News

Most of science involves careful hypotheses, followed by rigorous experiments to test those hypotheses, after which something is learned. But sometimes it’s more about dipping your finger in suspicious substances you found around your lab and tasting it (hence saccharine) or accidentally splitting the atom and not realizing it for half a decade. Enrico Fermi, […]

Last night, cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin were supposed to exit the International Space Station (ISS) and perform a spacewalk. Those plans were scuppered by a leak in the Soyuz spacecraft, which took the two and NASA’s Frank Rubio to space back in September. Since this is also the vehicle that will take them […]

Scientists claim to have created a new type of battery that does not lose capacity after charging cycles, according to new research. The positive electrode material could pave the way for new electric car batteries that don’t suffer one of the greatest problems such cars currently face, which is a constantly diminishing lifespan and subsequently, […]

Across the Mongolian wilderness, hundreds of ancient decorated megaliths dot the landscape, sporadically poking out of the earth like matchsticks stuck in the sand. Their existence for thousands of years is still brimming with mystery since it’s unclear who built these strange stone monuments, let alone why, but archaeologists have offered up a few tantalizing theories […]

For obvious reasons, the metal most associated with the Bronze Age does tend to be, well, bronze. But that’s certainly not the only thing our ancestors were rocking all those thousands of years ago – and a new discovery out of Wiltshire, England, has reminded archaeologists that when it comes to bling, some things never […]

All life on Earth depends on liquid water, and astrobiologists think that may be universal. That makes the discovery of water on other planets a priority, and two new discoveries are thought to have it in an abundance that makes the Earth look dry. Lurking in the same system is a suspected planet that could […]

Wisdom the Laysan albatross, the world’s oldest known bird, returned to her breeding ground on November 24 to find that her mate of 60 years was not there waiting for her. Typically, males return to the nesting sites earlier than females. This is now the second year in a row that her mate has not […]

If somebody asked you to guess their birthday, no extra information given, you might find yourself at a bit of a loss. After all, the chances are one in 365 that you’re going to get it with a random guess, right? And who’d take odds like that? Well, it turns out you might be able […]

Discovering new species is a race against the clock. Though we know all manner of beasties are out there waiting to be discovered, whether or not we can find them before it’s too late is another matter. That’s why when researchers’ tireless efforts turn up 20 new frog species, it’s worth celebrating. The crack team […]

A closer look at one of the first images produced by the JWST has revealed a treasure trove of young stars in a particularly exciting and mysterious stage of development Astronomers at NASA have embarked on a “deep dive” into an image of the Cosmic Cliffs, a “coastline” of gas and dust found in the […]

Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanic place in the solar system. The intense activity is powered by the complex gravitational interactions between itself, the gas giant, and its fellow moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. NASA’s Juno mission has been studying the interior of Jupiter for several years and in its extended mission, it began […]

A study of 5,500 students aged 14-16 has investigated factors associated with accepting or rejecting evolution as the explanation for the diversity of life. The study was conducted in Brazil and Italy, so the results may not be universally applicable, but it challenges the idea that hostility to the evidence for evolution is all about […]

In yet another edition of slightly terrifying Christmas traditions, it’s Julebukking – Norway’s marginally sweeter take on Krampus. Sharing roots in Norse mythology and paganism, both Krampus and Julebukking see a goatly entity visiting your house around Christmas, but the two have quite different intentions. Similar to trick-or-treating on Halloween, the act of Julebukking sees […]

There’s a dusty old rumor that duck quacks don’t echo. You might’ve heard it, you might’ve read it, you might even have watched the British comedy show Duck Quacks Don’t Echo that was named after it. The concept is pretty simple: take a duck and put it in an echoey space, make it quack, and […]

Attila the Hun is one of history’s most notorious warlords – yet while he has traditionally been cast as a bloodthirsty barbarian motivated only by a lust for gold, new research suggests that his constant attacks on the Roman Empire may have been driven by drought. After analyzing 2,000 years’ worth of tree-ring data, the […]

The Lensa photo and video editing app has shot into social media prominence in recent weeks, after adding a feature that lets you generate stunning digital portraits of yourself in contemporary art styles. It does that for just a small fee and the effort of uploading 10 to 20 different photographs of yourself. 2022 has […]

The UN Biodiversity Conference or COP 15 is currently taking place in Montreal. Its goals are ambitious: to create a shared vision to live in harmony with nature by 2050, to create fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of nature, as well as the safe transport, handling, and labelling of Living Modified […]

Are you procrastinating? I am. I have been delaying writing this article for the last few days even though I knew I had a deadline. I have scrolled through social media, and I have gone down a rabbit hole looking up houses on Rightmove – even though I do not need a new house. I […]

There are a few hitches in the logistics of a Christmas that sees a bearded man swoosh across the globe delivering gifts and coal to naughty and nice children – one of them is the unfortunate fact that reindeer can’t fly. They can, however, float. Reindeer, scientifically known as Rangifer tarandus and more commonly as […]

Do you remember the last holiday season? When you took a ton of family photos and video, but then forgot to backup your computer, and all was lost? Well, this year it will be different. You are going to backup those treasured pics and videos, and score a whole lot more storage in the process. […]