News

An unusually tall, wide-hipped man who died 1,000 years ago in Portugal was the oldest known carrier of Klinefelter syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which males are born with an extra copy of the X chromosome. Describing the case in The Lancet, researchers say that this discovery could shed light on the prevalence of […]

Arthritis is a disease that affects body joints. There are more than 100 types of arthritis, with more than 350 million people affected around the globe, including about four million Australians. Arthritis causes pain and disability and commonly reduces quality of life. In Australia in 2015, about 54,000 people aged 45–64 couldn’t work due to […]

Humans constantly alter the world. We fire fields, turn forests into farms, and breed plants and animals. But humans don’t just reshape our external world – we engineer our internal worlds, and reshape our minds. One way we do this is by upgrading our mental “software”, so to speak, with myths, religion, philosophy and psychology. […]

At least 1,000 people have died in Pakistan due to severe flash flooding following record-breaking heatwaves in what’s been described as a “ground zero of a climate dystopia” by the country’s minister for Climate Change.  Along with +1,000 deaths, the flooding has displaced more than 33 million people and submerged up to a third of […]

NASA’s return to the Moon starts today with the launch of Artemis I. The mission is the maiden voyage of the Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket ever built, and the Orion spacecraft, which is being tested to guarantee future astronauts’ safety with the goal of sending humans back to the Moon this […]

Hot summer days can mean high electricity bills. People want to stay comfortable without wasting energy and money. Maybe your household has fought over the best strategy for cooling your space. Which is more efficient: running the air conditioning all summer long without break, or turning it off during the day when you’re not there […]

Despite little evidence supporting it, the unassuming white mulberry leaf is often used by some to control diabetes and weight, along with other ailments. Now, this supplement has been linked to the death of Lori McClintock, 61 – the wife of US Rep. Tom McClintock – as reported by Kaiser Health News, who obtained the […]

Do you ever feel you want to squash your computer to make it go faster? Well, if you like a “hands-on” approach researchers have developed a computer that can do calculations but only if you squish it. As mechanical stress is applied to it, the computer “senses” and “thinks” converting the deformation into an operation. […]

Many a disguise has been donned in the line of duty, from Batman’s pursuit of criminals as the Dark Knight to everyone’s favorite essential worker from the pandemic. Recently, it fell to one man in Thailand to dress as an eight-foot ostrich and stage an escape to keep the Chiang Mai Zoo on top of […]

Being human gets dirty and body odor is a natural part of the beautiful mess that is Homo sapiens, but new research has found that a person’s affinity for getting a whiff of their fellow human may say a lot about their sexual desire. Looking at participants across different cultures, the research found that body […]

The year 2022 will be remembered for the extreme heatwaves and droughts experienced across the world. From India and Pakistan to the US and Europe, continents have been battling extremely dry weather, followed by dangerous and dramatic flooding after months without seeing rain. Satellite images have shown China’s Yangtze River and many others have reached […]

If there’s one thing mathematicians love, it’s being surprised. Bonus points if it comes in the form of something that looks nice and ties up a problem thought to be a lost cause. So you can imagine it must have been a good day for Alexander Dunn and Maksym Radziwiłł when, on September 15 last […]

Orbiting around 420 kilometers (261 miles) above our heads, the astronauts of the Internation Space Station (ISS) get a view of Earth like no other. Sometimes, it’s spectacular auroras, other times it’s something more… curious.    European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti – no stranger to having a bit of fun in space – […]

The universe is expanding faster and faster and the best explanation for this effect is the existence of an energy field that permeates all of time and space. We call that dark energy. We are not certain that dark energy exists and if it does, we don’t know what it is. One interesting theory, proposed […]

Most of us have just the one liver in our bodies, but a new treatment could see people with severe liver disease grow a second, third, or maybe even fifth. In a world-first trial, one volunteer is soon to undergo the procedure, which could see them grow a second liver and offer a much-needed lifeline. […]

Moderna is suing Pfizer and BioNTech over alleged infringement of its mRNA vaccine technology patents used to make their COVID-19 vaccine, according to an announcement from Moderna today, Friday, August 26.  It’s alleging that Pfizer developed their mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, known as Comirnaty, using mRNA vaccine technology that was patented by Moderna before the pandemic […]

Last week, researchers in India reported that over 100 children younger than five years have fallen sick with “tomato flu” in the states of Kerala and Odisha. While details are still pretty scant, there’s increasing evidence that this mysterious outbreak is caused by the well-known virus responsible for hand, foot, and mouth disease.  The outbreak […]