News

Following months of drama and legal jostling, it looks like Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter will go ahead after all. In a series of tweets posted after the news broke, Musk suggested that he’s buying the social media platform as part of a bigger plan to build “X, the everything app”. “Buying Twitter is […]

Tsunamis that followed the Chicxulub impact 66 million years ago were probably not the main reason for the dinosaurs’ demise, with soot from fires having more effect. Nevertheless, they were powerful enough to leave marks on the bottom of the deep ocean half a world away that we can still see today. University of Michigan […]

Have you ever had that weird feeling that you’ve experienced the same exact situation before, even though that’s impossible? Sometimes it can even seem like you’re reliving something that already happened. This phenomenon, known as déjà vu, has puzzled philosophers, neurologists and writers for a very long time. Starting in the late 1800s, many theories […]

In the last few years, researchers have developed a paint so white that it reflects most of the sunlight it receives. Things painted with this ultra-white paint are several degrees colder than ambient temperature, and it could be used as an electricity-free way to cool down buildings. Not just buildings now, thanks to new innovations. […]

Researchers looking into a 30-year-old mystery surrounding a rare antigen have discovered a new blood group system called Er.  Your blood type is determined by the presence or absence of specific antigens, with the main type people know being A, B, O, and AB (positives and negatives). However, blood groups are slightly different.  Advertisement “The term ‘blood […]

It’s a question as old as time (probably) or certainly middle school: when you smell poop or a fart, is that because some of the poop molecules have entered your nose? You won’t be surprised to learn that proving this one way or the other hasn’t been an absolute scientific priority. However, one Australian doctor […]

When we talk about human evolution, we’re often discussing our ancient ancestors but as a species, we continue to change in modern times. Now, research has discovered a new route through which human evolution can occur in the way that genetic material from our mitochondria can enter the genome. As well as representing a mechanism […]

US-based startup SpinLaunch has teamed up with NASA and a number of other partners to see whether slingshotting objects into the sky could be a viable alternative to chemical-powered rocket launches.  Last week, SpinLaunch completed its tenth successful fling using their Suborbital Accelerator in the New Mexico desert. Their latest launch – which you check out […]

Most of the universe’s stars exist in pairs, sometimes after the more massive one completed its life cycle and became a white dwarf. This evolution changes the dance between the two, at least if they were fairly close to start off, as the dwarf’s powerful gravitational field draws the outer layers of the main sequence […]

Creating new molecules underpins so much chemical research, plus many industrial fields from drug manufacturing to new materials. Improving these approaches has huge consequences – and the Nobel Prize committee recognized three people, among the many, that did just that. The winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry are Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and […]

It’s time to put your money where the bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve’s mouths are: Fat Bear Week is back for 2022. The annual competition celebrates the seasonal fattening of Alaska’s brown bears (Ursus arctos) as they prepare for their big winter sleep. The Alaska Peninsula is home to more bears than people, […]

Researchers have discovered that the drool of wax worms is capable of breaking down one of the world’s most common types of plastic. Although it might take some work to scale up, these wriggling larvae could offer a novel way to combat the planet’s plastic pollution problem. In a new study, scientists from the Spanish […]

Earlier this year, researchers in South Africa observed killer whales hunting great white sharks for the first time, and new footage of the chase reveals that more orcas are involved than previously thought. Released as part of a new study describing the predation event, the gnarly video shows five killer whales getting in on the […]

In a reversal sharp enough to induce whiplash, Elon Musk has agreed to pay the full amount of $54.20 per share for the purchase of Twitter, fulfilling the offer he made prior to trying to exit the deal.  The purchase was revealed in a letter to Twitter after the two have been engrossed in an ongoing […]

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were in space without protection? Aside from the obvious lack of oxygen and slowly choking, you will also be subjected to extreme temperatures which might not kill you altogether, but might make your final seconds in the universe very unpleasant. There is an assumption that space […]

French philosopher René Descartes’ skull may have been filled with peas, in an old practice known as “skull blasting”, according to one group of researchers. Descartes, of “I think, therefore I am” fame, didn’t have the best of times shortly following his death. It’s not a great time for anyone, but when Descartes passed away […]

The winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry are Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and Barry Sharpless. The award was given “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.” The prize is worth 10 million Swedish kronor (about 896,000 US dollars) and it will be shared among the winners.  Click chemistry is a very simple […]

Step aside, Paddington. Your services are no longer required, Pooh. A new movie is in production and it makes both of you look like kid’s films. Which, to be entirely fair, you are. Nevertheless, the true story of Cocaine Bear – AKA Pablo EskoBear – is being released as a movie, with Elizabeth Banks directing. […]

On the evening of November 2, 1988, in a quiet computer lab at MIT, a student majorly screwed up. Robert Tappan Morris, a 23-year-old computer science student at Cornell University, had written 99 lines of code and launched the program onto the ARPANET, the early foundation of the Internet. Unbeknownst to him, he had just […]