News

For over a century, humans have been searching for alien civilizations somewhere out there in the universe. Though we obviously have found nothing so far, we have become rather good at finding planets, confirming over 5,000 of them in the Milky Way since our first discovery in the 1990s. Analyzing the spectrum of light from […]

There have been many names given to the region of the Atlantic coast that stretches between the Kunene and Swakop rivers in Namibia, and none of them are reassuring. To the local San people, it’s known as the “land God made in anger”; to the Portuguese sailors who briefly stopped there in 1486, it was […]

Particles of dark matter could interact with the neutrons in the core of neutron stars. If so, this should heat the stars, and new calculations suggest this might happen quickly enough that we could detect it, although the authors of the idea acknowledge it won’t be easy. The universe is thought to contain almost six […]

The 2024 North American total solar eclipse has come and passed. Now the spectacle is over, you might be wondering what to do with your solar eclipse glasses. The next total solar eclipse to cross North America is predicted to occur on August 23, 2044. Unless you plan on hanging on to your protective glasses […]

Following the end of World War 2 and the devastating impacts of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings, the Cold War was looming. The immense destruction and power promised by atomic bombs pushed world superpowers into a nuclear research frenzy, with the USA prepared to drop a third on Japan if necessary, and the remaining […]

The first study to quantify the environmental impacts of toxic “forever chemicals” on a global scale has found that much of the globe’s source water, which has not been treated for drinking, is more contaminated than suspected. Toxic “forever chemicals”, which do not degrade, are otherwise known as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS for short). […]

Scientists investigating a strange sea critter with an enormous set of eyes have discovered it has surprisingly advanced eyesight for such a small animal, and might even use them for a unique method of secret communication. Imagine lugging around an extra 100 kilograms (220 pounds) in the form of two gigantic eyeballs. That would probably […]

Parkfield in California is no stranger to an earthquake – it sits on the San Andreas Fault, after all. Previously, it seemed that a quake with a magnitude of 6 or greater happened here around every 22 years, but after the last one was 14 years late, scientists are now trying to figure out if […]

NASA has taken a closer look at a strange rock on Mars known as “Bunsen Peak”, named after the peak in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.  When the Perseverance rover first photographed the rock, it immediately drew the attention of NASA scientists. Advertisement “This rock was intriguing because it stands tall among the surrounding terrain […]

Flocks of birds can be one of the most majestic sights in the natural world, ignoring all the squawks and chaotic flapping. Among certain species, these mesmerizing congregations of flight can reach sizes of unbelievable proportions.  One of the largest recorded flocks of birds featured over 40 million red-winged blackbirds flying over Arkansas in December […]

Veins of a blue-and-yellow banded mineral run through the Derbyshire hillside in Britain’s Peak District, a rare mineral we know today as Blue John. It’s thought to only be found in two locations across the planet, so while it’s only semi-precious, its scarcity makes it a valuable find. Blue John is a variety of fluorite, […]

A new study into the traditional medicine of Indigenous communities within the Incan heartland has revealed the plants that make up the unwritten pharmacopeia of this ancient Andean culture. After interviewing dozens of Quechua-speaking individuals in the mountains of Peru, researchers were able to identify 46 species of medicinal plants that are used to treat […]

A snake-like robot and mini drones have ventured deep inside the irradiated reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan. As shown in their new images, the clean-up operations still have some way to go 13 years after the catastrophic nuclear meltdown. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), the electric utility company that […]

Colors in the natural world can come in just about every possible shade, from the bright blues of a peacock’s tail feathers to the glow of an animal under ultraviolet light. Now researchers have found some of the earliest traces of the pigments that help produce the pretty colors in snail shells and they are […]

The alligator penis doesn’t have an off setting. Unable to inflate with blood or lymphatic fluid, it instead maintains erection by being constantly rigid due to a dense network of collagen fibers inside the penile shaft. This means that rather than being flaccid and rising to the task of copulation, it’s permanently ready to pop […]

A total solar eclipse happened across North America yesterday, in case you’re the one person who missed it and wondered why it was briefly nighttime during the day. OK, there’s not much chance you missed it, given the amount of coverage everywhere. There were countless articles online and so many TV items during the news […]

There’s a revolution going on in how we produce our electricity, and it’s happening even in the places where it’s denounced the loudest. Few places illustrate that better than Texas, where renewable power keeps setting records, despite how many powerful people hate it. In February 2021, a cold snap put unprecedented pressure on the Texas […]

Some members of the bird world are capable of truly amazing feats from flying without flapping for over five hours, to not stopping flying for over 10 straight months. However, all that time in the air can make even the most seasoned flier weary – so where do birds rest when they are flying over […]

Today, people across North America will witness a total solar eclipse. It should be spectacular (assuming the weather holds), coinciding as it does with the solar maximum. As enjoyable as it will be, most witnesses will only get around 3.5-4 minutes of totality, when the Moon completely covers the Sun from their perspective. There is, […]

Women are more likely to expect to orgasm when anticipating a sexual encounter with a female partner, according to new research. While this may be a hard pill for heterosexual men to swallow, it highlights one of the drivers behind the well-established orgasm gap – but crucially, it also suggests ways in which that gap […]