News

Astronomers spotted an unusual signal while hunting for the counterpart of gravitational wave event S190930t. They were looking for the collision of a neutron star with another object, which should result in a kilonova. Instead, they stumbled upon a completely different type of transient event. While kilonovae redden and fade over a few days, this […]

“Sounds are much louder and time contracts so everything feels like it is happening faster.” That’s the description of tachysensia given by a Reddit community formed as a gathering place for people who experience this mysterious, once-nameless, sensation. That community now has over 5,000 members, and research is only just beginning to catch up and […]

Astronomers have found a new and unusual way for planets to form, potentially explaining why planets such as Mars and Uranus end up forming sandwiched between much bigger neighbors. And “sandwich” is the name of the game: The team are calling the method “sandwiched planet formation” and it is about the formation of smaller planets […]

It’s barbecue season, and just the thought of the distinct smoky scent of sizzling food is enough to get many mouths watering (mine is watering as I write these words). And while the idea of cooking food on the grill may seem straightforward, there is actually a lot of chemistry taking place that results in […]

Well, we’re halfway through 2023, so in keeping with increasingly terrifying tradition, the Northern Hemisphere is melting. As several southern states – including nearly all of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas – as well as some states in the Midwest, have reached “wet bulb temperature” and received an “extreme threat” level designation, you may be wondering: […]

Mine spiders have seen a surge in popularity recently as many are realizing for the first time that some of the planet’s most impressive arachnids live their whole lives in dark and remote places. While there isn’t just one genus of cave-dwelling arachnids, there’s a host of impressive spiders to be found in caves and […]

In 2015, a 69-year-old woman was reported missing by her son, after she hadn’t been heard from for the past four days.  When police investigated, they found her inside the crawl space on the outside of her own house. She was wearing nothing but white shorts and a t-shirt, pulled up high and exposing much […]

If you’ve ever had the misfortune to witness a fire or just watch Fireman Sam, you may have wondered whether the water fire brigades use to extinguish the flames is in any way different, or special, when compared to ordinary water. Well, it is. Since the first fire brigade in 6 CE, fire brigades have […]

A dusty old group of nerves just got a sexy makeover in a preprint paper that’s suggested the long-known Krause corpuscles found in mammalian genitals may do a lot more than sense temperature changes. Instead, the mouse study suggests they act as vibrotactile sensors that are crucial for normal sexual functioning of the penis and […]

Wildlife rescue stories always tug at the heartstrings. From chimps seeing the sunshine, to seals exploring the local town, helping animals in distress is as rewarding as it is tricky. Never more so than when dealing with marine life, as the latest rescue of two dolphins after more than two years has revealed. Thought to […]

Have you ever looked at a body of water and thought: is this a pleasant pond or a luscious lake? Just exactly what is the difference? Well, it all depends on who you are asking. If you are asking from a regulation point of view, there really is no difference between a lake and pond, […]

The Longyou Caves are among the most mysterious ancient sites in world history. Built around 2,000 years ago, these human-crafted caverns lay in obscurity for centuries until they were accidentally discovered by farmers in the 1990s. The sandstone caves are located near the village of Shiyan Beicun on the Qu River in Zhejiang province, eastern […]

If you’ve ever called someone “dumb as a block of rubber,” you may wish to upgrade your insults, because it turns out a lump of rubber with some holes punched in it can count. It doesn’t even need fingers and toes. If this sounds like a remarkable, but useless, achievement, the designers think it might […]

Under a set of church structures in Mexico, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of an underground labyrinth that they suspect was once believed to be an entrance to the underworld.  The discovery was made at the archaeological site of Mitla near the city of Oaxaca by a team from the Mexican National Institute of History and […]

Last week, a spectacular image of Saturn was published by the JWST team. It shows the sparkling rings of the giant planet almost floating by themselves. Saturn itself doesn’t really shine in infrared. A different release shows a little bit more of the ringed planet this time around, as well as showing more details in […]

From Ancient Egypt to Mesoamerica, the great civilizations of the past had a shared love for building giant pointy things. However, while tourist hotspots like Giza and Chichen Itza may be the first sites that spring to mind when pondering pyramids, the truth is that neither of these iconic locations is home to the oldest […]

The speed of light in a vacuum is the absolute speed limit of the universe. Nothing will go faster than 300,000 kilometers per second (186,000 miles per second), according to Einstein’s work, as it would require an infinite amount of energy to do so. However, that doesn’t mean that light can’t be beaten in terms […]

From 1630 to 1900, the western Pacific experienced El Niño-like conditions, demonstrating that the phenomenon about to play havoc with global weather is not always brief. The finding is also a reminder of how Eurocentric views of historical climate patterns can lead us badly astray. El Niños affect weather worldwide, but their core feature is […]

For many people, the start of a year is a time for new health resolutions – be it eat more vegetables, consume less sugar or drink more water. Keeping hydrated is essential for body functions such as temperature regulation, transporting nutrients and removing waste. Water even acts as a lubricant and shock absorber for joints. […]

If you saw Orion before it disappeared behind the Sun this year, you may have noticed Betelgeuse’s unusual brightness. Astronomers are unsure of what to make of this brightening, but one team has reinterpreted long-standing patterns in its variability to conclude it is not only in the carbon-burning stage of its life, but nearing that […]