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Researchers have determined that the Great Dying, the mass extinction event that occurred 252 million years ago was likely accentuated by catastrophic “mega El Niños” that devastated ecosystems. These extreme weather events caused significant swings in the climate that killed off vast amounts of life. Advertisement The Great Dying, also known as the Permian-Triassic extinction […]

Defense systems found in all complex life (eukaryotes), including us, were likely passed down from “microbial ancestors” known as Asgard archaea billions of years ago. According to recent research, these single-celled organisms are the source of two key elements of our innate immune system: viperins and argonautes. Advertisement Asgard archaea – also called Asgardarchaeota – […]

A team at ETH Zurich is pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with neurostimulation and neuronal recording technology thanks to the super-flexible electrode bundles they have developed. Rather than traditional electrodes, which can cause some damage to brain tissue when they are inserted, the fibers can seamlessly integrate into the web of dendritic […]

Zimbabwe’s government has announced plans to cull 200 elephants, in an effort to manage growing numbers of the animals amid an ongoing severe drought. Advertisement It’s estimated that Zimbabwe is home to nearly 100,000 African elephants (Loxodonta species), but speaking in parliament on August 11, the country’s environment minister Sithembiso Nyoni  said that was “more elephants […]

While most of us wouldn’t fancy being in the -2°C (28.4°F) water underneath Antarctica’s winter ice, for the sea-dwelling critters that usually live there, it’s positively balmy compared to the surface above. In fact, life thrives there – that is, until a so-called “finger of death” appears. Advertisement In the clip below from the BBC […]

Sleep is an essential part of our lives, a fact made all the more obvious when we end up having problems with it – and a lot of people do, with about one in three adults in the US reporting that they don’t get enough rest or sleep every day. Advertisement You can try exercising, […]

This week, a Chinese radar observed plasma bubbles over the pyramids of Giza from 8,000 kilometers (4,970 miles) away, a man spotted an unusual spherical structure while browsing Google Maps, and the world’s first eye and face transplant patient is making incredible developments one year on from surgery. Finally, we investigate if orcas really deserve […]

You ever read a study and think, “yeah, this one was personal”?  Advertisement A new paper from a trio of physicists has taken aim at that most frustrating manifestation of office diplomacy: the quest to schedule a meeting. The question at hand: how difficult is it to find a time when all participants are free? […]

A curious tale out of southeast Georgia tells of an eastern indigo snake that had been captured, only to vomit up two more snakes to the surprise of captor Matt Moore of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The wildlife technician continued to get more than he bargained for when one of the two […]

The moon illusion baffled the great philosophers of ancient Greece and the most brilliant minds of the Scientific Revolution – and it continues to defy a solid explanation.  Advertisement Have you ever noticed the Moon looks bigger when it’s rising or setting? This is the Moon illusion, an optical misperception that causes the moon to […]

If the name Turtle Island sounds familiar to you, this may well be why – if you’re in North America right now, it just so happens to be the very place you’re standing on. Turtle Island is the name used by some Indigenous peoples for the continent of North America (or the Earth as a […]

Remember Alvin, the world’s only giant anteater with albinism? On first glance, his distinguishing characteristic might seem to be his paler-than-usual fur. Look a little closer, however, and you’ll find that like the other rare few animals with albinism, Alvin has red eyes – but what leads to this appearance? Albinism and eyes To understand […]

This week on Break It Down, the first-ever private spacewalk makes history and also maybe a crime, a plasma bubble over the pyramids is spotted by snazzy Chinese tech, a new Neanderthal lineage lived in isolation for 50,000 years, a chance encounter on Google Maps leads to a new discovery, the recipient of a face […]

As any pet owner will tell you, the loss of a furry friend can be totally devastating but what about the other way round? Well, new research has looked deeper into the emotional responses of our feline companions when other pets in the household pass away and asks the question: do cats grieve? Advertisement Researchers […]

When Fiji-based photographer Tom Vierus was busy taking pictures of the birds on Papua New Guinea’s New Britain in March this year, little did he know that his memory card was storing quite the scientific find. Now, ornithologists have revealed that what Vierus had managed to capture was the first-ever photograph of the rare New […]

For the first time, scientists have looked at how teenagers went through puberty during Ice Age. Much like the adolescents of modern times, most individuals seem to have started puberty by 13.5 years of age, before reaching full adulthood between 17 and 22 years old. Advertisement Palaeoanthropologists studied the bones of 13 young humans who […]

An asteroid heading towards Earth is set to have an unusual fate: instead of smashing through our planet’s atmosphere, it’s likely to become trapped in orbit and become a mini-moon. It will be a swift visit, however, and is likely to only remain in Earth’s gravitational grasp for two months.  Advertisement The asteroid, named 2024 PT5, […]

It’s Friday the 13th and, for the superstitious amongst us, that’s probably a reason to stay at home. This day has long been considered unlucky by many people. There is even a specific phobia associated with this inauspicious date (the easy to pronounce paraskavedekatriaphobia). Across the years, there have been many disturbing events that have […]

Both Neanderthals and modern humans started burying their dead at approximately the same time and in roughly the same place, according to the authors of a new study. Seeking to explain why the two groups suddenly decided to start interring corpses, the researchers suggest that burials may have acted as a means of marking territory […]