An expedition to survey the hidden depths around Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands has returned with some amazing finds. A team, led by Museums Victoria Research Institute, Australia, set out from Darwin on September 30 for a 35-day voyage on the research vessel (RV) Investigator, operated by the Australian national science agency CSIRO. […]
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Record-Breaking Closest Black Hole To Earth Discovered
An international group of astronomers has determined the closest black hole to Earth. And, it is orbited by a star similar to our Sun, the first time such a binary system has been discovered in our galaxy. The object, known as Gaia BH1, is located 1,600 light-years away, and it has a mass about 10 […]
TWIS: An Adult Female Lion Has Mysteriously Sprouted A Mane, Mario Kart Teaches NASCAR Driver Some Nifty Tricks, And Much More This Week
This week, we see Zuri the female lion who has suddenly grown the mane of a male, new research warns of the dangers of vaping and why it is an unsafe alternative to smoking, and 100 years on from his tomb’s discovery, we learn about the fascinating tale of Tutankhamun. Zuri The 18-Year-Old Female Lion […]
Tonga Volcano Breaks Record For The Highest Plume Ever Recorded
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcanic eruption which happened on January 15 2022, has broken another record, knocking the previous record holder, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, off the top spot for highest plume ever recorded. Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai reached heights of 57 kilometers (34 miles), more than 17 kilometers (11 miles) clear of the previous […]
Mars Appears To Have A Bad Case Of Acne
In the grand scheme of things, cosmos-wise, Mars is relatively young (a mere 4.6 billion years old to the universe’s 13.7 billion), which means it could still be in its pimply phase, as it appears in new NASA images. However, what may look like a spot of acne or a hormonal breakout on the Red […]
Mass Migration From Twitter Is Likely To Be An Uphill Battle – Just Ask Ex-Tumblr Users
Elon Musk announced that “the bird is freed” when his US$44 billion acquisition of Twitter officially closed on Oct. 27, 2022. Some users on the microblogging platform saw this as a reason to fly away. Over the course of the next 48 hours, I saw countless announcements on my Twitter feed from people either leaving […]
Woman Gets 12 Tumors By Age 30 Due To One-Of-A-Kind Genetic Mutation
An extremely rare genetic condition that has never been seen before caused a Spanish woman to developed 12 different types of tumor before the age of 30, say the authors of a new study. Now aged 36, the patient has been disease-free since 2014, when a tumor was surgically removed from her colon. Born in […]
Five Things You May Not Know About King Tutankhamun 100 Years After His Discovery
One hundred years ago on this day, November 4, the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered. Egyptian workers (and possibly a single boy working away from the main area) found the steps to this extremely well-concealed tomb. This archaeological dig was led by British Egyptologist Howard Carter with the patronage of George Herbert, 5th Earl […]
Are Bananas Really “Radioactive”? Clearing Up Common Misunderstandings About Radiation
The simple mention of the word “radiation” often evokes fear in people. For others, it’s fun to think a little exposure to radiation could turn you into the next superhero, just like the Hulk. But is it true basically everything around us is radioactive, even the food we eat? You may have heard bananas are […]
What Is Shadowbanning? How Do I Know If It Has Happened To Me, And What Can I Do About It?
Tech platforms use recommender algorithms to control society’s key resource: attention. With these algorithms they can quietly demote or hide certain content instead of just blocking or deleting it. This opaque practice is called “shadowbanning”. While platforms will often deny they engage in shadowbanning, there’s plenty of evidence it’s well and truly present. And it’s […]
A Helicopter Is Going To Try And Catch A Plummeting Rocket Mid-Air Today
Space startup Rocket Lab is all set to pull off its latest feat today: using a helicopter to catch a rocket booster in mid-air as it plummets back to Earth. The launch window for the “Catch Me If You Can” mission opens today, November 4, between 5:15-6:30 pm UTC (1:15-2:30 pm EST). Best of all, […]
What Are “Indigo Children”? Or, To Be More Accurate, Do They Really Exist?
As a kid, were you more empathetic and aware of your emotions than others? Did you like music and art – even if your potential in those areas was never fully reached? Were you a free and independent thinker, an outsider, sometimes feeling hemmed in by external authority? If so, some may have labeled you […]
Hackers Take One Of World’s Largest Telescopes Offline With Mysterious Motive
One of the world’s most advanced telescopes has been hacked and taken offline, with all astronomical observations suspended, but the motive of the intruders – and when it will be back up and running – remains unclear. On Wednesday, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Observatory in Chile announced they had been hit by a cyberattack […]
Crewless Black Hawk Helicopter Pulls Off Complex Mission Autuomously
An autonomous Black Hawk helicopter has cracked on with its latest test flight and shown it safely and reliably perform cargo resupply missions – all without the need for human pilots. In mid-October, the helicopter managed to fly without any crew onboard for 133 kilometers (83 miles) around the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona while […]
IFLScience The Big Questions: How Does Our Diet Impact The Body’s Ability To Fight Disease?
What and how we eat plays a huge role in keeping us healthy. How our diet can help us when we are fighting off diseases is also vital but not discussed enough. Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joined by Dr William Li, physician, scientist, President and Medical Director of the Angiogenesis Foundation, and author of Eat […]
Unexplained Neutrinos Emitted By A Nearby Galaxy Have Been Detected Beneath Antarctica
Messier 77, also known as NGC 1068, is one of the most studied galaxies outside our own, but it can still surprise. Beloved by amateur astronomers for its beautiful spiral shape, Messier 77 has been revealed to be producing many high-energy neutrinos. To find this out researchers had to go, not into space or to […]
Sorry Stoners, Cannabis Probably Doesn’t Make You As Creative As You Think
A surprising correlation between smoking cannabis and creativity levels has been found by new research, indicating that the drug has no effect on creative thought – but does impact how creative the user sees themselves and others. A team of researchers carried out a number of experiments into how moderate everyday cannabis use can affect […]
15 Days To Prevent Disaster: Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Running On Backup Generator
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been fully cut off from the power grid following shelling by Russian forces, leaving it to rely on backup diesel generators, according to the Ukrainian State Enterprise National Nuclear Energy Generating Company “Energoatom”. The company said that the last lines connecting the power station to the grid were damaged […]
Man Explains Why Giving Up Masturbation Was The “Best Decision” Of His Life. But Are There Really Any Benefits?
There are subreddits for just about everything, from one dedicated to loooooong furbies to one created by a community that likes to staple bread to trees. One that stands out is “nofap“, which acts as a sort of support group for people who (for one reason or another) have chosen to stop masturbating. People in […]
Magic Mushrooms’ Psilocybin Eases Severe Depression In Big New Study
A single dose of psilocybin – the psychedelic compound that puts the “magic” in magic mushrooms – has been shown to significantly reduce the symptoms of depression in people who had previously not benefited from treatment. In the largest study of its kind to date, scientists from Kings College London studied a group of over 200 […]