News

A ringed planet is a thing of beauty. Saturn is iconic – and let’s be honest, it’s 90 percent due to the rings because the planet itself does not have many other distinctive features. Earth’s beauty is very different, but it’s fun to wonder if it could be enhanced by the presence of rings. The […]

Since the demise of the dinosaurs, mammals have thrived. Without their scaly peers around, their numbers exploded, they diversified, and they got bigger – but just how big? Advertisement We know that the blue whale is the largest mammal ever – heck, it’s also the most massive animal to ever live – measuring around 30 […]

The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) has officially opened, giving astronomers an infrared eye on the universe that will last when JWST runs out of fuel. At 5,640 meters (18,500 feet) above sea level, the location is the highest for a ground-based telescope. The challenges of getting it built, however, reveal why no one […]

The daddy long legs, or grandaddy long legs, depending on your tastes, is a perplexing creature, not least because there isn’t a great consensus on what one is. Several species have been given the nickname that reads like the naming scientist was feeling frisky that day, but despite all the confusion, one curious question has […]

In 2016, the sea ice in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea developed an enormous hole twice the size of Wales – the country, not a pod of giant mammals. The following year it returned, but the reasons remained unknown. Now they have been explained as a result of previously understood factors and a rare form of salt […]

You can have soft or hard-boiled eggs pretty much everywhere on the planet, but you cannot make them at the highest point on Earth above sea level. This might not be a pressing concern of yours, but the laws behind this fact affect the preparation of both food and drinks in many places around the […]

Birds of prey are some of the most impressive species to fly across Earth’s habitats. From the super speedy peregrine falcon to silent owls and majestic eagles, these birds have captured imaginations across the world. But do you actually know the difference between a falcon and a hawk?  Advertisement What is a falcon? Falcons are […]

A new mRNA vaccine candidate for aggressive brain cancer has shown promise in a small clinical trial – but it was a clinical trial with a twist. As well as testing the vaccine in a handful of human cancer patients, the researchers are also leveraging results from 10 pet dogs. Advertisement It’s very typical for […]

When it comes to the question of which species of bear is the largest on the planet, the answer may seem obvious to some. The polar bear is clearly the winner of this competition if we are going by a species-to-species comparison, but the situation becomes less clear if we expand the category to include […]

Earth is currently experiencing one of its top three meteor showers in terms of activity. May is the month of the Eta Aquariids, leftover pieces from the passage of Halley’s comet. Earth gets as close to 9.7 million kilometers (6 million miles) from the comet’s orbit during this time, close enough to capture some stray […]

Scientists in Japan say they have successfully transplanted kidney tissue between rat fetuses while they were still in the uterus. The study is yet to be peer-reviewed, but the authors believe it represents the first step in a journey that could lead to future in-utero xenotransplantation in humans. The study was focused on a neonatal […]

Following news of bird flu outbreaks at dairy farms across the US, fragments of the virus have been found in samples of pasteurized milk. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests that viral particles are inactive and pose no threat to consumers.  Since late March, H5N1 bird flu has spread to at least […]

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has spotted what they are calling “signs of spiders from Mars”. The images, taken of the southern polar region of the Red Planet, show what look like giant spiders on the planet’s surface. They aren’t of course, but are features created in the ice as Martian […]

As we all know, astrology is not a real science. However, when you’re a squid the day you hatch is perhaps more important than you might think. New research has revealed that the day a male squid hatches is linked to which mating tactic he will use for the rest of his life.  Spear squid […]

To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, nothing’s certain in life except death, taxes, and TV characters thinking raw meat is the ultimate cure for a black eye. It’s not just the cartoon ones either – the steak-on-a-black-eye trope can be found in many a live-action movie and show. But… why? Where does this idea come from, and […]

For reasons that are unclear, a dolphin has been shot dead at a beach in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Law Enforcement is now on the hunt for the perpetrator and is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to a criminal conviction. The juvenile […]

In a world first, two teams of scientists have independently created hybrid brain tissue with cells from two species: mice and rats. These two fuzzy rodents might look similar on the outside, but evolutionarily speaking they’re about 20 million years apart, so some sophisticated genetic engineering was needed to make this feat possible. The scientists […]

We currently live on Earth alongside the most massive animal that’s ever lived: the blue whale, a colossal marine mammal that can measure up to 33.5 meters (110 feet) and weigh more than 150,000 kilograms (330,000 pounds). However, when it comes to land-dwelling animals, much larger beasts have roamed compared to today’s giants. The largest […]

At the center of almost every galaxy, there is a supermassive black hole. Most of the enormous objects live a quiet existence – but they occasionally get active, with an accretion disc surrounding them and feeding them. Within that disc, much smaller black holes can interact, and even end up in traffic jams. New work […]

It’s easy to laugh at the alchemists of yesteryear, with their spotty understanding of science and dogged determination to discover nuclear transmutation five centuries before the discovery of the nucleus. But can we really blame them? After all, it’s only now, after 400 years of advancements in chemistry and physics, that we’ve finally solved the […]