News

It is, these days, an overwhelmingly familiar sight: adorning every packet of food or drink, the little table of nutritional information. Snacks today are duty-bound to relate their concentrations of certain vitamins; to warn us of how much sugar and fat they contain; most of all, looming large above all other attributes, they must inform […]

In a matter of days, Comet 3I/ATLAS will reach its closest point to the Sun. The third known interstellar object will reach its peak of activity, releasing gases and dust like it might not have done in tens of millions of years, or maybe even longer. Comparison between this interstellar interloper and the previous two […]

For the first time ever, we’ve been able to prove that some dinosaurs had hooves, thanks to two remarkably well-preserved mummified dinosaurs retrieved from Wyoming’s Badlands. The specimens are the duck-billed dinosaurs Edmontosaurus annectens that, thanks to a “fluke preservation event” are near-perfect 66 million years later. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please […]

“So,” begins a popular if now ancient (at least, in internet years) meme. “Apparently the numbers on the toaster are minutes? I’ve thought for years it was degree of toasty-ness.” It’s immediately clear why the quip took off. It’s funny, sure – after all, what kind of measure is “toastiness” anyway? What scale would we […]

NASA’s Artemis III is going to take humanity back to the Moon in the middle of 2027. The Orion spacecraft, launched on the Space Launch System, will rendezvous with SpaceX Starship in lunar orbit. Two astronauts will board Starship and fly down to the Moon. At least, that is the plan – but it is […]

 They say we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean, which is what made it so incredibly exciting when scientists decided to do what the rest of us are too chicken to, dive down to the seabed to get a look at what’s lurking there. […]

What do you get when 100 million cubic meters (3.5 billion cubic feet) of land suddenly plunge into an icy Alaskan fjord? Some big-ass waves, it turns out – including one that was taller than all but one of the highest buildings in New York City. That’s what happened back on August 10 this year, […]

This week on Break It Down: a potential environmental trigger for autism has been identified, interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is doing weird things with its tail, 90 percent of people are at risk of a newly recognized syndrome, why we know the Denisovans didn’t hook up with the Jomon, as Iceland falls, mosquitos have just one […]

In a now infamous prank interview, actor Dominic Monaghan once asked fellow Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood, “When will you wear wigs?”. Wood didn’t have a response – but were we to pose the same question about a group of Australian dolphins, it turns out that the answer is “when they want to […]

A technique reportedly used by the military to fall asleep “anywhere” within two minutes has been seen by just about everyone on TikTok lately, and it might be worth a try if you are struggling to drift off. Fitness “guru” Justin Agustin shared the hack to his followers, claiming that the technique was originally developed for fighter […]

If you’re the kind of person who (a) loves dolphins and (b) believes that the end can never justify the means, then you might want to skip this article. That’s because – well, it will contain good news for dolphins, but probably not for the reasons you’re hoping. So, here’s the scoop: whether you agree […]

For centuries, dating back to long before the invention of the telescope, people have reported odd flashes that sometimes light up the Moon. While these claims go back over a thousand years, it took a long time for them to be taken seriously by scientists, and we still lack an agreed-upon explanation. It is unclear […]

Ever made a bold claim only to be immediately proven wrong? Yeah, happens to the best of us. Michael Fish and the hurricane. The “unsinkable” Titanic. Then there was that time one of America’s biggest newspapers predicted it would take one to 10 million years to make a flying machine, 69 days before we managed it. […]

Everyone loves a good ghost story. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, there’s something about the eerie and the uncanny that we all enjoy. But for many people, the things that go bump in the night are not just the stuff of stories; they’re real. In fact, countless numbers of people across the world […]

With less and less evidence to recommend the 10,000 steps per day rule, space has opened up for a new walking trend. Lately, it’s “Japanese walking” that has come to the fore, with proponents claiming benefits for aerobic fitness and joint health – so, what’s it all about? Japanese walking, otherwise known as interval walking […]

More people are using ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) to ask for mental health advice. There have been stories in the news about the possible extreme consequences of such advice, but now researchers have looked at the wider mental health advice and support that these programs provide. The situation appears dire, with a […]

It’s been 22 years since someone last photographed the “Asian unicorn”. Also known as a saola, it was last seen via a camera trap in Quảng Nam province, Vietnam, but nobody’s seen one since. Proving an absence of something isn’t easy, especially when dealing with elusive animals that occupy remote habitats. So, how do we […]

White lights, encounters with powerful entities, and the sensation of leaving one’s body are all classic tropes associated with near-death experiences (NDEs), although the limitations of language often make it impossible for people to fully convey what it’s like to come face-to-face with the eternal void. To try and paint a more complete picture, therefore, […]

After a relatively quiet summer, bird flu is beginning to rear its ugly head once more. But even if we haven’t been talking about it as much, that doesn’t mean the virus has gone away – and it’s not only the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain that’s been making moves.  H5N1 outbreaks on US farms A […]

While filming on location off Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, whale scientist Nan Hauser was swimming towards two humpback whales when one of them started charging at her. When it approached, it started moving as if it were trying to tuck her under its fin – not a very comfortable maneuver for a human being […]