News

The idea of the “Aryan race” has been discredited for decades and is now synonymous with racism, notions of racial superiority, and hyper-nationalism. While many may reject it as a bygone designation for a supposed “type” of people, there are still plenty of misunderstandings associated with the term’s origins and where it came from. The […]

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Climate Prediction Center has officially declared an El Niño, with all the likelihood of extreme weather that involves. The event comes as no surprise, after months of warnings by the World Meteorological Organization and national climate institutes, but the timing of the announcement reflects the fact the […]

Taurine could be an inexpensive “elixir of life” by boosting lifespan by up to 10 percent, according to new results in animal models. The amino acid is typically found in meat and fish and declines with age, but keeping it topped up in our bodies cold have a life-extending impact if the results translate to […]

Archaeologists in Israel have discovered the oldest wind instruments ever found in the Middle East, dating back to the period when humans made the transition from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to agricultural settlements. Constructed from the wing-bones of small ducks, the flutes mimic the calls of local birds of prey and may have been used for hunting […]

An international team of underwater archaeologists made an incredible discovery last year, when they found three new shipwrecks in the treacherous Mediterranean waters off the coast of Tunisia. One of the wrecks is ancient, dating back to somewhere between 100 BCE and 200 CE, while the other two are thought to be from the late […]

Ammonites the size of an adult human were gliding through Earth’s oceans around 80 million years ago. Today, their fossils are found all around the world, but the biggest of them all was retrieved in Germany back In 1895, and it was an absolute whopper. It belonged to Parapuzosia seppenradensis, which is thought to be […]

Everyone’s favorite smart, sentient “aliens” just got a whole lot weirder: Octopuses are able to recode proteins in their nerve cells to protect their brains from changes in temperature, new research has revealed. When things get chilly, the canny cephalopods tinker with their RNA – the messenger molecule between DNA and protein production – ensuring […]

A newly discovered dinosaur in Utah is thought to have lived in a time of big environmental change and stood on the edge of a period of rapid warming on Planet Earth. Iani smithi dates back approximately 99 million years and lived in what is now Utah during the mid-Cretaceous. Iani smithi is a special […]

The “rebound” is an inescapable trope in romantic novels and rom-coms, understood to be relationships that are started up almost immediately after another one has ended. People who enter into these relationships are often uncharitably thought of as being “hung up” on their previous partners, trying to deal with unresolved feelings by jumping into something […]

The first rabid moose in Alaska was announced by the Department Of Fish And Game after an animal was found stumbling, drooling, and acting aggressively on June 2. Rabies in moose is rare, but not unheard of, and this latest case marks a historic first for the US state. “The moose was unbalanced, stumbling, drooling […]

Scholars are baffled by a mysterious object from Emperor Rudolf II’s collection: a hand bell, made from an alloy of seven metals and said to have been used to summon spirits, contains an enigmatic cipher on the inside. The Habsburg emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612) went down in history as one of the greatest patrons of […]

In the 30 years since Steven Spielberg’s movie came out, people from all walks of life have wondered if bringing back dinosaurs is possible. We couldn’t let the anniversary pass without asking scientists working on dinosaurs and cloning if such a feat is feasible. Host Rachael Funnell spoke with dinosaur expert Dr Susie Maidment from […]

Greenhouse gas emissions have reached “an all-time high,” causing human-caused climate change to increase at an “unprecedented rate.” This is, of course, in spite of promises from policymakers and the world’s biggest companies to wean the planet off fossil fuels.  A new analysis by 50 leading scientists has warned that human-induced warming reached an average […]

Phubbing: you’ve probably done it, and you probably hate it. Ignoring other people in favor of staring in rapt attention at your phone is unlikely to lead to relationship or social success. But have you ever thought about the impact that parents’ phubbing can have on their kids? A new study has found some evidence […]

“Once a cheater, always a cheater” – it’s an adage you’ve no doubt heard before, perhaps you’ve even said it yourself, red flag waving, but is there actually anything in the phrase? While many people believe that a track record of infidelity in relationships is a surefire sign of future adultery, that doesn’t necessarily mean […]

The Illusion of the Year competition has announced its winners. The competition, celebrating brain-bending visual and audio illusions, crowned an illusion of a LEGO car appearing to pass through a solid LEGO wall as its champion.  Second place went to a seemingly-ordinary tower of cubes and an actually ordinary pencil. Advertisement Third place in the […]

The Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) officially known as GRB 221009A was so powerful it was quickly dubbed the BOAT (Brightest of All Time). A new study reveals a reason why some of that brightness has been surprisingly enduring. The BOAT did not just edge past previous records. Instead, it was 70 times as bright as […]

Here’s something nobody warns you about until you are about to have, or have recently had, a baby: their skulls are surprisingly malleable.  When babies are born, they have soft spots on their skulls where the bones have not yet fused together. Strange as they are to discover on your baby’s noggin, they serve us […]

A camera shaped like a star-nosed mole can take photos without needing a lens. How? Because it doesn’t take a photo at all, but instead uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate an image of where you’re standing. The concept has been named Paragraphica by creator Bjørn Karmann, a senior experience and interaction designer based in […]