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This week, a world-first study has found “sex reversal” is surprisingly common among wild Australian bird species, Gabon’s orange cave crocodiles appear to be evolving into a new species, and even bird songs obey Zipf’s law of abbreviation, just like all human languages. Finally, we explore just how unlucky the only person to ever be […]

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have announced that a new artificial intelligence (AI) model accurately predicted the results of a nuclear fusion experiment conducted in 2022. The model correctly assigned a probability greater than 70 percent that ignition was likely in that experiment. This outdid existing supercomputer approaches while also offering researchers a more […]

This week on Break It Down: The discovery of some fossilized human teeth reveals the oldest known members of our genus weren’t alone; their neighbors were a species we’ve never found before. A world-first study reveals that sex reversal is surprisingly common in wild Australian birds. A law of abbreviation that mysteriously fits all human […]

Polar bears have become something of an icon for the Arctic. The world’s largest land predators, they are big, they are beautiful, they are – not white, actually. Across their evolution they’ve developed some curious adaptations for life in the cold, and we don’t yet understand all of them. The rest of this article is […]

On the final dive of the E/V Nautilus’ expedition season in October 2019, during a live-stream no less, researchers stumbled across a rare discovery on the seafloor. As their camera penetrated the depths of the Davidson Seamount off central California’s coast, the skeletal remains of a whale came into view, to the team’s audible excitement. […]

One of the first things anyone interested in the Solar System learns is that out beyond the asteroid belt lurk the gas giants, of which Jupiter is the largest. Does that mean that Jupiter and its peers are pure gas? Or somewhere deep within is there a solid core? Just as there’s a big difference […]

This week, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order called “Enabling Competition In The Commercial Space Industry” with the purpose of enabling commercial space companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin by reducing or removing environmental and other regulations, cutting red tape and allowing for more launches. The executive order called on the Secretary of Transportation […]

A submarine volcano off the coast of the Pacific Northwest of the US is set to blow in 2025. Seamounts like this are providing scientists with the perfect opportunity to study the evolution of early life on Earth and the potential threat of deep-sea mining – that is, unless their equipment gets frazzled in the […]

Imagine you have an important meeting you have to attend. Maybe it’s a date, a job interview, or something else. Regardless, as you’re making your way, you find your preferred route is blocked. You’re faced with a choice: you can take a diversion that will take longer to reach your destination, or you can double […]

Thanks to the natural magnification from gravitational lensing, researchers have been able to study a small galaxy from when the universe was not even 1 billion years old. They saw that it is made of many clumps. This has earned the object the nickname “Cosmic Grapes” and has also challenged some of our expectations around […]

Despite the vast number of meteors that fall from our skies each year, there has only ever been one confirmed impact with a human: the poor and unfortunate Ann Hodges. It was November 30, 1953, a day like any other, when Ann decided to take a nap on her couch in the town of Oak […]

An offshore canyon that’s twice as deep as the Grand Canyon recently turned up 40 potential new-to-science species when scientists embarked on the first-ever high-tech dive to the region. Using the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s remotely operated vehicle, ROV SuBastian, the expedition was livestreamed as it captured alien-looking squids, Barbie-pink lobsters, and a sea star with […]

The glorious August sky continues to deliver beauty. Not only has this week seen the peak of the Perseids meteor shower, two planetary conjunctions, and a planetary alignment, but if you wake up early or stay up late this weekend, you’ll be able to see the Moon getting close to the Pleiades – by far […]

What do tennis and the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life have in common? Well, don’t ask us because we don’t know either. However, French tennis player Térence Atmane has put the two on a collision course with his quarter-final victory at the 2025 Cincinnati Open.  He signed the plexiglass in front of one of the […]

A woman has found the diamond for a future engagement ring at a state park in Arkansas known for its sparkling gemstones and wild geological history. Micherre Fox, a 31-year-old from Manhattan, New York, recently unearthed the 2.3-carat diamond – about the size of a pea – at the appropriately named Crater of Diamonds State […]

A major science journal has rejected calls from US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr to retract a published study, after he called it “deeply flawed” and accused the researchers of having “bought conclusions”.  The study, published in July in Annals of Internal Medicine, reported the results of a long-running study […]

The winners of this year’s joint BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition have been revealed, with submissions from ecologists, zoologists, and palaeontologists across the world showcasing the very best in science images and stories capturing an incredible range of wildlife behavior, and researchers’ attempts to understand it, through photography.  The rest of […]

A species’ common name can often be misleading. Koala bears aren’t bears, starfish aren’t fish, and the mountain chicken is actually a frog. So naturally, when we first heard the name “crab-eating foxes” (Cerdocyon thous), we were a little bit skeptical as to whether they really lived up to their moniker. The rest of this […]

For decades, Racetrack Playa in California’s Death Valley and its “racing rocks”, or “sailing stones“, was a mystery that inspired speculation ranging from epic storms to supernatural intervention. A decade after the movement of rocks across the desert floor was explained, their behavior has inspired a lab experiment that could one day see new methods […]

Had a bit of an iffy belly lately? Maybe you feel hungry and tired all the time, or you just can’t seem to stop farting. These could be signs of all sorts of things – like staying out late a lot and eating handfuls of cheese even though you’re intolerant to dairy. Fall onto the […]