News

Life ain’t easy being a songbird in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). New research has looked into the birds inhabiting the irradiated wasteland and found a link between radiation levels and their gut microbiome, suggesting their health is being impacted by their troubled homeland.  Advertisement The CEZ is a highly contaminated area in Ukraine surrounding […]

It feels like every other day a new species is in peril, so at IFLScience we like to celebate the wins – most recently, we’re excited about some good news for one of the world’s weirdest dolphins. The Mekong dolphin, also known as the Irrawaddy dolphin, plummeted from 200 to 89 from 1997 to 2020 […]

Thanks to a video by TikTok creator @zachdfilms3, people are learning that there used to be 27 letters of the English alphabet, rather than the current 26. Advertisement The video explained that the 27th letter of the alphabet is “ampersand”, as denoted by “&”. Advertisement “This is an ampersand and believe it or not it […]

In recent years, we have observed some stars acting seriously strangely. The classic example is KIC 8462852, better known as Boyajian’s star, or just the “alien megastructure” star. In 2016 and 2017, the star dimmed in unusual ways, leading some to suggest it could have a “Dyson sphere” around it, created by some advanced alien […]

Protostar L1527 has been observed by the JWST in near-infrared, revealing in fiery colors how this fledgling star is literally carving a space for itself in the nebula from which it formed. However, those wavelengths were not enough to penetrate the thick dust that surrounded the protostar – to finally see the protostar, the telescope […]

Longevity has got the world in a right tizz of late, as everyone scrambles for the right goop to slather on their face as they wild swim their way to eternal life – but can we learn secrets to long life from nature? And if so, what does the world’s longest-living vertebrate have to say […]

When NASA first began launching rockets into space – barely half a century after the first airplane took flight – it encountered what it calls the “pogo problem”. Advertisement During the launch of Saturn V rocket’s first stage burn, part of the uncrewed Apollo 6 mission, the rocket experienced oscillations along its length, like springs […]

Giant clams have a thin light-scattering layer that covers symbiotic photosynthetic algae, allowing their companions to capture more sunlight. This and other unexpected tricks probably make the clam-algae combination the most efficient sunlight harvesters on Earth. Since holding onto more sunlight is among the major technological challenges of our age, the clams might have a […]

Among all the other strange things about the platypus, only the very observant notice that it also barely has a stomach. Short-beaked echidnas share some of the unusual traits of the platypus digestive system as well. Now, a genetic study of the two monotreme species has provided some insight into the timing of this development, […]

The sight of a snake coiling its way up a stick might not immediately conjure up the idea of good health, yet the staff-scaling serpent has stood as an emblem of medicine for thousands of years. Seen on ambulances, hospitals, and paramedic uniforms the world over, this insignia continues to represent the art of healing […]

Pop on a medical drama and it won’t be long before you hear the dishy protagonist yelling something along the lines of “give me 100 of epi, STAT”. That they want the medication administered quickly is usually easy enough to pick up, but why are they saying stat? Is it a word, and if so, […]

The first hurricane of this year’s Atlantic season is certainly making a name for itself, with Beryl now having strengthened to become the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record. Advertisement As of 5am AST, the National Hurricane Center reported that Beryl had maximum sustained winds of 270 kilometers (165 miles) per hour, with even […]

Ants are pretty remarkable creatures. From navigating via Earth’s magnetic field to spraying acid at their enemies, these tiny colonies are capable of big things, both as a unit and on an individual level. Now, new research has found that ants can even perform surgery, amputating the limbs of their friends and saving their lives […]

If we one day want to explore the galaxy (let alone the rest of the universe) humanity has a speed issue. In late 2023, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe achieved the highest speed ever achieved by a human-made object, clocking in at 635,266 kilometers (394,736 miles) per hour. Advertisement While impressive, that’s only 0.059 percent of […]

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that last year’s Cyclone Freddy was the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record, having spent 36 days at tropical storm status. Advertisement Between February 4 and March 14, Freddy started off the coast of northwest Australia and made its way across the Indian Ocean Basin before making landfall in […]

The modern world has plenty of advantages, but nobody would say it comes without any drawbacks. Take computers, for example: it’s awesome having the sum total of human knowledge at your disposal, being connected to the world via wireless signals, and having a machine that you can write essays and calculate sums and play solitaire […]

Imago Mundi, also known as the “Babylonian Map of the World,” is often said to be the oldest map of the known world ever found. Granted, it isn’t as scientifically accurate as Google Maps, nor as gloriously illustrated as cartography from Medieval times, but it does provide a unique glimpse into the way ancient Babylonians saw […]

Elephants’ private way of communicating is one of their worst-kept secrets, known to science even if we humans can’t actually hear or understand what they’re saying. The remarkable way of communicating can be as loud as a chainsaw and travel for miles – and yet to our ears, they’re not making any noise at all. […]

If you have seen a rocket launch recently – whether it was from NASA, SpaceX, or the Chinese Space Agency – you will often notice some similarities in locations as well as the similarities in what the rockets actually look like. There are reasons for the similarities and they have to do with keeping people […]

Dogger Bank Wind Farm, set to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, could soon have another growth spurt. The owners of the giant North Sea wind farm have submitted plans to kick off another phase of development in a push that could provide a further 2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity to the project. Advertisement […]