News

A newly discovered black hole has a mass 33 times that of the Sun. This comfortably exceeds the previous record for a stellar black hole in our galaxy, which was around 20 solar masses, and has helped confirm theories about how an object of this mass could form. The largest stars end their lives as […]

The star-nosed mole is a mammal that does exactly what it says on the tin, sporting a bizarre snoot that has 22 fleshy tentacles in an astral arrangement. The flapping mechanism can do more than just smell, being 100 times more sensitive than our fingertips, but its olfactory skills are not to be sniffed at […]

Yellowstone Lake, the largest body of water in Yellowstone National Park, has been impressively resilient in the face of climate change. In the last century, the length of time that the lake has been covered by ice each year has not changed, despite increasingly warm temperatures in the region. In the midst of a climate […]

After years of breaking boundaries, Boston Dynamics is retiring its hydraulic robot Atlas. To say farewell, the pioneering company has put together a video montage of the mechanoid marvel’s best moments, including cheesy dance moves, acrobatic flips, and a few fails. “For almost a decade, Atlas has sparked our imagination, inspired the next generations of […]

The title of largest ever marine reptile may have just been claimed by a new species of ichthyosaur that lived 202 million years ago. Estimations based on discoveries of jaw bones indicate it was around 25 meters (82 feet) in length, making it comparable to today’s blue whales. The new-to-science species has been named Ichthyotitan […]

The US Navy wants to test its first high-powered microwave weapon on board a sea-faring vessel as early as 2026. Known as Project METEOR, the experimental weaponry will blast out beams of intense electromagnetic energy to fry the electronics of drones.  METEOR will “provide capability with low cost-per-shot, deep magazine, tactically significant range, short time […]

We associate a lot of things with bees: honey, the coming of spring, maybe the occasional sting, and the adorable waggle dance, to name a few. But rarely do the words “underwater” and “bees” appear in the same sentence. Now some slightly accidental research has revealed that queen bees can survive underwater for days at […]

The Cold War was a weird time. Whole generations of people, now parents and grandparents, grew up convinced their lives were about to be snuffed out by an atomic blast from the godless communists/decadent capitalists (delete as appropriate) – and, more times than we can really be comfortable with, they were almost right. But what […]

Typically associated with arid sand and air-conditioned megacities, parts of the Gulf region have recently been struck with a deluge of rain. On Tuesday, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) experienced a year and a half’s worth of rainfall in just a single day, bringing floods and chaos to the city. The devastating downpour […]

Spend long enough on the Internet and you will likely be met with a post informing you that the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second, and the latitude of the Great Pyramid of Giza is 29.9792458°N, before inviting you to assess whether this is a coincidence or not. ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for […]

Researchers have warned that there are social psychological signs in the USA today that are similar to those in the 1850s, the years before the American Civil War. Although another civil war remains unlikely, the current socio-political terrain could lead to years of issues, social unrest, and civil strife that falls just short of such […]

In the Maldives, a team of scientists are putting on what they’ve coined “Live Aid for corals”. Previous investigations have revealed that when convincing baby corals (aka larvae) to set up camp, they can be swayed by the sound of a bustling reef, but will avoid areas that are too quiet.  So, how can we […]

Archaeologists are currently locked in a debate about whether or not one of our most enigmatic ancestors possessed language. According to some, traces of the extinct human species Homo erectus on remote islands suggests they must have been able to build boats and navigate the waves, all of which would have required advanced communication skills. […]

Do you have an eye for the wonders of the miniature world? Are you able to capture the beauty of things too small for human perception? Then now is the time to showcase your talent. Grab your microscopes and camera and join Nikon as they celebrate 50 years of their Small World Competition. This time, […]

A physicist studying mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus claims to have found evidence for a new law of physics termed the “second law of Infodynamics”, and that it could indicate we are living in a simulated universe. On top of that, he suggests the study appears to imply that the theory of evolution is incorrect, […]

A law that would prevent anyone born after 2009 from ever legally being able to purchase tobacco in the UK was backed by a majority of politicians in a vote on Tuesday, April 16. The UK government says it aims to create “the first smokefree generation”. But how will the ban work, and what happens […]

NASA’s Ingenuity team has said a final goodbye to the helicopter robot, receiving a final message before the team disbands – but Ingenuity is not actually dead yet, and will continue to collect data on the Red Planet. Ingenuity is an impressive little robot, becoming the first to make a powered, controlled flight on a […]

When NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto and its moons in July 2015, it sent back the first close-up photos we have of the dwarf planet. With it, it brought a mystery, one that has finally been solved.  Photographs revealed an unusual heart-shaped structure on Pluto’s surface, known as Tombaugh Regio, or “Pluto’s heart”, […]

Lasers have been used to uncover a long-lost city’s remains on the Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga. Placed along the idyllic Pacific shores and palm trees, the ancient ruins show that urban environments emerged in the region way earlier than thought – and long before Europeans arrived.  Archeologists at the Australian National University used […]

Good news, fans of witnessing astronomical events without being obliterated by them: Potentially hazardous asteroid 2013 NK4 is making a close approach this week, and you can view it as it flies past. The asteroid, first discovered in 2013 by the Siding Spring Survey, is between 400 and 1,000 meters (1,300 and 3,280 feet) across. […]