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Giant, majestic, hairy, and looking quite a bit like a guinea pig, the capybara is most definitely a fish, according to the Vatican.  Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents and are native to South America. Though you might not think it because of their shape, capybaras are excellent swimmers and appear to enjoy time in […]

For as long as humans have lived in close proximity to animals, there has been the ever-present risk of infectious agents making the jump from them to us. This process is known as spillover: when a pathogen, like a virus, crosses a species barrier to infect a new host. It’s not a rare phenomenon; some […]

As the days get longer and the Northern Hemisphere begins to see the first signs of spring, daffodils begin to appear in our gardens, parks, and even in a vase on the kitchen table. However cut daffodils and bulbs sold in shops bear a striking resemblance to members of the onion family, and some worrying […]

Painting a simple stripy pattern on wind turbines could prevent the majority of bird deaths from collisions with the blades, according to new research. The work, which builds on previous studies showing a that small lick of paint could save endangered bird species, proposed that increasing the contrast of wind turbines against the sky will […]

The length of an Earth day is built deep into our sense of time, so much so that minuscule variations in the Earth’s rotation can create considerable problems. How then are we to operate on other worlds, where the length of a day is completely different? The European Space Agency (ESA) doesn’t have the answer, but thinks […]

Let’s admit it: being “face blind” sounds less like a real condition, and more like a hastily-slapped-together excuse for why you failed to say hi to Bill from IT for the third time this week. But to those who suffer from the phenomenon – which is more properly known as prosopagnosia – it can be […]

Take a look at any “great man” of 16th-century European history and there’s a chance your eyes will be drawn southwards to his nether regions, where you’ll see a bulbous mound. Known as a codpiece, this item was a must-have for any serious Renaissance king looking to promote and protect his virality.  The accessory is […]

Buckle up dead American presidents, you’re going to space whether you like it or not. The DNA of four past US presidents will be blasted into deep space as part of a symbolic space burial flight alongside a number of high-flying names, who will all have part of their remains placed in special capsules and […]

In 2018 a whale behavior was filmed for the first time off eastern Canada. Instead of lunging after fish, the humpback whales stayed nearly motionless while opening their mouths wide and letting the fish come to them. Interest from marine biologists turned to astonishment when the same behavior was described among Bryde’s whales in the […]

In 1979, a deadly pathogen really did leak out from a lab, killing at least 66 people and many animals nearby. Sometimes known as the “biological Chernobyl”, the disaster was covered up by the Soviet authorities, with the truth only emerging to the rest of the world in the 1990s. According to official accounts by […]

Long before things like germ theory or antibiotics were properly understood, it’s no surprise that ancient peoples had some pretty… inventive ways to keep themselves safe and healthy. We’re not going to sugar-coat it: our ancestors were big into magic. Tattoos to protect women in childbirth, curse tablets, love spells – you name it, there […]

Are sharpshooter insects the ultimate pee propellors? New research has established that these small insects can fling huge volumes of urine a day using droplet superpropulsion. Their watery waste bullets spray with such vigor that it forms “leafhopper rain” as part of an incredible mechanism that conserves energy. Getting enough water is an important part […]

In an attempt to survive the winter months, when temperatures drop and food is scarce, a number of species will experience some form of hibernation. While true hibernation refers specifically to mammals, different taxonomic groups will experience hibernation-like processes specific to their needs, so if snakes don’t hibernate, what do they do? Hibernation vs. brumation […]

When we think about dangerous marine creatures, most of us likely picture a great white shark circling an unsuspecting surfer or swimmer, but dolphins have also been known to attack humans on rare occasions. So does Flipper have a dark side? Dolphins are fascinating creatures. There are 36 species of marine dolphins (including orca, which […]

Hundreds of Antarctic exploration photographs taken over 100 years ago have been made accessible to the public thanks to National Archives of Australia (NAA), who recently released a collection of photographs, glass plate negatives, and lantern slides. The incredible images document early 20th century British and Australian Antarctic explorers, and include some absolute zingers for […]

Could computers of the future run on human brain cells? A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University certainly think so. In a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Science, the team outline their plans for ‘organoid intelligence’, an emerging multidisciplinary field looking to develop biocomputers that operate with human brains cells. Such a […]

A tower of human skulls in the ancient Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan contains a surprisingly high proportion of crania belonging to women. Presenting the latest research on the grisly pillar, archaeologist Raúl Barrera Rodríguez explained that of the 655 skulls identified so far, 38 percent had been whipped off of female necks. Speaking at an […]

After a brief stint of Tesla stock trouble, Elon Musk has reclaimed his title as the world’s richest person. The Twitter Tsar was unseated from the top spot by Bernard Arnault, CEO of French luxury brand LVMH, in December last year after Tesla stock slumped in value by around 60 percent in 2022.  It’s estimated that […]

We’re not quite sure why, but there seems to be a resurgence in people attempting to play amateur volcanologist and asking, “Why can’t we just pour concrete into a volcano to stop it from erupting?” The suggestion has popped up on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit lately as a way of preventing deaths. Advertisement First off, […]

Over the last century, the world has benefitted from countless health research breakthroughs and many advancements in medical knowledge. Just in the last few years, these have ranged from poop transplants and regenerating livers to lab-grown blood and a malaria vaccine. You name it, scientists have probably dissected and analyzed it with the aim to […]