News

A deep dive from Salon recently explored the curious tale of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch amateur scientist who discovered sperm only to wish he could unsee it. You might think it odd that a person be the first to view one of the most pivotal cells in the creation of life only to ask […]

Rats love watching other rats get tickled, so much so that they start doing happy little jumps, according to a new study. When “observer” rats watch other “demonstrator” rats getting tickled, the observers do something called Freudensprünge (“joy jumps”), and regions of the brain light up when listening to the sounds the tickled rats are […]

A new type of quasicrystal, one with 12-fold symmetry, has been discovered in a very unexpected place, leading geologists and mathematicians to wonder where else structures like this might have been overlooked. Quasicrystals (or quasiperiodic crystals) are structures of atoms that lack translational symmetry but are symmetric in other ways outside the rotational symmetries of […]

A walrus on the shore of Scarborough, UK, in December brought visitors from far and wide to view the magnificent marine mammal that was a long way from home. However, late-night visitors to Thor, as the walrus has been nicknamed, got ring-side seats to an unexpected pinniped peep show as it took the opportunity to […]

The Garden of Eden is the biblical place that’s deeply ingrained in the imagination of Christianity and Judaism, but was it based on a real location? And if so, where?  First things first: we’re approaching this question from a rational standpoint. It’s clear that the Garden of Eden is steeped in symbolism and there are […]

It’s the new year once again, which means two things: first regret, and then resolutions. And since the most common new year’s resolutions are losing weight and getting fit, this might be the time you finally dust off that pedometer you got all those years ago and decide fine, you’ll start getting 10,000 steps in […]

Doctors have been left searching for an answer after a woman in India has developed extremely painful “horns” on the top of her head. The 60-year-old woman developed this condition around three years ago and is now awaiting a senior doctor consultation, though doctors have warned that the condition may be “beyond their understanding”, according […]

Some folks just can’t be pleased. If you wish to take a look at the deep cynicism found in many smartphone-wielding humans of the 21st century, look no further than the one-star reviews of the world’s favorite tourist hotspots. Here, you’ll find an assortment of poor souls whose reflex reaction to seeing a natural or […]

Human composting is catching on as New York joins other US states in approving an eco-friendly funerary practice as a legitimate way to dispose of the dead. The approach takes a corpse and gives it a “natural organic reduction” treatment that sees the soft tissues decompose into a compost-like substance. The treatment’s recipe includes a […]

Northern Europe is no place to be running around naked during the winter, and new research indicates that ancient humans may have figured out how to make clothing from bear pelts as early as 320,000 years ago. According to the study authors, the fur-wearing hominins probably didn’t eat bear meat, but hunted the animals exclusively […]

Why doesn’t the rainbow have colours like black, brown and grey in it? – Ivy, aged four, Kent, UK Many of us have seen rainbows in the sky once the sun starts shining again after a spell of rain. For us to see a rainbow, the conditions need to be just right. Advertisement We need […]

Gregor Mendel, the “father of genetics”, had his 200th birthday in 2022. As a fitting tribute to this pea-loving prodigy, researchers boldly decided to dig up his body and study his DNA.  The understanding of genetics has progressed by leaps and bounds since Mendel carried out his landmark experiments in the 19th century. Mendel was […]

Three weeks ago, the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft sprung a leak as it was attached to the International Space Station (ISS). In the immediate aftermath, a spacewalk had to be canceled but a more serious concern became clear as time went on. How will the two cosmonauts and one astronaut that used it to get […]

Caenorhabditis elegans, the humble roundworm that has taught us so much about genetics, has been given an upgrade. A team at the University of Rochester modified some C. elegans so their mitochondria can harvest light to produce more energy. In a finding probably coming to superhero films any day now, the modified worms were more […]

In 2016, scientists discovered time crystals, solids with an oscillating internal structure that repeats itself in time rather than in space. Now, they have found a new one, in a regular crystal that can be easily made at home in one of those grow-your-own-crystal toys.  As reported in two studies published in Physical Review Letters and Physical Review […]

A study looking at the language people use when they are going through breakups has found that markers of an impending breakup can be seen three months before the breakups occur.  Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin looked at 1,027,541 posts from 6,803 Reddit users. The users were specifically chosen because they had posted […]

Are you interested in Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency? It’s no wonder, considering how the crypto workforce is expected to be worth over $68 billion by 2030. That’s a whole lotta cash and proves the job market is and is going to remain pretty viable for the next 10 years at least. If you’ve been looking […]

Every year, millions of people around the world make New Year’s resolutions. And every year, the great majority of us break and abandon those resolutions. Self-control is a major problem for many of us, so failure to maintain our resolutions isn’t surprising. But is it inevitable? Is there anything we can do to make it […]

Research has shown that about half of all adults make New Year’s resolutions. However, fewer than 10% manage to keep them for more than a few months. As a professor of behavioural addiction I know how easy people can fall into bad habits and why on trying to give up those habits it is easy […]

On the surface, it may not appear that Dr Dolittle and artificial intelligence (AI) have much in common. One belongs in 1900s children’s literature, while the other is firmly rooted in the 21st century. One is a physician turned vet who can talk to animals, and the other a computerized technology that cannot. Unless… AI […]