News

Three ancient individuals buried across the UK whose teeth contain DNA from a strain of bacteria that was responsible for the Black Death have been unearthed by researchers. But these plague carriers lived thousands of years before the infamous pestilence ravaged Europe in the 14th century, making it the oldest evidence of the disease in […]

The infamous IQ test. Having a high IQ is perhaps the only thing that can make you seem both incredibly smart and incredibly dumb at the same time, depending on who you speak to when bragging. It has a fraught history of questionable science, elitism, and even eugenics, yet it is still used in some […]

While sleeping one’s way to the top may be a successful career strategy for some, many people who get romantically involved with a colleague find themselves in a position of vulnerability. Going public with one’s relationship status can be particularly nerve-racking – and new research reveals why, indicating that those who share both an office […]

The impact of humans on the planet is undeniable. But how much is too much? Researchers have produced the first quantification of the boundaries for a safe and just planet, and they show that we are taking a huge risk with the welfare of our planet – and gambling with the whole future of our […]

When offered either a transparent cup containing fruit or an opaque cup, four species of apes chose the safe option in a trial, a new study reports – human children aged 3-5, however, decided to risk the possibility of danger or disappointment over a guaranteed small reward. As much as anything else, this willingness to […]

The first-ever live stream from the orbit of Mars is all set for Friday, June 2. The European Space Agency (ESA) will be broadcasting the one-hour feed on YouTube, providing viewers with an intimate look at the Red Planet. ESA is sharing the live stream to celebrate the 20th birthday of Mars Express, their ongoing […]

One of the most common stereotypes about the human past is that men did the hunting while women did the gathering. That gendered division of labor, the story goes, would have provided the meat and plant foods people needed to survive. That characterization of our time as a species exclusively reliant on wild foods – […]

Gold nanoparticles provide a “smart surface” that can trap sulfur compounds in wines, improving their aromas, new research suggests. If you’re worrying about what this will do to the cost, however, the answer may actually not be that much, as the particles – and the molecules they capture – can be removed and used repeatedly. […]

A giant destructive blob was headed for Florida earlier this year, bringing with it foul smells and a dense carpet of sargassum. Now that it’s made ground, a new concern has arisen regarding what it may contain, as researchers studying seaweed from the Sargasso Sea found multiple species of Vibrio bacteria. Vibrio can cause infections […]

While the Nile and the Amazon rivers get a lot of credit for being the longest river and the world’s largest river by water volume, respectively, there are still plenty of titles to claim across the rest of planet Earth’s mighty waterways.  The oldest river in the world is the subject of some debate, but […]

If you ever think you’ve screwed up at college, you’ve surely got nothing on the creator of The Morris Worm. It was unleashed on November 2, 1988, by Cornell University PhD student Robert Morris Jr, and it broke The Internet. There were no popping bottles involved in the incident, however, just three files that could […]

On May 30, there were more people in orbit around our planet than there have ever been before. Hailing from five different countries, the 17 astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts, were split between the International Space Station and Tiangong, the Chinese space station. The previous record was set when the privately funded Inspiration4 crew blasted into […]

As much as their bizarre medical ideas and feudal lifestyles may make us forget it, our medieval ancestors were really not much different from us. They used the same turns of phrase as we do; they chilled out in deck chairs and chowed down on an absurd amount of chicken – and according to a new discovery out […]

IFLScience’s podcast The Big Questions is back this month with a brand new season, even more “Big Questions”, and top experts dropping by to tackle them! Join our hosts Dr Alfredo Carpineti, Rachael Funnell, and Eleanor Higgs as we kick off season 3 on June 9 with a deep dive into whether Jurassic Park could […]

The question of the habitability of planets in the cosmos is a tricky one. Based on the one example we have, which is Earth, you want the planet to be neither too close nor too far away from its star. This is commonly known as the Goldilocks zone. New work shows that it is not […]

This article first appeared in Issue 8 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS.  It’s no secret that the oceans are home to some of the most alien-like life on the planet, but did you know that astrobiologists actually use octopuses as a model for what intelligence might look like on other planets? The reason why […]

This article first appeared in Issue 8 of our free digital magazine CURIOUS. In 1971, the Soviets were searching for oil fields in the heart of Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time. After thinking they’d struck liquid gold, they mounted a rigging station including a sizable and heavy drill. […]

In May 1871, a gang of “toughs” set about smashing an unusual target: a collection of model dinosaurs destined to be part of a new museum in Central Park, New York. The gang smashed the models with sledgehammers, then carted away the pieces – and any designs or molds to make more were destroyed. Someone […]

Smashing rocks and rubbing sticks are the two most basic techniques to make fire, yet it is unclear which human species first mastered these incendiary procedures. To try and solve the riddle, researchers have analyzed the cognitive processes required for each method, determining that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens probably invented different modes of ignition. Exactly […]

In the southwestern Indian Ocean, the volcanic island of Anjouan is home to a strange geological mystery. On the island, residents and geologists keep finding a type of rock that shouldn’t be there. The island formed on an ocean basin, when tectonic plates shifted away from each other and magma moved up and cooled to […]