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Welcome to Break It Down, your bite-size guide to this week in science. Join hosts Eleanor Higgs and Rachael Funnell as they discuss the biggest news stories of the week with guests from the IFLScience team and maybe even a surprise expert or two. Here’s what you may have missed in episodes 1 to 15, […]

The most up-to-date version of the periodic table contains 118 elements. It’s easy to imagine you can find the heaviest by scanning to the last element on the table, but that only gives one of several answers. Advertisement What Do We Mean By Heaviest? You’ve probably heard the old trick question; “Which is heavier, a […]

There’s great news today for cancer patients in England, as thousands are set to be fast-tracked onto a new program that will give them access to experimental personalized vaccines. The initiative, called the Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, aims to get more patients onto trials of mRNA vaccines against their specific cancer, in the hopes of […]

May 2024 was a hard act to follow, so June certainly has its work cut out. However, an old friend is returning to help keep the party going, with the potential to trigger a repeat of the historic aurorae that lit up the night skies across the world last month. Advertisement That old chum is, […]

Zimbabwe has officially got a new currency called Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) to replace the Zimbabwean dollar, a currency with a notorious history of runaway inflation. However, there are signs the new currency is already zigzagging into trouble.  Advertisement The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe started circulating ZiG in April 2024, starting with electronic payments before rolling out […]

A third case of bird flu has been confirmed in a dairy farm worker in the USA, the second identified in the state of Michigan. In contrast to the previous two cases, the infected individual has reportedly been experiencing traditional flu-like symptoms, though officials say they are now recovering. Advertisement The Centers for Disease Control […]

The one rare earth element whose chemistry has been largely unknown is now less of a mystery. Although promethium itself is unlikely to become as important to society as its neighbors on the periodic table, the information revealed about it could help improve our access to the rest. Advertisement The category known as “rare earth […]

We’ve all heard of the many benefits of interacting with animals as therapy, but what about the animals themselves? Does that interspecies solidarity go both ways? Well, according to a recent study, the answer is yes … if you’re a cow. Advertisement “Bovine-assisted therapy may not only be an effective treatment model that benefits human […]

Magnetic fields have been detected in very large stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the first time this has been achieved for stars outside our galaxy. It is hoped the discoveries in metal-poor regions will help us understand the processes involved, given their outsized influence. Advertisement The Sun has a magnetic field, and […]

The strain of H5N1 that authorities have dubbed Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been wreaking havoc among domestic and wild bird populations across the globe, but it’s certainly not been limited to our feathered friends. Lots of mammal species, including some you wouldn’t expect, have also been affected – not to mention a handful […]

References to “heavy metals” are common when talking of mining, some industries, and the contents of certain asteroids. But what is the heaviest metal, and might that record be broken in future? What is heavy? You might not think there is much ambiguity in a five-word question like “What is the heaviest metal?” but you’d […]

A new paper taking a look at the Fermi Paradox using the Drake Equations has suggested an uncomfortable solution: maybe we are alone in the galaxy. Advertisement If you haven’t heard of the Fermi Paradox, it goes something like this: given the vastness of the universe and the probability that implies of life evolving elsewhere, […]

A new dark matter detector underneath a mountain in Jeongseon, South Korea, is about to be turned on. The team is attempting to rule out – or perhaps reproduce – puzzling results from a previous detector in Italy. Advertisement As far as astronomers studying the observable universe can tell, only around 5 percent of it […]

At least 10 Native American canoes have been found in Wisconsin’s Lake Mendota, the oldest of which may be up to 4,500 years old. The cache of boats was recently discovered by marine archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society together with members of the Ho-Chunk Nation.  Advertisement Two canoes were first found in 2021 and […]

Astrology has received a well-deserved beating in a new study that’s shown zodiac signs have no link to a person’s well-being; whatever “star sign” you happen to be, it doesn’t impact your happiness, affirming the view that the movement of planets has no direct influence on human affairs. Advertisement In a new study, a psychologist […]

After spending most of her life shying away from love, a 70-year-old flamingo called Gertrude has finally laid her first-ever egg. Advertisement She’s part of a 62-strong flamboyance strutting around Pensthorpe Nature Reserve in Norfolk, England and unlike most of her fellow flamingos, hasn’t had much success when it comes to finding a partner – […]

Drones have revolutionized many facets of the modern world, from engineering and science to warfare and surveillance – as well as the art of photography. To celebrate this burgeoning field, the Siena International Photo Awards has its specialized competition dedicated to aerial drone imagery.  Advertisement The nominees for their Drone Photo Awards 2024 have been […]

If you’ve ever felt bad about leaning on a bit of tech to help your love life, rest assured – at least you’re not having to use drones and artificial intelligence (AI) to find a partner (at least we hope not). That’s what Encephalartos woodii, quite possibly the world’s loneliest plant, is having to do […]

The European Space Agency’s Euclid mission unveiled beautiful new images last week together with the publication of its first scientific results. Among the papers yet to be peer-reviewed, there is an intriguing one about so-called “rogue” planets – free-floating worlds that travel the galaxy starless. Advertisement The team reports the observations of seven planets in […]