News

Forty-six years after it was first recorded, the magnetic data collected by Voyager 1 as it sailed past Jupiter, crossing its bow shock, continues to be hauntingly beautiful. You don’t need to know anything about particles, magnetic fields, bow shocks, or anything else to appreciate the weirdness of it and how the fateful crossing shifts […]

The universe is, as you are probably already aware, pretty big. Though we have found absolute proof of life on precisely one planet (intelligent life, still uncertain), there is plenty of hope that there are intelligent beings out there in the cosmos, potentially seeking other lifeforms themselves. While the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) continues […]

There are some great animal mysteries on Planet Earth. Where do whale sharks give birth? How did the starfish become a star? How did this mystery circle form? One such mystery is related to one of the slowest creatures in the world: are sloths too slow to fart? Sloths have super slow digestion and metabolism […]

There’s rarely a quiet moment in Yellowstone. With constantly shifting geology and ever-bubbling hot springs, this sprawling landscape across Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho is no stranger to underground activity. But according to a new study, Yellowstone Caldera may be even more active than scientists previously realized. Scientists at the University of Western Ontario, Industrial University […]

China has broken ground on what is set to be the largest hydropower dam ever built. In size and output, the megadam will dwarf the current world record holder, the mighty Three Gorges Dam. The gigantic new structure is being built on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in the Tibet Autonomous Region of […]

Dealing with challenging times can make us feel we’ve aged decades in just a few months. The last five years of the COVID-19 pandemic certainly qualify as challenging times for most, and a new study is suggesting that that feeling of rapid aging might be more than just a feeling. If these results are borne […]

Tigers are stripy, leopards and cheetahs are spotty – that’s something many of us will have been taught as fact from an early age. But if there’s one thing we can say for sure about nature, it’s that things aren’t always as certain as they seem, and scattered across southern Africa is a rare big […]

Planetary scientists using NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which is currently orbiting Jupiter, have reported the discovery of a new type of plasma phenomenon. It appears that around the north pole of the gas giant planet there is “underdense” plasma that is behaving in a way that has not been seen elsewhere. The cause of these waves […]

Two new moons have been discovered orbiting Jupiter, bringing the total number of natural satellites orbiting the gas giant to 97. The first moons of Jupiter were discovered in 1610 CE, after Galileo Galilei created and used his own telescope to observe the largest planet in the Solar System. He observed the four largest moons […]

There is far more variation in the way the brains of pessimists operate from each other than those of optimists, a new study finds. In other words, those who see life through a positive lens tend to use the same rose-colored glasses, whereas pessimists are more original and creative in their negative outlook. The findings […]

In 1929, it was discovered that a galaxy’s redshift is proportional to its distance from us. This breakthrough provided a method to measure the distances of far-off galaxies and revealed that most are moving away, offering strong evidence for an expanding universe. This knowledge, as well as helping us learn about the shape of the […]

An experimental mRNA vaccine that supercharges existing cancer treatments could be laying the groundwork for a “universal” cancer vaccine, according to the team behind the breakthrough.  Scientists at the University of Florida tested the innovation in mice and found it provoked a strong antitumor response when paired with immunotherapy. The surprising part was that the […]

Just your luck. After a week of fair weather from Monday to Friday, the weekend arrives and it’s gray, wet, and miserable. If you’ve ever noticed this trend of gloomier weekends, you’re not imagining it; Saturdays and Sundays can show slightly different weather patterns compared to the rest of the week. This might seem surprising, […]

Planet Earth is home to some pretty impressive predators, from mighty killer whales to polar bears and wolves. However one species puts even polar bears to shame and represents the largest mammalian carnivore to ever live in North America. Time to meet the giant short-faced bear.  How big was the short-faced bear? This giant short-faced […]

Tomorrow, on July 22, the length of the day is expected to be 1.34 milliseconds shorter than usual. Though there are clear reasons for the increased rotational speed this summer, the cause of the recent increase in speed is a little puzzling to scientists. The Earth’s rotation has altered significantly over time. Right now, the […]

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory dazzled us with its first light images just a few weeks ago, showing just what it is capable of discovering – from new asteroids to new galaxies – in a matter of hours. It is currently still being tweaked ahead of the official beginning of its science work, but as […]

The suspicion that some of Betelgeuse’s odd behavior is caused by a close companion star appears to have been confirmed using observations from the Gemini North telescope. It’s taken one of the world’s largest instruments to find something that, were it not for being outshone by the red supergiant, would be visible with binoculars. Betelgeuse’s […]

Rainforest life can be harsh. Sometimes, even for the predators, survival all comes down to how well you can hide. That’s certainly the case for silky anteaters, considered to be the world’s smallest anteaters, but these tiny, elusive hunters have a couple of tricks up their sleeves. Unthinkably adorable with golden fuzzy fur, they hardly […]

Is sex at birth a biological coin toss? That’s the question posed in a new study by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and their findings appear to show that there might be a biological bias after all – though some aren’t so sure. In theory, the chance of having a […]

Higher job satisfaction, better physical health, improved mental health, enhanced work performance, fewer burnouts, lower levels of fatigue, and a reduction of sleep problems are just some of the benefits of four-day workweeks identified in a new study. The standard Monday-to-Friday workweek is not based on any inherent necessity or a natural cycle, but historical […]