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On March 21, 2022, Alexander Tan was taking a walk along the shore on Maroochydore Beach, in Queensland, Australia when he came across something rather unusual. At first glance, Tan thought it might have been a dog lying down in the sand, but upon closer inspection, it was far more peculiar.  Advertisement “It was very […]

As North America prepares to be dazzled by a “ring of fire” eclipse this weekend, observers in the Yucatan Peninsula and other parts of southern Mexico will walk in the footsteps of the ancient Maya, who were famed for their astronomical expertise. Among the many celestial events tracked and celebrated by the pre-Hispanic culture were […]

In 1929, Edwin Hubble noticed that distant galaxies looked redder than those nearby. Moreover, the further away they are, the redder they tend to look. This observation, known as redshift, allowed us to measure the distances to galaxies too distant to determine by other means. It was also revealed that the universe is expanding, with […]

A team of palaeontologists have described a new species of titanosaur, which has been named after an ancient Egyptian god. This rather small specimen helps address a large gap in our understanding of African dinosaurs.  The new titanosaur was described in a study published in July this year. It has been named Igai semkhu, which […]

Picture a desert and you no doubt imagine a sandy landscape, searing hot dunes, and a baking Sun. However, this is just one side of desert climates. Beyond the Sahara and the Great Australian Desert, some desert environments are more associated with chilly temperatures.  Deserts are defined as areas that receive very little precipitation and […]

An oval-shaped blue diamond weighing 20.46 carats is one of the rarest in the world. Named the Okavango Blue Diamond, it was discovered at Orapa mine in Botswana, and it holds many secrets about our Earth in its curious azure hue. “From the first moment we saw the diamond, it was clear we had something […]

The Sphere in Las Vegas is the largest spherical structure in the world, and building it required a lot more than engineering and architectural know-how – over 100 patents are expected to come out to the construction of this entertainment venue. Love it or hate it, the venue is certainly unique. Its exterior is 112 […]

The San Andreas Fault carves through the Californias at the point where the Pacific Plate stands toe-to-toe with the North American Plate. The boundaries between tectonic plates are often hotbeds of earthquake activity, and this 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) fault line is no different. However, the San Andreas Fault is especially worrying for geologists, not to mention […]

If you’re familiar with chemistry, or farming, you may have heard the words “organic” and “inorganic” bandied about – molecules can be organic, and so can beef or broccoli – but what do these words actually mean, and can they be applied to humans? Are our bodies organic or inorganic? Organic vs Inorganic “There isn’t […]

The first winners of the Vesuvius Challenge prizes, set for anyone who could help crack an ancient mystery, have been announced. The awards were issued to three different people who have helped decode the first word from carbonized “unreadable” scrolls that have not been read in nearly 2,000 years. What does it say? “Porphyras”, meaning […]

It’s always said that Britain has a surprising number of regional accents for such a small island, at least compared to other English-speaking nations like the US or Canada. Take an hour-long train journey between any town in this “green and pleasant land” and there’s a strong chance you’ll be able to pick up on […]

This week an invaluable rare metal has been found in China, geologists may have found the ancient remains of an unknown mega-plate, and NASA’s asteroid unboxing reveals Bennu contains carbon and water. Finally, we weigh in on the age-old debate, is it octopi, octopodes, or octopuses? Subscribe to the IFLScience newsletter for all the biggest […]

Solar activity goes through cycles. The main one is about 11 years long and its maximum is marked by powerful eruptions of electromagnetic radiation known as solar flares, as well as releases of plasma known as coronal mass ejections. The most powerful known flare happened in 1859 and led to telegraph stations catching fire across […]

It’s time to grab your eclipse glasses and (safely) look to the sky. On October 14, millions of people across the Americas will get the chance to see an annular eclipse of the Sun. This happens when, during a total solar eclipse, the Moon is near its apogee, the farthest point from Earth. The Moon’s […]

Less than a day after opening the OSIRIS-Rex sample collected from asteroid Bennu, NASA has released the first results, reporting the sample is high in carbon, as well as containing significant water. More detailed analyses will investigate the molecules in which these two vital components for life are combined. Science is usually a slow process. […]

Researchers in Sweden have discovered a large and unusual methane leak in the depths of the Baltic Sea. The leak, which is estimated to be around 20 square kilometers (7.7 square miles) in size, is releasing masses of gas bubbles that are making their way to the surface. What is methane? Methane is extremely worrying. […]

If you live in or have ever visited the Southern Hemisphere, you might have seen in the night sky two patchy white collections of stars off the main body of our galaxy, the Milky Way. These are two of the several dwarf galaxies orbiting our own and are called the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and […]

In 1850, archaeologist Austen Henry Layard found an unusual piece of rock crystal in the North West Palace of Nimrud, Northern Iraq, leading to speculation about its purpose. Dubbed the “Nimrud lens”, the highly-polished piece dating back to around 750-710 BCE was first identified as a lens, while a more outlandish theory claims that it […]

We all love a bargain, especially when forking out for plane tickets – but unfortunately for tight-fisted travelers, many of the “hacks” we use to come about them don’t actually work. Whether it’s buying tickets on a certain day, clearing cookies, or using a VPN and browsing incognito, these tricks are at odds with how […]

A new study tells the story of a woman who received a pioneering bionic hand that’s deeply integrated with her bones, nerves, and muscles. There are still many hurdles to overcome with this type of tech, but this case report shows how it’s already capable of enriching people’s lives.  Karin lost her right arm during […]