News

Humans of the industrialized world don’t realize how easy they have it. Sure, there’s glaring wealth disparity, rampant heart disease, prolific depression, and a ravaged ecosystem, but you know how fortunate you are to purchase a new electric toaster for just a few dollars?  While studying at London’s Royal College of Art, Thomas Thwaites set […]

Nestled along the northern Silk Road in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region stands a beautiful testament to China’s ancient Buddhist past – the Kizil Caves. Carved into the face of the ochre-hued cliffs of the Flaming Mountains, the caves are an archaeological treasure that beckons history enthusiasts and the spiritually minded alike. China’s oldest Buddhist […]

Watch any nature documentary, and something becomes quickly obvious: human babies are… kind of rubbish. Giraffes, for example, can stand up within an hour of being born – it takes humans the best part of a year to do the same – while your pet kitty is basically a teenager by the time it’s six […]

A gorgeously garish species of orchid, known to the Indigenous Tsou people as the “God Flower”, is rapidly disappearing from the mountainous wildlands of Taiwan. Just like the plight of countless other flowering plants around the world, some suspect that climate change is the prime suspect. Also known as the Dendrobium orchid or golden grass […]

Could clams be holding the secret to a longer life? One team of researchers from Bologna believe so – but probably not in the way you think. Humans are living longer than ever before, with the average life expectancy worldwide increasing by no less than two decades in the past 60 years alone. But we’re […]

If you live in a long but narrow part of the world, you have an opportunity this month to contribute to a global project exploring one of the most famous and enigmatic stars. That’s because on December 12, on a path running almost half the way around the planet, the asteroid 319 Leona will pass […]

How much would you spend on a chicken sandwich? $5? $10? What about $1,500? Sounds like a lot for a sandwich, and the deal gets even less sweet when you find out it takes six months to make it from scratch. The sandwich was the passion project of Andy George, host of How To Make […]

Africa is slowly but surely splitting in two. Like anything in geology, it’s an extremely long process that will take millions upon millions of years, but it will eventually see part of East Africa chip off from the rest of the continent, likely resulting in a new ocean arising between the two land masses. The […]

Ancient hunter-gatherers in Siberia’s Lower Ob’ region may have built the world’s very first fortress on the banks of a river. Whether these prehistoric communities constructed their fort for protection or to stake a claim to premier fishing territory is unclear, although radiocarbon dating conducted at the site reveals that it was erected an incredible […]

Some concerning changes are impacting the waters around Bermuda. After 40 years of tracking, scientists have noticed that the Atlantic Ocean surrounding the archipelago is warming and losing oxygen, as well as becoming increasingly salty and acidic. Researchers have been keeping track of the water around Bermuda since 1983, taking monthly samples to assess the […]

We know that, around 2.1 million years ago, Homo erectus, the first humans, migrated out of Africa. But how did they make this epic journey across territory that is covered in expansive desert? For a long time, researchers have puzzled over how H. erectus managed to cross through northeastern Africa and the Middle East, to […]

A new discovery about the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology behind some of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines has led scientists to look again at the vaccines’ design. By making a small tweak, the study team hopes to improve future mRNA therapeutics – but the announcement has left some feeling concerned about the reports of […]

This week naturally occurring magnetic monopoles were measured for the first time, a study of identical twins reveals the health benefits of a vegan diet, and we may know less about El Niño than previously thought. Finally, we investigate the theories surrounding the inception of the QWERTY keyboard. Subscribe to the IFLScience newsletter for all […]

Do you ever wake up after a night on the booze, heart pounding, with the feeling that the world is ending and everyone hates you? If you’re someone who experiences hangover-related anxiety (often nicknamed hangxiety or beer fear), you’re probably keen to know why this happens. So, let’s break down the science. How alcohol affects […]

The unusual texture of peach skin is quite a complex defense mechanism that protects the fruit from burrowing insects and prevents mold from growing on the fruit’s surface. While peach hair, technically called trichomes, might benefit the plant, eating it is not always peaches and cream for everyone. While the idea that peach skin is […]

Going through stressful events at a young age can sometimes have a lasting impact on our own lives and the generations that come after us. But that’s not a uniquely human phenomenon – researchers have discovered a similar pattern in red abalone, with a legacy of stress created after exposure to ocean acidification. “For red […]

It’s becoming increasingly clear that we will fail to meet our climate goals. We were already at 1.26°C of warming in 2022 and are on track to blow through 1.5°C in the mid-2030s. Research even suggests that current climate policy will lead to more than 2.5°C of warming by the end of this century. Warming […]

What astronomers in 2011 took for rings around the minor planet Chiron is actually something much stranger, new research reveals. The true nature of the material orbiting the icy world remains unknown, but it appears to be an ever-shifting disk of dust and gas. The initial discovery of Chiron, an object around 210 kilometers (126 […]

Use of digital devices from an early age leaves its mark on children’s brains. Before you roll your eyes, we’re not in the business of prophesying a technological doomsday – this finding is based on a review of evidence gathered over 23 years of scientific studies. But what does it actually mean for our kids? […]