News

An unexpectedly controversial post popped up on social media platform X on Tuesday, stating that the island nation of Kiribati is the only country that sits in all four hemispheres. People in the replies had a lot to say (which isn’t exactly an unusual thing on this particular site) – but what kind of claims […]

In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer made artificial intelligence (AI) history, becoming the first machine to beat a reigning world champion –  Garry Kasparov – at the game of chess. Though Kasparov went on to draw two other games with Deep Blue, and won a further three, it was an impressive achievement for AI. Chess, […]

Neutrinos are a bit like the Force in Star Wars. These “ghost particles” surround us and penetrate us but don’t interact with the forces that bind the galaxy together. The reason they can go through not just us but the entire planet without problem is because they are extremely light in mass and have no […]

The computer scientist who popularized the term artificial general intelligence (AGI) believes that it could arrive as early as 2029. Ben Goertzel, who founded SingularityNET, which aims to create a “decentralized, democratic, inclusive and beneficial Artificial General Intelligence”, gave a talk at the Beneficial AGI Summit 2024. In the talk, he told the audience that […]

At 152 years old, Yellowstone National Park is the oldest US national park. It was established in 1872 under a set of unique circumstances, but it has since set the precedent for the creation of dozens of other national parks in the US. Some people say that Hot Springs in Arkansas was the first national […]

A new-to-science worm has been found in the deep sea near a methane seep off the coast of Costa Rica. If that’s not enough buzzwords to get your chops around, it also has massive jaws, feathery gill-carrying appendages, and has been described by its namesake as a “living magic carpet”. The deep-sea worm has been […]

As if microplastics hadn’t been found in enough places in the human body, researchers have just added another one to the list: the fatty deposits that build up in some people’s arteries. But do these tiny plastic fragments pose any extra risk to us? Though far from definitive, this latest study suggests that they might. […]

Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park is bursting at the seams with natural delights. From rolling hills and deep river valleys to the world’s longest known cave system and a surprising number of sharks, the UNESCO World Heritage Site has much to offer. Located in south-central Kentucky, the park spans over 52,000 acres (21,000 hectares), primarily […]

Fans of ancient animals may have heard the term “living fossil” used to describe creatures that have taken a relaxed approach to evolution, remaining seemingly unchanged for millions of years. Now, new research into gars is the first to uncover a mechanism that can explain why some animals get left behind. In some living fossils, […]

The chromosomes in cephalopods that determine whether they will be male or female have been in use for at least 248 million years – longer than those for any other animal equivalent we have found. The longevity contrasts with other animal classes, which change systems far more frequently. Not all animals use chromosomes to determine […]

Xenotransplantation, the transplantation of non-human body parts into humans, has recently come blazing to the forefront of biomedical science. In the past two years, this once-obscure field of surgery has reached several important milestones, including the transplantation of genetically engineered pig hearts and kidneys into brain-dead patients. As groundbreaking as these feats may be, xenotransplantation […]

A world-first achievement has been announced by de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences, who have set themselves the goal of creating a woolly mammoth by 2028. Using a multi-pronged approach, their woolly mammoth team say they’ve unlocked how to “reprogram” an elephant in creating stem cell-like cells that can differentiate into the three germ layers needed to […]

The nematodes inhabiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) give precisely zero fucks about the background radiation levels surrounding the ill-fated power plant, new research has revealed. After analyzing the microscopic worms’ genomes, scientists discovered that the creatures’ DNA remains completely unaltered despite having been exposed to levels of ionizing radiation that we humans think of […]

Some 38 million years ago, a termite couple snuck off to engage in some prehistoric sexy time, only to be swamped in tree resin and immortalized in amber for eternity. How embarrassing.  This incredible 38-million-year-old amber specimen was unearthed at the Yantarny mine in Kaliningrad, Russia. Inside the clear specimen, you can see two members […]

No matter how advanced we get; no matter where or when we live – some things will always be true. A triangle will always have three sides. Two will always equal two. And there’s always money in figuring out new ways to let people kill each other. One company taking advantage of that quirk of […]

If we define an ocean as simply a large body of liquid, then the biggest ocean in the Solar System is inside Jupiter. Not that it would be anything like we are used to. Under enormous pressures and high temperatures, hydrogen is in its metallic liquid state, sloshing about the planet’s interior. This is responsible […]

An “environmental crisis” is looming in the Red Sea after a cargo ship carrying huge amounts of fertilizer was sunk off the coast of Yemen. Rubymar – a Belize-flagged, UK-owned cargo ship carrying approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer – was sunk in the Red Sea by Houthi forces using an anti-ship […]

The world is full of spectacular phenomena, from those caused by weather patterns, to the flora and fauna of the natural world. In the USA, the middle of February marks the start of firefall season at Yosemite National Park – and yes, it is just as spectacular as it sounds. Shreenivasan Manievannan captured incredible time-lapse […]

It’s difficult enough keeping up with regular theories without having to keep up with their weird, paranoid cousin the conspiracy theory. For anyone wanting a quick update on the latter, there appears to be a new one emerging, stating that the Moon is not made of rock after all. The idea, if you are willing […]

For several years, NASA has been translating some of the most iconic images taken by its fleet of telescopes into sound. The results are always pretty extraordinary, providing a different way to translate the data. NASA is releasing a documentary about the project on its free streaming platform NASA+ and to mark the occasion the […]