News

Modern chimpanzees select rock tools in similar ways to Oldowan hominins, early humans who used stone tools that date back to around 2.5 million years ago. According to a new study, these observations may provide new ways to understand the differences between technology use by nonhuman primates and ancient hominins, as the archaeological record extends […]

Uranus is undoubtedly the most oddly named planet in our Solar System, but things could have been worse. After all, being the only Greek god in a sky full of Romans is one thing; sounding like a butt is another; but a planet called George would just be silly. Still, that’s what we almost had. […]

Our lofty friends, the giraffes, are slowly and quietly disappearing from the wild. Some organizations are trying to help these majestic beasts by investing in animal in vitro fertilization (IVF). Now, the first artificial fertilized, matured, and preserved giraffe embryo has been created in a historic and groundbreaking milestone. When you think of endangered mammals in […]

While cleaning out a drawer during a recent house move, I found the diary I kept in high school. Obviously, I couldn’t resist the temptation of reading the things 14-year-old me had seen fit to document – friendship dramas and getting braces featured heavily – and while a lot of it made me cringe, it […]

When you get sick, it’s easy to point the finger elsewhere. Maybe the fault lies in your genes; perhaps it was that sniffling lady on the bus; what about the last thing you ate? In reality, it could have been any number of things. Don’t get us wrong, genetics has a lot to answer for […]

The frogfish is an epic-looking sea creature that has a face only its mother could love. One of its most bizarre adaptations is the “fishing rod”-like appendage that sits on top of its head and helps lure prey into its gaping mouth. Previously, it was unknown how these “fishing rods” evolved or how the fish […]

On Earth today, there is only one species of humans. Us. Homo sapiens to use our scientific term. But this was not always the case – multiple species of humans existed at the same time for most of the last several hundred thousand years. Then, they all disappeared, leaving us as the only extant member […]

A team of researchers believe they may have a way of testing the hypothesis that consciousness in humans arises from entanglement within our brains. To do so would involve creating interfaces between human brains and quantum computers, and attempting to measure any resulting changes in consciousness. Consciousness is something we all have, but know surprisingly […]

A new-to-science moray eel has been discovered lurking in the dim river mouths of the Central Indo-Pacific, inspiring a species name that’s a hat-tip to the ruler of the underworld, Hades. With a name that means “the unseen one,” Hades seems fitting for an eel whose dark coloration means it blends seamlessly into mud. Its […]

Cutting-edge astronomy is always a balance between the most incredible breakthroughs and realizing those breakthroughs have not just provided answers, but have also raised questions – some old and some new. This last year did not buck the trend. Astronomy discoveries were delivered aplenty, leading to crucial new insights. Still, new mysteries and old challenges […]

The Sun is currently experiencing its solar maximum and we have seen its effects across the months with intense solar flares, extreme geomagnetic storms, and auroral displays at lower latitudes than usual. This week is clearly not an exception – an eruption of plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), has been released from […]

Around 200 million years ago, Earth’s last supercontinent Pangea began to break apart, with plate tectonics slowly moving the continents into the world we recognize today.    Plate tectonics was only discovered relatively recently. Though German meteorologist Alfred Wegner first proposed continental drift in 1912 – and hypothesized that the continents were once joined in […]

Stare deep into the eyes of a sheep and you’ll probably upset a farmer, but before the guns start waving you might notice something strange. Rather than a bouncy round pupil like our own, sheep have a rectangular black blob in the middle of their eyes. So, what gives? These ruminant mammals sit alongside deer […]

The top 10 hottest years since the temperature record began have all happened in the last ten years, and scientists have already said that 2024 is “effectively certain” to be the hottest year on record. With governments across the world dillydallying as the consequences of the climate crisis become more serious every day, UN Secretary-General […]

The mystery surrounding one of the largest megalithic monuments in the Middle East has deepened significantly, as new research has just shattered the popular theory that the circular Rujm el-Hiri in the Golan Heights functioned as an astronomical observatory. Also known as the Wheel of Ghosts and the Levantine Stonehenge, this enigmatic labyrinthine structure is […]

To be with a loved one when it’s their time to go is a special comfort to a lot of people, but there are some aspects to the process of dying that can be uncomfortable and even upsetting to witness. Perhaps the most famous of these is the “death rattle,” a symptom with a name […]

A new metadata analysis into the presence of microplastic concentrations in humans has highlighted multiple links with tissue damage and other health conditions. Over the course of the last 70 years, plastic has become an increasingly significant global commodity, impacting nearly every aspect of human life. During the 1950s, plastic production was around 1.5 million […]

As we wind toward the year’s end we often find ourselves thinking about the future, but sometimes it takes a rare nugget from the past to make strides in academia. Take fossils, a dizzying diversity of really, really old stuff that somehow defied decay and decomposition to linger on in a record we can dive […]

Oh, America. You do so confuse the rest of the world, with your “pounds per square inch” and “cups”, instead of sensible measurements like Pascals and liters. And part and parcel of that is your stubborn refusal to drop Fahrenheit in favor of Celsius.  Of course, we admit that Fahrenheit does have some advantages. But […]

Some years seem to zip by in the blink of an eye, while others seem to drag on for far longer. But some, like leap years, can last a little longer than usual. And then there’s 46 BCE, which lasted 445 days, 80 days more than we are used to.  So, why did the year […]