News

Just a few weeks ago, we crossed the significant milestone of 6,000 known exoplanets. The counter keeps getting higher, and there are 8,000 more candidates waiting for confirmation. In the decades since the first detection of a world beyond the Solar System, we have learned that the universe is a lot more varied and extreme […]

No, sharks do not have bones. Their skeletons are made of cartilage, the same flexible, “rubbery” material found in human ears and noses.  Unlike bone, which is a rigid, mineralized tissue rich in calcium phosphate, cartilage is made mostly of water and protein collagen, making it lighter, flexible, and less rigid. Bonelessness is a defining […]

After millions of years of peace, an idle volcano is showing its first signs of volcanic unrest. The summit of Taftan has become swollen and bloated, indicating that the pressure of magma and hot gas is increasing within its bowels.  The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to […]

Residents of the US’s West Coast have long feared “The Big One” – the apparently inevitable massive earthquake that will one day hit where the Pacific tectonic plate meets its North American neighbor.  Well, we’ve got good news and bad news.  The good: according to a new paper, that expectation may be unrealistic. The bad: […]

It’s a hiss-toric time for the giant garter snake (Thamnophis gigas), as this wetland-dwelling reptile just became California’s state snake, a designation that’s hoped to bring more awareness to the plight of this vulnerable species. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. The […]

A nanoparticle vaccine has shown great promise in preventing three types of cancer in mice, as well as stopping tumors from spreading when they were exposed to cancerous cells.  Cancer vaccines have moved from the sci-fi dream realm into actual scientific possibility within just a few short decade. We’re not just talking about the HPV […]

The noble false widow spider (Steatoda nobilis) is an invasive species that has come to populate much of Europe, western Asia, as well as North and South America. It was first formally described in 1875. The spider possesses a neurotoxin in its venom which, as well as giving humans a nasty bite, can allow it […]

Looking towards the central region of the Milky Way, there is an unexpected surplus in the most powerful light that exists: gamma rays. The source of this gamma-ray excess is uncertain. Two hypotheses have been put forth. One possibility is that dark matter particles collide with each other there and emit gamma rays. Alternatively, known […]

As the summer of 1953 drew to a close, Springfield, Missouri, was terrorized by a gang of cobras. Although it’s described today as “the oddest and most hilarious” story in the city’s history, the incident sparked several months of panic and confusion at the time. It took over 35 years to solve, but the cause […]

Comets tend to have two tails. One is known as the dust tail, and it tends to be more curved, while the other, known as the ion or plasma tail, is straighter, pointing away from the Sun. The tails can also be long, with ion tails often extending for hundreds of millions of kilometers. We […]

The origin of water on Earth is a complex affair. Was it trapped in the rocks that formed our planet or was it brought by comets and asteroids afterwards? We do not know for sure, but we can move the question even further. Did the water form with the Sun and the planet, or is […]

A problem with JWST’s infrared camera detector causes light to bleed from one pixel to another, undermining the quality of its images on some categories of targets. However, work led by two PhD students has provided a solution, which is already being used to multiply the data available from some observations previously considered disappointing. It’s […]

Popcorn-like parasites, ghostly crustaceans, and creepy worms are among the 14 new species that have recently been found in the world’s oceans.  Scientists estimate there are around 2 million living marine species, although just a tiny fraction of those have been officially named and described.  In a push to close this knowledge gap, researchers have […]

A study looking at ancient texts may have found evidence of a galactic supernova in a poem praising Saladin, the first sultan of Egypt and Syria, written between December 1181 and May 1182 CE. In October 1604, astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler spotted a new star in the sky and began tracking it. Over the […]

Take a dip under the waves and you never know what you might discover. From dancing sea pigs to manta rays deep-diving, the world’s oceans hold all kinds of surprises. For researchers off the coast of Papua New Guinea, it was the discovery of a shimmering new fish species: Eviota bella. The rest of this […]

Astronomers analyzing observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using the W. M. Keck Observatory have discovered further unusual features of our third interstellar visitor, and confirmed the presence of a rare “anti-solar tail”. On July 1, 2025, astronomers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) spotted an object making its way through our Solar System. […]

The origin of the word “hamburger” has very little to do with pork (unless you’re eating a particularly poor-quality “beef” patty). Instead, it traces back to the bustling German port city of Hamburg. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. Nestled in the […]

For evidence of evolution’s sheer barminess, look no further than the humble octopus. It’s boneless, beaked, and many-brained; it has blue blood, three hearts, and eight arms; it can change color and shape at will, and comes equipped with an ink sac for defense (or, presumably, calligraphy).  It is, in total, so weird that people […]

Greenland, the world’s largest island, is shrinking and shape-shifting. Since the peak of the last Ice Age about 20,000 years ago, the melting of its ice sheets has been easing pressure on the landmass, causing its tectonic plate and deep bedrock to deform. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in […]

Scientists have confirmed the existence of over 6,100 planets beyond the Solar System in the Milky Way. Something that has become clear pretty much from the very beginning of the search for exoplanets is that there are truly some oddballs when it comes to worlds beyond the Solar System. Newly discovered TOI-4507 b is proudly […]