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At various places around the world people have reported strange, loud banging noises that appear to be coming from the sky. Around the world they are known as “Barisal guns” in the Ganges delta and the Bay of Bengal, “yan” in Shikoku, Japan, and “mistpouffers” (fog belches) in Belgium. Advertisement For hundreds of years there […]

The cause of the gargantuan underwater eruption that occurred off the coast of Tonga in early 2022 may finally have been identified, and it’s appropriately wild. Using techniques that were developed to measure the force of underground explosions, the authors of a new study suggest that the event was triggered by a somewhat unusual process […]

Most of the major conditions required for RNA to replicate, possibly the key stage in kick-starting life, were probably met in rock pores on volcanic islands not long after Earth’s formation. The finding offers a possible explanation for one of the more puzzling aspects of life’s appearance and could shift the focus of efforts to […]

We’ve all seen the – sometimes harrowing – footage of freshly hatched turtles making the deadly dash from their nests to the sea, but what happens in the days before they make it out of the sand? For a long time, it was a bit of a mystery, but new research has lifted the lid […]

In a feat that seemed unachievable just a few short years ago, an international research consortium has today unveiled the first complete wiring diagram of an entire fruit fly brain. The map itself is accompanied by a cache of papers, demonstrating how this breakthrough is already leading to new scientific findings – and there’s much […]

Gamma rays are emitted in nuclear reactions and from the most extreme events in the universe such as supernova explosions, black holes, and more – but they can also come from closer to home. Over the last three decades, scientists have discovered that thunderstorms have the ability to create gamma rays. New research has highlighted […]

A fishing crew in southern Albania have caught a blue shark that, until then, had defied the odds. The animal had been skewered through its head by a swordfish and survived in what is the first known case of a shark living after receiving such a wound. Advertisement The shark was alive when it was […]

Dolphins open their mouths in what appears to us to be a smile when they are in the field of vision of others they like. Moreover, this smile is frequently reciprocated as a way for highly social animals to bond. The team who discovered this thinks it is no coincidence that the dolphin expression of […]

Scientists summiting Mount Po Ma Lung in Vietnam were gifted a surprise amphibian on their way back down the mountain. They were actually looking for Sterling’s toothed toad during a grueling eight-day survey of the mountain – but instead stumbled upon a new species with a bite all of its own. It’s been given the […]

NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft have traveled further away from Earth than any other human-made object, sending back useful science data from the edge of the Solar System. But now, having spent 47 years in space, the spacecraft are showing signs of their age, and coming to the end of their missions. Advertisement Problems […]

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission run by the European Space Agency (ESA) has taken the sharpest images ever produced of the Earth’s radiation belt. Advertisement JUICE has a long mission ahead of it. Launched in April 2023, the spacecraft has to make several gravitational assists before it reaches its target of Jupiter and […]

Time passes at different rates for different observers, depending on their relative speeds and their proximity to (and strength of) nearby gravitational fields. This doesn’t normally figure into your everyday calculations. If you want to meet someone next Tuesday, you don’t need to worry about your clocks being all that different – unless, in the […]

Back in May, Louisiana became the first state in the US to reclassify two of the most common medications used for abortions as “controlled dangerous substances”. Despite controversy and protests from both doctors and reproductive rights advocates, the change, as of October 1, is now in effect. Advertisement But what does that mean for patients […]

Are you ready to take a journey across the Solar System? PBS is ready to take us into the weird and wonderful worlds of our celestial neighborhood – and we are not exaggerating when we say weird. Did you know that one of Saturn’s moons is shaped like a raviolo (or your favorite type of […]

When the dinosaurs dominated the Earth, a piece of seafloor west of South America was drawn into the mantle as another crust rode over it. Curiously, it has survived despite oceanic plates of the same age usually having been recycled into the mantle, suggesting we need to tweak our understanding of Earth’s interior. Advertisement The […]

If you look up at the sky for long enough at dusk or dawn, or take a few seconds to Google its position, you may see the International Space Station (ISS) zipping its way over your head at 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,500 miles per hour). Advertisement While seeing it is pretty cool in itself […]

What can an ancient gnarly log tell us about safeguarding the future? According to a new analysis of one 3,775-year-old chunk of tree, potentially quite a bit – thanks to an emerging climate solution known as “wood vaulting”. Advertisement We often hear about the importance of trees in the fight against climate change, and that’s […]

There’s an overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is among the most acute problems facing humanity right now, and to tackle big issues you sometimes need to look at creative solutions. A team of scientists from Sweden wanted to test the appetite for out-of-the-box climate initiatives, so they surveyed nearly 9,000 people from five countries […]

The movements within Earth’s molten core have been resisting efforts to understand them for a long time, but agreement between a mathematical and physical model has led two physicists to claim they are getting close. Since these motions are the driver of the Earth’s magnetic field, understanding them and why the field changes could turn […]

Colossal Biosciences has announced it will be launching a new non-profit: the Colossal Foundation. Already backed by a confirmed $50 million in funding, its goal is to halt the extinction crisis through three key conservation focus points. Advertisement The Colossal Foundation’s first key area of focus is “saving today’s at-risk species”, encompassing endangered species like […]