News

Nature doesn’t mess around when it comes to survival. One species of spider has come up with a hunting trick – using the bioluminescence of trapped fireflies as a living, glowing bait.  Males of the firefly species Diaphanes lampyroides can sometimes find themselves entangled in sheetweb spider (Psechrus clavis) webs. But instead of going quietly, the […]

A new lineage of mammoth has been discovered in… Mexico? While we usually think of these shaggy Ice Age giants roaming icy landscapes and temperate plains, the find shows that North American mammoths were more genetically diverse – and more widespread – than previously appreciated.  In late 2019, construction workers unearthed several large, prehistoric bones […]

Burning Man festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert has once again been putting its visitors to the test, as the first week has seen an onslaught of tricky weather. First came the dust storms whipped up by 80-kilometer-per-hour (50-mile-per-hour) winds, taking with them the famous “Orgy Dome”. Then came the rain, turning the ground so […]

A destructive hailstorm has literally made its mark on southern Alberta, Canada, after pummeling the region with golf ball-sized hailstones, leaving a 200-kilometer-long, 15-kilometer-wide (124-mile-long, 9-mile-wide) “scar” across the landscape that’s been captured in satellite images. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content. […]

Lobster fisher Brad Myslinski is no stranger to pulling up crustaceans in a net, but this year he caught something few will ever get to see in person. You see, in his net he saw a flash of electric blue, one that would turn out to be a lobster that’s as rare as one in […]

Polar bears do not truly hibernate, which might seem unusual for a giant predator that has to endure brutally cold temperatures, scarce prey, and a constant battle for survival in one of the harshest environments on Earth. Yet unlike other bears, they don’t generally curl up to sleep a season away. We spoke to Dr […]

While the number of centenarians may be increasing, new research reveals that statistically, no one alive today should expect to live to 100 years of age. Using six different forecasting methods to predict life expectancy rates for 23 high-income, low-mortality countries, the study authors found that average lifespans for those born between 1939 and 2000 […]

Issue 38 (September 2025) of CURIOUS is out now, bringing you science highlights for the month plus deep dives into intriguing topics, interviews, exclusives, diary dates, and explanations for some of Earth’s most perplexing natural phenomena and landscapes. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the […]

Of all the weird and wonderful adaptations that have evolved in the world’s oceans, the barreleye fish’s might be the most impressive. These deep-sea dwellers are equipped with a transparent head, allowing their tubular eyes to look upwards, like gazing out of a car sunroof, as they hunt for prey above in pitch-black waters.  The […]

This week, scientists toying with the afterglow of phosphor particles have been able to make succulents glow like something out of Avatar, new fossils have revealed that an ankylosaur known as Spicomellus afer was covered in enormous spikes that were fused to its bones, and, in 1978, a physicist was struck through the head by […]

How do you wish to die? It’s an important question that, no matter how scary, should be considered by every person at different stages in their life. But do doctors, those people who tend to see death and dying more frequently than other people, have different views on how they want to spend their final […]

It’s that time of year again. No, we’re not talking about back-to-school – it’s throw a puffin off a cliff season, duh! In Iceland, as summer draws to a close, obliging locals give baby puffins a helping hand as they leave their burrows for the first time and attempt to find the ocean. The rest […]

A prehistoric skull that was discovered in China in the 1970s probably belongs to a Denisovan, according to the results of a new study. Known as Dali Man, the specimen was previously the subject of a taxonomical debate and had been tentatively identified as either Homo erectus or an archaic Homo sapiens, yet now appears […]

Good news, the dreaded midlife crisis may be about to become a thing of the past. The bad news, however, is that this is not due to positive societal improvements, but because young people’s mental health is declining already. The midlife crisis, a characteristic period of self-doubt, identity crisis, and emotional upset, is a common […]

This week on Break It Down: Think you know Earth? Think again; a new campaign is trying to overturn the highly erroneous map we were all taught in school. A new injection can make succulents glow pretty much any color you like, and better yet, they’re rechargeable. An intriguing new theory to explain the legendary […]

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, can be easily compared to a pizza or a pancake; sure, it bulges in the middle, unlike a pizza, but mostly it all happens in a flat-ish disk. There is stuff above and below the plane of the Milky Way, but it’s an area of low density with few stars. […]

Today is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in Louisiana, which, although only classified as a Category 3 storm due to wind speeds, wreaked havoc as it brought with it enormous storm surges that ultimately claimed nearly 2,000 lives and became the costliest storm in US history. It seems focusing on a hurricane’s […]

In one of the most hilarious papers we have read this year, two scientists challenged some famous quantum factorization records, pointing out how these approaches are only possible using very specific numbers or by changing the problem into an altogether easier-to-solve one. The team calls it sleight of hand, and are calling it out using […]

The Solar System condensed out of a vast cloud of gas, seeded with heavier elements by exploding stars, somewhere between 4.5 and 4.6 billion years ago. That’s enough detail for most purposes, but if you want a more precise age, it’s good to consider what part of the Solar System you are referring to. The […]

Get ready for the Blood Moon next week! Our natural satellite will turn crimson as it is experiencing a total eclipse. It will happen during the evening between September 7 and 8 (depending on the timezone) and will be seen by an enormous number of people worldwide. The moon will first go black as the […]