According to the influential medical journal, The Lancet, President Trump’s decision to cut the majority of US funding for foreign humanitarian aid could result in over 14 million additional deaths by 2030. Many of those at risk of excess premature deaths would be children, the report warns. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is […]
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Dzo: Hybrids Beasts That Are Perfectly Crafted For Life On Earth’s Highest Mountains
Among the breathless heights of the Tibetan Plateau, a fascinating hybrid animal is commonly seen lugging backpacks and showing off its horns. Its name is the dzo, or dzomo; the product of interspecies romping between a yak and a cow. The yak-cattle hybrids are known as “dzo” if they’re male and “dzomo” if they’re female. […]
“Rarest Event Ever” Had A Half-Life 1 Trillion Times Longer Than The Age Of The Universe – How Did We See It?
In 2019, researchers with the XENON Collaboration saw something unexpected. The device is designed to find evidence of the elusive dark matter, a hypothetical substance that is believed (with good reason) to exist everywhere. Instead, it saw something weird happening to the xenon in the device. One of the atoms decayed. This was a surprise […]
Meet The Bille, A Self-Righting Tetrahedron That Nobody Was Sure Could Exist
Take a weeble, run it through a Minecraft filter, build it almost entirely of open air, and what have you got? It’s called a Bille, and as a monostable tetrahedron – that is, a four-sided shape that will always come to rest on the same side, no matter how it’s tossed or thrown around – […]
Neurogenesis Confirmed: Adult Brains Really Do Make New Hippocampal Neurons
One of the most divisive debates in modern neuroscience has finally been resolved by a new study showing that our brains continue to form new neurons throughout our lives. Until now, scientists had been split over whether this process – known as neurogenesis – stops after childhood, yet the new research suggests that new brain […]
RFK Jr Suggested Letting Bird Flu Run Through Farms – Experts Still Think It’s A Bad Idea
Earlier this year, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr made a controversial suggestion as to how to tackle the problem of H5N1 bird flu: consider letting it run through poultry farms. Multiple experts criticized the idea – but where do they stand nearly four months later, with bird flu having continued to spread in […]
“For Unknown Reasons”: Mystery Of The Oldest Human Remains Ever Found In Antarctica
Other than at a research station or occasional expedition, humans have never settled in Antarctica. While the evidence suggests the continent was once home to rainforests, swamps, and dinosaurs, by the time ancient humans made their way out of Africa, it was too cold and remote to support human habitation without modern equipment. There are […]
Alaska’s Wilderness At Risk As Trump Opens “Up To 82 Percent” Of National Reserve To Drilling
The Alaskan wilderness may soon be on the menu for fossil fuel giants. The Trump administration’s plan to roll back Biden-era federal protections across millions of acres in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve has taken a step forward, setting the stage to open this fragile landscape to oil and gas extraction. On July 1, the US […]
“Life-Changing” Gene Therapy Restores Hearing In Deaf Patients Within Weeks After Just One Shot
A breakthrough gene therapy has helped restore hearing in both children and adults with a genetic form of deafness or severe hearing impairment, a new study reports. Improvements in hearing were notable just one month after a single injection for the majority of patients, with all individuals experiencing considerable enhancement within six months. The therapy, […]
Man Broke Down Wall In His Basement And Discovered An Ancient Underground City That Once Housed 20,000 People
In 1963, a man in Turkey’s Nevşehir Province broke through a basement wall and uncovered a massive underground city. The man (not named in reports from the time) sledgehammered his wall and found a tunnel behind it, and beyond that, more tunnels. Exploration would later reveal it was an underground city up to 18 stories deep, complete with […]
Same-Sex Penguin Couple Adopt And Raise Chick – And They’ve All Got 10/10 Names
The pitter patter of little penguin feet can now be heard at Chester Zoo in the UK, after it recently welcomed 10 adorable Humboldt penguin chicks – one of whom is being raised by a same-sex couple. Dynamic duo Scampi and Flounder (we told you, great names abound in this colony) were signed up for […]
Dolphins May Not “See” With Echolocation, But Instead “Feel” With It
According to a new study, we may have been thinking about dolphins’ echolocation all wrong. Rather than using it to “see” the world around them, as in constructing a picture of their environment from the way sound bounces off objects, the animals may in fact be “feeling” their surroundings instead. Echolocation is the ability to […]
Confirmed! Comet 3I/ATLAS Is Indeed An Interstellar Visitor, Quite Different From Its Predecessors
On July 1, the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope reported the discovery of A11pl3Z, an object whose orbit looked like it came from another star. Now we know that this is indeed the case. The interstellar object has been given the name 3I/ATLAS, and we now know it’s a comet. The object, […]
At 192, Jonathan – The Oldest Living Land Animal – Has Lived Through 40 US Presidents
Living through just one US president might feel like it lasts forever – but imagine living through 40 of them. That’s an unlikely feat for us humans unless we somehow figure out how to live longer (or if we ended up with a string of presidents serving short terms), but it’s a reality for Jonathan […]
300,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools “Made By Denisovans” Discovered In China
A remarkable collection of wooden tools dated to around 300,000 years ago has been discovered at an archaeological site in southwest China. Specially designed to harvest vegetation, the assemblage reveals how prehistoric hominids in this subtropical environment relied heavily on plants for their diet, while also highlighting the surprising technological skill of East Asian humans […]
Why Do Cats Eyes Glow? For The Same Reason Great White Sharks’ Do, Silly
If you were swimming through just the right part of the ocean as day turns to night, torch in hand, you might spot a great white shark with glowing eyes. It would be a striking sight, though possibly your last. That eerie glow reveals a fascinating feature in shark eyes, and it’s the same reason […]
G-astronomical News: Michelin-Starred Meal To Be Served On The ISS
In 2026, the most exclusive meal from a Michelin-starred chef will not be eaten anywhere on Earth. Instead, it will be consumed on board the International Space Station (ISS), when European astronaut Sophie Adenot brings on her epsilon mission the work of Anne-Sophie Pic, the world’s most Michelin-starred female chef. As a species, we have […]
In 2032, Earth May Witness A Once-In-5,000-Year Event On The Moon
An asteroid discovered last year and briefly thought to be a threat to Earth has a one-in-23 chance of hitting the Moon, according to NASA estimates based on JWST data. A new paper outlines how this could be a spectacular one-in-5,000-year event, potentially ejecting material towards Earth. Asteroid 2024 YR4 was first discovered on December […]
Brand New Microscope Designed For Underwater Reveals Stunning Details Of Corals
Studying life in the ocean is never without its challenges, while some species can be studied via drone, or by opportunistic citizen scientists, studying microscopic life presents even more problems. To really see coral and the symbiotic microalgae that live within them, scientists have developed a new microscope. Called the Benthic Underwater Microscope Imaging PAM, […]
The Atlantic’s Major Circulation Current Is Showing Worrying Signs, But Is Collapse Near?
Something’s stirring in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) – and a strange “hole” of cold water in the North Atlantic may provide new clues about what’s up. But is the system on the brink of full-blown collapse, or will it keep churning on despite mounting pressure? The AMOC is “the conveyor belt of the […]