This week, “dark oxygen” appears to be made from natural batteries found on the deep ocean floor, the most complete Neanderthal skeleton ever found still can’t be excavated, and the record for the hottest day has been smashed twice this week. Finally, we ask which events animals would win if they could compete in the […]
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The People We Like Can Influence The Connections Our Memory Makes
Memory is so much more than a storage unit in our minds. The people involved in memories influence what we recall, and, as our study shows, the connections we make between memories. Advertisement Our memory helps us learn from experiences and develop new knowledge by integrating and updating information. This process goes beyond recalling individual […]
Why Do Some People Always Wake Up At 3am Or 4am?
The modern world is so marked by sharp political divides and rampant misinformation that it’s led to the creation of a new term to describe the phenomenon: the “reality gap.” Advertisement But even if we can’t agree on things like whether the entire country is being run by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles or not, there are some […]
Cortisol: Is The “Stress Hormone” Really The Health Villain It’s Made Out To Be?
Anyone who’s stumbled onto the “wellness” side of TikTok recently will no doubt have seen some sort of video about cortisol, with a whole bunch of people claiming that an imbalance of the oft-dubbed “stress hormone” is responsible for all sorts of health problems. Should we really be worried about it, or is this yet […]
Florida’s Population Just Passed 23 Million For The First Time
As Florida’s population passes 23 million for the first time ever, the Sunshine State may have to change its name to the Twilight State someday soon – not for a sudden influx in sparkly vampires, but retirees. Advertisement According to a report released Friday by the state’s Demographic Estimating Conference, there were 23,002,597 people living in […]
Is There A New “Language” Developing In The US?
If you find yourself in certain parts of Miami, you may well come across a distinct new dialect that’s been developing in the city – a unique combination of Spanish and American English that’s been dubbed “Miami English”. Advertisement Over the last decade, researchers at the city’s Florida International University (FIU) have been closely following […]
KP.3 Is The Dominant COVID Variant In The US – What Are The Symptoms?
Over four years since it was officially declared a pandemic, COVID-19 is yet to be consigned to the usual gang of winter-circulating respiratory bugs. Instead, cases are currently estimated to be on the up in the US, with one variant of the virus dominating – KP.3. Advertisement “As of July 23, 2024, we estimate that COVID-19 infections […]
What Happened To The Flags And Objects That Were Left On The Moon?
It’s an iconic piece of imagery: an astronaut plonking down a flagpole with the Stars and Stripes on the lunar surface. But decades after those flags were first placed, many are curious to know – have they stood the test of time? Advertisement Keeping an eye on the flags on the Moon is easier said […]
What Is The Oldest Message In A Bottle Ever Found?
Dropping someone a quick DM on Instagram might be a much more efficient way to communicate in the modern day, but there’s something to be said about the longevity of much older ways of sending a message, none more so than a good ol’ message in a bottle – of which the oldest ever found […]
Why Does It Feel So Strange When You Hit Your “Funny Bone”?
IFLScience needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out ourPrivacy Policy Deborah BloomfieldSource Link: Why Does It Feel […]
Element 120 On The Horizon As New Way To Synthesize Element 116 Found
Element 116 has been made with a new method – a step towards synthesizing element 120, a hypothetical element hypothesized to be in the long-predicted “island of stability”, in the lab. Advertisement Elements are defined by the number of protons in their nucleus, with hydrogen having one, helium having two, and uranium has 92 protons. […]
Brazil Reports World’s First Deaths From Oropouche Fever – Here’s What To Know
Brazil’s Ministry of Health has just confirmed the deaths of two women as a result of Oropouche fever, a viral illness that is spread by midge and mosquito bites. While over 7,000 cases of the infection have been reported in the country in 2024 alone, these are the world’s first recorded deaths. What is Oropouche […]
Five Really Interesting Facts About Antarctica
Ever since New Zealand was finally discovered in about 1300 CE – a mere 47,000 years after its larger neighbor Australia – humans have been the ultimate cosmopolitan species. Comfortable, or at least able to survive, in every habitat from the Arctic circle to the Sahara Desert, there’s not a continent on Earth that hasn’t […]
Is Planting Trees The Solution To The CO2 Problem?
Carbon dioxide. CO2. It fills the air you breathe out. It is the product of the violent oxidation of carbon that we call burning – and we’ve been burning a lot of carbon. The CO2 accumulated in the atmosphere is one of the main greenhouse gasses responsible for global warming. Carbon fixing is the process […]
Singing Elephants, Animal Olympics, And A Popcorn-Covered Neanderthal
This week on Break It Down: deep-sea potatoes just shook foundational ideas about life on Earth, NASA plans to launch an artificial star, elephants sing “let’s go” like a barbershop quartet, the most complete Neanderthal skeleton has sprouted cave popcorn, the record for hottest day ever gets smashed twice in one week, and who would […]
Ancient Inscriptions Relating To Egyptian Pharaohs Found On Rocks Beneath Lake Nasser
A joint Egyptian-French archaeological mission has uncovered stone inscriptions and other artifacts while conducting photographic survey work in Lake Nasser, Egypt. Advertisement The discoveries were found on submerged rock formations around the islands of Philae and Konosso, both of which are situated near the Nile’s First Cataract. These are basically shallow lengths of the River […]
Incredible Fossil Of 38-Million-Year-Old Entangled Snakes Discovered In Wyoming
Four snakes found buried together are shedding new light on our understanding of snake evolution. The specimens – which represent a brand new species – lived in North America around 38 million years ago and could help explain how boas and pythons evolved. Advertisement The new species has been named Hibernophis breithaupti and the four individual […]
The Beast Of Busco: The Mystery Of Indiana’s 500-Pound Turtle Sightings
In the late 1940s, Indiana residents were gripped by rumors of a “500-pound turtle” allegedly spotted by two men as they were fishing in a lake. Curiously, it wasn’t the first time the giant turtle had been seen, with a previous sighting having been reported at the same lake. So, what on Earth were all […]
Italy’s “Tomb Of Cerberus” Has Been Opened, Revealing Incredible 2,000-Year-Old Mummy
Archaeologists investigating the “Tomb of Cerberus” in Giugliano, Naples, have unsealed a 2,000-year-old sarcophagus. But while this may sound like the introduction to a Hammer horror story, the researchers actually found a remarkably well-preserved body wrapped in a shroud. The archaeologists had been examining the tomb with microcameras before they found a passage that […]
A Geobiologist Found Possibly The Oldest Complex Fossil – In Her Pet Rock
As an undergraduate at the University of New South Wales, Dr Erica Barlow picked up a rock that would change her life, and quite possibly how we see the history of life on Earth. It took a long time to work out what she had, however, and even today no one can be sure the […]
