacks in loudness, it more than makes up for in the durability of its battery. The bell has been ringing since 1840, making it one of the world’s longest running science experiments – though quite what’s kept it going for […]

If you’ve ever experienced those small, sometimes reddish bumps on your skin, you’re not alone; so-called “chicken skin” is so common it’s often considered a normal variant of human skin. In medical terms, it’s better known as keratosis pilaris (KP) – but what actually is this, and can it be treated? What is keratosis pilaris? […]