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What’s your favorite number? There are literally infinite options, and yet only a few which seem to stand out as more popular than others: there’s seven, obviously; 13 or 666 for the badasses among us; and √2 for anyone who just likes annoying Pythagoreans. But there’s really only one number out there that can claim to […]

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. What is most likely going on in Area 51? – Griffin, age 10, South Lyon, Michigan One of the reasons people can never be entirely sure about what is going […]

If you lived through the apocalypse of 2012, the second apocalypse of 2012, and the apocalypse of 2017, there’s a chance the name Nibiru may ring a bell. According to doomsayers and conspiracy theorists, Nibiru is a planet within our Solar System that will one day slam into Earth, ending life as we know it. […]

We’re living on a finite planet while expecting infinite economic growth. It doesn’t require an economist to explain there are some problems with this assumption. But is it possible that we could totally exhaust some of the mineral and metal resources that are fundamental to the infrastructure and lifestyles of the 21st century, whether it […]

Everyone of a certain age has a favorite screensaver, from that one where the blobs bounce against the screen getting closer and closer to hitting the corner, to that one with slightly different blobs doing exactly the same thing. They are still used today, but unlike old blobby and the squiggly line that wriggles around, […]

The pursuit of immortality and reverse aging is hot in the press right now, so we thought it was time for a reminder that sometimes, trying to live forever can stop you from living at all. While extremes in health regimens can disrupt your dating life, there’s also the risk that your “cure” for long […]

We find ourselves back in a space race, with the goal once again the Moon. We’re not talking about the larger space race involving the US, Russia, and China, however, but a much more immediate one that could result in Russia beating India to the Moon’s South Pole next week by a mere two days. […]

Nuclear fusion company SHINE has reported the first-ever observations of Cherenkov light during a fusion reaction, visual evidence that a reaction was taking place. This phenomenon is more commonly seen in traditional nuclear fission power plants and produces a pretty, blue-violet light. The closest analogy to explain this phenomenon is sound. When an object, from […]

Changes in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun hundreds of thousands of years ago allowed Neanderthals and Denisovans to mate with one another, new research has revealed. According to the study authors, these alterations in our cosmic trajectory facilitated major climate shifts on the ground, enabling our ancient relatives to expand their habitats and rendezvous […]

A fresh genetic analysis has revealed more of the story behind Ötzi the Iceman, a remarkably well preserved human who perished in the Italian Alps around 5,300 years ago. As it turns out, the unfortunate mummy was closely related to the early farmers from Anatolia in modern-day Turkey who migrated here. Furthermore, his skin was […]

Good news everyone, you’ve probably been tying your shoes wrong most of your life, and before that the only reason you weren’t tying them wrong was because you were in Velcro.  The method a lot of us use, once you’ve progressed from bunny ears, is the system of creating a loop with one lace, then […]

Back in 1973, British mathematical physicist Roger Penrose described “Penrose tiles,” two shapes that can be placed together in a neverending, non-repeating pattern. Not only did it look pretty, it challenged some of the conventional ideas around symmetry and periodicity. It was thought to be groundbreaking – and in most respects, it was – but […]

Thanks to gravitational wave observatories, we know that when two black holes merge, they create a third black hole. The final black hole is slightly less massive than the sum of its parents, as some energy has been lost as gravitational waves. This final black hole is also kicked away from its birthplace by the […]

If there’s one thing you can rely on in life, it’s the laws of physics. Things in your life may change, friends come and go, but there are the laws of physics day in, day out, tirelessly keeping you from floating away into space like you’ve sampled the wrong chocolate at Willy Wonka’s suspiciously high-fatality […]

Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian buildings in England. It’s the site of the assassination of archbishop Thomas Becket and the destination of the pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. A pair of scientists saw something extra about this historic building. It has a large old roof – the perfect […]

Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are famously solitary, highly adapted predators that take the blame for all manner of scary movie characteristics. However research has revealed that these giants of the ocean may have a softer side and even form close social bonds – shark BFFs, anyone? Researchers studying shark behavior have made an unusual […]

The hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica is strangely large for this time of year, prompting fears that it could lead to further warming of the South Pole. Oddly enough, it looks like this is a consequence of water vapor that ended up in Earth’s stratosphere following the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai eruption, the […]

When it comes to amphibians from fairy tales there are really only two options and whether you’re after Prince Charming or something to put in a witches cauldron we’ve got the reality check when it comes to telling the difference between frogs and toads.  Frog and toad characteristics First, let’s look at their skin. Frogs […]