News

Astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole of exceptional proportions in the early universe. Its light comes to us from when the cosmos was just over 764 million years old. And yet this black hole is a big one, estimated to weigh 40 million times the mass of our Sun. The team was able to […]

When it comes to the potential therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids, they’re often thought of in relation to how they can help out us humans. A new case report, however, suggests that these compounds could be used to treat our poorly pooches too, after cannabis oil was successfully used as a treatment in a dog with […]

A fossil claw belonging to a new-to-science species of crab that lived 8.8 million years ago has just snipped the ribbon on quite the crustacean certification: it’s the largest fossil crab claw ever found. The hefty specimen’s enormous size has scientists figuring it could well be the precursor to today’s Southern Giant Crab, which can […]

A drug designed to reduce allergic reactions to more than one type of food has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time, the organization announced on February 16. Plenty of treatments targeting individual food allergens have been trialed in the past – but this is the first drug […]

King Arthur, the ruler of Camelot, champion of Britain, wielder of Excalibur, and seeker of the Holy Grail, is surely the stuff of legend. There are probably few in Western societies who have not encountered some aspect of his story through various media, from books to television shows, to video games and so on. But […]

Scientists have a found new avenue that could lead to the development of a male contraceptive that’s both non-hormonal and reversible. Although only tested on mice so far, the researchers believe their “promising” approach could lead to human clinical trials soon. The discovery comes in the form of a protein complex that regulates gene expression […]

The discovery of a vampire squid specimen from the Early Jurassic could help reveal the poorly understood ancestry of this unique species. The fact it was buried holding prey adds unusual additional insight into its place in the ecosystem. Vampire squid are not true squid, being more closely related to octopuses than the creatures they […]

A new study has found that certain types of clouds disappear during solar eclipses, and offered an explanation. The finding could have implications for attempts to engineer the climate. During solar eclipses, people have noticed that common cumulus clouds over land tend to dissipate almost instantly. Advertisement “From Earth, you can count the clouds and […]

Polar bears are the world’s largest land carnivore, growing up to 3 meters (10 feet) in length and weighing over 800 kilograms (1,700 pounds), but did you know that they begin life no bigger than a stick of butter? With a birthweight of around 500 grams (17 ounces), polar bear cubs pop out about 1/400th […]

The first human megasites may have been completely egalitarian, with social equality helping to attract thousands of people to these massive prehistoric settlements. According to a new analysis, the eventual demise of this parity and the emergence of a more stratified social order might have triggered the abandonment of these ancient metropoles. Located on the […]

“Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.” So wrote Coleridge in 1834, unwittingly providing a pretty good description of the planet Earth: so inundated with water that our world looks blue from space, and yet only about 2.5 percent of it is actually drinkable – i.e. freshwater. Of that, almost all is groundwater […]

A gigantic balloon has spent a record-breaking 55 days, one hour, and 34 minutes in the air above Antarctica while scooping up scientific data to gain a deeper understanding of the cosmos.  NASA’s GUSTO (Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory) scientific balloon mission was launched on December 31, 2023, near the US National Science Foundation’s McMurdo […]

A performance celebrating diversity among social animals is the overall winner of the 2024 Dance Your PhD contest, which the author has compared to winning Eurovision. It could also be the perfect way to launch a career as a singer/songwriter/science communicator. Since its establishment 16 years ago, Dance Your PhD has become a way for […]

Anyone who’s ever had a puppy or a toddler will know how hard it is to keep them from eating things they shouldn’t. However, zookeepers and vets were quite surprised to find coins in the belly of a leucistic alligator called Thibodaux during a routine health check. Thibodaux lives at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and […]

With the planet getting warmer, so too is the frozen layer of ground underneath its coldest regions. According to a new study, the thawing of this permafrost could bring with it a significant health hazard to those living in sub-Arctic communities: increased exposure to the cancer-causing gas, radon. Permafrost – a layer of ground frozen […]

The Pentagon, the US Department of Defense powerhouse in Virginia, was the world’s largest office building for over eight decades – but not anymore. That title has recently been yanked away by the Surat Diamond Bourse, a freshly opened diamond trading floor in western India. The Surat Diamond Bourse consists of nine towers, each with […]

An ancient ceremonial megalith dated to 4,750 years ago has been discovered in the Peruvian Andes. The find is older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt and represents one of the oldest circular plazas in the region. Unearthed at an archaeological site called Callacpuma in northern Peru’s Cajamarca valley, the plaza measures around 18 meters […]

Young people today don’t drink as much alcohol as their millennial, Gen X, and boomer predecessors. The question is: why not? A new editorial from scientists in Australia and Sweden says there are many potential factors in play, but as of now we simply don’t have enough research to know for sure. It used to […]