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Back in 2020, “Adventurous Lisa” and 10 other Tasmanian devils were reintroduced to mainland Australia having gone extinct in the region around 3,000 years ago. Now Lisa has given birth to three joeys adding to the growing populations of these little marsupials. The 11 individuals were released by Aussie Ark with partners Re:wild, WildArk, and […]

Population genetics indicates that ancestors of modern humans were split into three populations, that only occasionally interbred, for hundreds of thousands of years. These groups then partially recombined to create the humanity that lives today. This places the division and reuniting long before Homo Sapiens’ great migration out of Africa. The human family tree is […]

In the Hudson Bay region of Canada, you can experience a strange phenomenon; weighing ever so slightly less than you do anywhere else in the world. It’s not much of a party trick, you would weigh about four-thousandths of a percent less than at the average location on the planet, but the cause is quite […]

There are few things more difficult than studying the end of the world, and how humanity would react before it. If you try when the world isn’t ending, then you probably won’t get an accurate impression, given that the world isn’t really ending. If you try while the world is actually ending, people won’t be […]

The recent discovery of over 1,000 bone tools in a Neanderthal cave in Siberia has ignited a debate over whether our extinct cousins were capable of producing utensils from animal skeletons as well as stone. To assess whether this osseous assemblage was a one-off, the authors of an as-yet un-peer-reviewed study looked for similar artifacts […]

It’s a question as old as boner pills: what happens if I take too many boner pills? Well, a few unfortunate people have learned the hard way. Sildenafil, the drug commonly referred to by the brand name Viagra, is used to treat erectile dysfunction as well as pulmonary hypertension. Extensive trials and follow-up studies have […]

Think you might be dating a ‘vulnerable narcissist’? Look out for Single people are increasingly turning online to find love, with more than 300 million people around the world trying their luck on dating apps. Some find their fairy tale. But for others, stories of online dating have very different endings. Advertisement You may be […]

For the first time, strong helium emission lines have been found in the spectrum of a Type Ia supernova, proving that the white dwarf that exploded had a helium-rich companion. After decades of debate about what causes this type of explosion, the findings prove that despite the famous consistency in their brightness, they can have […]

The extreme temperatures and pressures produced when a space rock slams into the Earth can create distinctive materials, such as the shocked quartz used to identify the remains of such events. Arizona’s Canyon Diablo contains diamonds with unusual structures, but scientists have been misinterpreting what makes them special. Very different processes can lead to the […]

You’ve probably heard somewhere that siblings share half of their genes with one another. That’s, like, Genetics 101, right? Actually, not quite. Thanks to the randomness of chromosome segregation and a process called recombination, siblings’ genomes are not always 50 percent the same. This figure is actually an average, as Our World in Data researcher […]

Feathers, scales, spines, and hair are all examples of keratinized skin appendages developed by vertebrates. They are very different from each other, but they share early developmental processes during the embryonic stages. Researchers at the University of Geneva have now worked out that it is surprisingly easy to grow feathers where there should be scales, […]

In the deserts of the Middle East, you can find vast megastructures known as desert kites that were carved into the rocky landscape over 8,000 years ago. In a new study, archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest architectural plans detailing how ancient humans managed to construct these colossal structures. Desert kites were only identified in […]

Artificial intelligence is kind of a big deal. While taking the media and workforce by storm this year with ChatGPT — raising endless debates over the future of creative productivity with image generators like DALL-E 2 and inspiring one startup after another — it’s arguably the most important by humanity to date and some even […]

You might assume that taking drugs is a uniquely human behavior, but there are many members of the animal kingdom that go out of their way to fill their brains with psychotropic substances with the apparent aim of distorting their perception of reality. Getting on it, as scientists like to call it, is a ubiquitous […]

Nuclear power is a significant source of energy that has been around for several decades. It is considered a sustainable and low-carbon option, making it an essential tool in the fight against climate change. The secret to nuclear power lies in uranium, a naturally occurring element used to fuel nuclear power plants – but it […]

It’s time to use it or lose it: Google has announced they will be deleting any accounts that have been inactive for 2 years as part of their recent security push. The announcement was made in a blog post outlining how they are attempting to protect users by removing accounts that they deem likely to […]

We are moving closer to crossing the 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) threshold above pre-industrial levels for the global temperature mean, 66 percent likely be exceeded during at least one year of the next five. This is the latest prediction from the World Meteorological Organization – another alarm bell showcasing the seriousness of the climate crisis. […]

There’s no two ways about it: jorō spiders look pretty scary. Even if you’re not a confirmed arachnophobe, the sight of this brightly colored beastie with its leg span of up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) would be enough to send shivers up the spine. But what if we told you that these guys are […]

Immersion in cold water is definitely an activity that divides people – some love it others hate it. But many now practice it weekly or even daily in the belief that it’s good for their mental and physical health. Cold water therapy, as it has come to be known, can take the form of outdoor […]