Most of us will have heard the word “superbug” in headlines, usually followed by the latest one we should be worried about – but what actually is a superbug? And why are people so concerned about them? Super ≠ good ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Superbugs are microorganisms – not just bacteria, but also viruses, parasites, […]
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Good News: Tapirs Are Back In Rio De Janeiro State After More Than 100 Years
Tapirs might be one of the largest land mammals in South America clocking in at an impressive 300 kilograms (661 pounds), but they have been noticeably absent from a region in Brazil for over 100 years. Now, thanks to camera trap technology, the first images and videos of these iconic animals returning to the region […]
Can You Roll Your Rs? If Not, You Might Be Able To Learn
It could be said that you hadn’t had a decent high school Spanish lesson unless you spent half of it wearing out your tongue attempting to roll your rs, eventually consigning yourself to never being able to pronounce rojo properly. But we come bearing good news – it turns out you can actually learn to […]
Brand New Species Of Scorpion Is A Venom Spraying Badass From Columbia
Species that possess venom are some of the most badass in the animal world. Now, a new member has joined their ranks – a scorpion from Columbia that represents the first venom-spraying species of scorpion reported both in South America and in the genus it belongs to. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The new species has […]
Which Human Species Survived For The Longest? Spoiler: It’s Not Us
For any member of the Homo lineage, half a million years on Earth can be considered a pretty good innings. Most of our human ancestors became extinct around the time they hit that milestone, and our own species is already pretty far along the conveyor belt towards this annihilatory age. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE And […]
Aliens Probably Aren’t “Little Green Men” – So Why Do We Insist On This Depiction?
The last year has been tense for anyone even vaguely interested in aliens or unidentified foreign objects (UFOs). From US congressional hearings on UFO sightings and extraterrestrial technologies, to mummified “alien” bodies being exhibited to lawmakers in Mexico; the excitement for things related to “little green men” has not been this high in decades. And while these recent […]
“Inaccessible” Tumor Removed Through Eye Socket In UK’s First Surgery Of Its Type
In the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, after the death of a pharaoh, embalmers would remove the brain matter of their ex-ruler via the nose. Now, we’ve improved on both counts: surgeons can go in through a keyhole incision by the eye socket, remove a brain tumor, and the patient doesn’t just survive but is […]
Welcome Super-Venus? New Class Of Planets Has Been Proposed
Enaiposha, also known as GJ 1214 b, is an exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf Orkaria, located just 48 light-years from the Solar System. It was discovered in 2009 and was one of the first exoplanets to have both its mass and radius measured. It is bigger than Earth but a lot smaller than Neptune, so […]
Evolution Of A New Blood Group Split Neanderthals And Homo Sapiens In Eurasia
Was blood a factor in the demise of the Neanderthals? New research is showing that Homo sapiens underwent huge changes in their blood groups after leaving Africa, between 70,000 and 45,000 years ago, before spreading across Eurasia. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE People’s blood group is all about the presence or absence of specific antigens (proteins […]
How Did Birds Survive When The Other Dinosaurs Died? Don’t Believe Netflix
In the Netflix documentary series Life On Our Planet, chapter six is devoted to birds and their evolutionary success since other dinosaurs died out in the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction following the asteroid strike. Early on, we are presented the story of some birds hatching from eggs laid before the catastrophe and finding their way in […]
Pompeii’s Worst Day, Peeing Together, And The GOAT Dinosaur Movie?
This week on Break It Down: a new timeline shows exactly when and how the eruption of Vesuvius spread, chimps have been observed going to the bathroom together all at the same time, trust in science remains high worldwide despite recent global events, sex differences between male and female brains are present as early as […]
The Pittcon Promise: Changing Lives Beyond The Lab
Since the 1950s, Pittcon has stood as a cornerstone of laboratory science. Its roots trace back to Pittsburgh, where two visionary societies – the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (SACP) and the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh (SSP) – teamed up to form something extraordinary. They created the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied […]
Living Conditions Have Improved For Us All, So Why Are Men Growing Twice As Fast As Women?
Most of us know that humans are gradually growing taller, but has that extra height affected everyone equally? A new study says no – suggesting instead that men have outgrown women in both height and weight by a factor of two since the time of our great-great-grandparents. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE “To put this in […]
One Of The Largest Pterosaur Fossils Ever Found Is Rewriting Their Evolutionary History
Scientists studying one of the largest pterosaur fossils ever found and identified have concluded that these animals were likely more diverse in the Jurassic than the fossil record suggests. Armed with what they described as a “field-defining” discovery from the Isle of Skye, the species Dearc sgiathanach, they uncovered groundbreaking insights into their functional anatomy […]
The Aestivation Hypothesis: Are Aliens Waiting For The Next Era Of The Universe?
With 200 billion trillion (ish) stars in the universe and 13.7 billion years that have elapsed since it all began, you might be wondering where all the alien civilizations are at. This is the basic question behind the Fermi paradox, the tension between our suspicions of the potential for life in the universe (given planets […]
Handwriting Vs. Typing: Debate Heats Up Over Which Is Best For The Brain
Who would have thought the subject of handwriting could be contentious? But, it seems this topic is dividing scientific opinion. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE Last year, the journal Frontiers in Psychology published an article by Norwegian scientists that promoted the power of the pen. The researchers argued that as digital devices become increasingly commonplace, traditional […]
There’s Only One Vertebrate In The World That Almost Always Has Identical Quadruplets
They say we learn something new every day – and sometimes, discovering that something comes in the form of an adorable video of a pregnant nine-banded armadillo getting an ultrasound. Thanks to said video, we now know that not only is our TikTok algorithm superior, but also that our little armored friends are even stranger […]
A Nasty And Fascinating Surprise Found In 200-Year-Old Bottle Presumed To Be Rum
The mystery of a 200-year-old bottle has been solved. It turns out, it wasn’t a vessel for booze, but a “witch bottle” filled with pee and a bunch of botanicals to ward off malevolent spirits. ADVERTISEMENT GO AD FREE The bottle, still intact with its original cork and filled with liquid, was unearthed at a […]
Behold The Weirdest Penises In The Animal Kingdom
Not all penises in the animal kingdom are made the same, from those colored blue to those with four heads, there is some weirdness out there. We have chosen some of our “favorites”, which truly make you say WTF. Do you want a corkscrew with that? Argentine blue-bill lake duck Someone is about to get […]
The Eye-Watering Question Of What Happens If A Bee Stings You In The Eyeball
For anyone who is not a fan of eyes, look away now. We had a curious thought: what would happen if you accidentally got too close to a honeybee and ended up in a one-way battle between your eye and its stinger? Luckily for us, and unluckily for the patients, there are many cases of […]
