News

A newly discovered planet is a record-breaker in many ways, but the one for which it is likely to be remembered is heat so extreme that one hemisphere is lava. The HD 63433 system, also known as (TOI 1726), interests astronomers because it is a relatively close star (73 light years away) that resembles a […]

“Disease X” is appearing all over social media and news feeds once again. So, what actually is Disease X? Why is everyone talking about it? And is it anything to be concerned about? What is Disease X? The term “Disease X” is used by some scientists and the World Health Organization (WHO) to refer to […]

As far as rare colorations go, funky-looking lobsters seem to be pulled out of the ocean pretty regularly, and in the name of science, The University of New England (UNE) in Maine is building quite the collection of these beautiful beasts. While lobsters usually come in orange or red, they also have a peculiar tendency […]

Pharmaceutical companies raised the list prices of hundreds and hundreds of drugs in January 2024. While that figure is down from previous years, the recent price hikes have caught the attention of the US Senate Health Committee, which wants to hear testimonies from big pharma CEOs about why Americans pay the highest prices in the […]

Organ transplantation is one of the most incredible breakthroughs in 20th-century medicine. However, the sad truth is that there simply aren’t enough organs to meet demand. In the US alone, more than 10,000 patients are waiting for a liver transplant, and their doctors desperately search for ways to give them more time until the right […]

A while back, we explained what those weird floating things are that you sometimes see in your vision; little blobs of tissue, protein clumps, and red blood cells. But eyes do not just reserve being little weirdos for when they are open. When you close your eyes or open them in a very dark room, […]

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced that the Doomsday Clock will be kept at 90 seconds to midnight for a second year – which is still the closest to “Doomsday” it’s ever been. Since its inception in the late 1940s, the clock has been a symbol to reflect the state of the world […]

After years of speculation and controversy, the occupants of three tombs belonging to the family of Alexander the Great have finally been identified. Located in the Great Tumulus of Vergina in northern Greece, the burials contain the remains of Alexander’s father, stepmother, half-siblings, and son, along with armor and other items belonging to the man […]

A small rock called 2024 BJ will fly past Earth and the Moon in just a few days. It was discovered only last week, on January 17, and will approach our planet on Saturday, January 27. The object is estimated to be 25 meters (82 feet) across and is a near-earth object. It won’t get […]

Researchers have announced the detection of a new fast radio burst (FRB), a mysterious and very powerful astronomical event. These flashes of radio waves pack the energy released by the Sun over several days into a fraction of a second. The new one is the farthest and most powerful ever detected, and also comes from […]

As advanced as the human race is and probably will ever be, one thing nevertheless seems to stay true: as a species, we’re weirdly obsessed with dicks. If we’re not worrying about whether it’s big enough – it is, calm down – then we’re repurposing heart and blood pressure medication to try and make sure […]

Scientists have broken the record for the smallest and tightest molecular knot, creating a chemical that self-assembles into a knot with the formula [Au6{1,2-C6H4(OCH2CC)2}3{Ph2P(CH2)4PPh2}3]. The makers highlight the six gold atoms at the start by referring to the entire molecule as Au6. The way a molecule affects others depends not just on the elements it’s composed […]

If you’ve ever watched The Wire, Breaking Bad, or have simply hung around with some interesting people during your time on Earth, you have probably come across the term “burner phones”. Burner phones are generally depicted as being used by drug dealers, or others trying to keep their activities a secret, usually for nefarious purposes. […]

People have been discussing the “dark forest hypothesis”, a potential solution to the Fermi paradox, finding it either cool, terrifying, or hilarious. If you haven’t heard of the Fermi paradox, this is the simple version: with all the stars, space, and time in the universe allowing for the possibility of alien life, how come we […]

Distrust in science has become an ever-growing theme across the globe, not least in the US where the public perception of some scientific topics – notably COVID-19 and climate change – has become dominated by partisanship, politicization, and conspiracy theories. According to a new study, support for former President Donald Trump is a major variable […]

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain,” wrote Ben Franklin in a letter to his pal Jean-Baptiste Le Roy in 1789, “except death and taxes.” This tells us two things: firstly, that Franklin knew a quotable turn of phrase when he saw one, and secondly, that he lived before the invention of […]

Hang around any supermarket for long enough and you’re sure to be approached by a mature shopper with a request to pass them a top-shelf item. And while it may seem impossible to imagine our future selves experiencing similar grocery woes, the reality is that your spinal column can start shrinking from as early as […]

A new noninvasive brain stimulation technique that has the potential to help people living with memory loss due to Alzheimer’s disease has been developed by scientists from the UK Dementia Research Institute. We spoke to the first author of the new paper, Dr Ines Violante, Senior Lecturer in Psychological Neuroscience at the University of Surrey, […]

Do video games make people more violent? It is a persistent belief among some people that they do, but the empirical evidence does not seem to support it. In fact, a new study has demonstrated that, contrary to making people more aggressive, playing violent video games can actually lower stress hormone levels in some players. […]

Despite common belief, English is not the official language of the US. In fact, it is one of the exceptional countries on the planet that does not officially recognize any language. To understand why, we must travel back to the genesis of the US and the ambitious ideals of the Founding Fathers. Across the world, […]