When animals chat to each other, their interactions are far more human-like than you might expect. According to a comprehensive new study, many species take turns in their conversations, just like we do. This turn-taking has long been suggested as something that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom, but now researchers say
Scientists have found what they think is the oldest animal footprint in the fossil record, uncovering incredibly ancient track marks imprinted in the dirt as far back as 550 million years ago. These trackways, preserved near burrows, were discovered in Dengying Formation – a rich fossil preserve in China’s south – and constitute the first
For years, NASA’s Curiosity rover has patiently gathered samples on the surface of Mars. Today, scientists are announcing they’ve discovered conclusive evidence that several organic compounds are indeed found on the Red Planet. On top of that, after keeping close tabs on methane levels in the Martian atmosphere, scientists have finally confirmed something weird is
A few clipped neuropeptides make all the difference between a chill honey bee and one that has an irritable need to shiv anything that moves. To discover what makes Africanised “killer bees” so hostile, scientists from University of São Paulo State in Brazil compared their neurochemistry with those of their domesticated relatives and found it
NASA’s New Horizons probe – the same one that gave us stunning photos of Pluto – has just woken up, approximately 6 billion kilometres (3.7 billion miles) from home. It’s currently flying through the Kuiper Belt, and off on an exciting mission scheduled for New Year’s Day – the first-ever flyby of the Kuiper Belt
Lightning on Jupiter has always been something of a mystery. But thanks to the latest efforts of the Juno probe, we now know that it is actually far more similar to lightning on Earth than we had thought – but it’s also still pretty weird, too. Data from everyone’s favourite Jupiter probe has revealed that,
Breakups are tough. Love is one of the most powerful emotions we can feel, making heartbreak one of the most traumatic. After a particularly raw breakup, it can feel like nothing will ever be the same again, with many sufferers reporting feelings of depression, anxiety, exhaustion, and even insomnia. And the one piece of advice
They call Alaska the last frontier, but as the largest American state grapples with global warming happening twice as fast as anywhere else in the US, nobody knows for sure where its vast, changing landscape is headed. Our best guess comes in the form of a new analysis sourced from over 30 years of satellite
Physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider have made a major new detection of the famous Higgs boson, this time catching details on a rare interaction with one of the heaviest fundamental particles known to physics – the top quark. The brief mingling of these incredibly rare encounters has provided physicists with important information on the nature of
One of the most important dating tools used in archaeology may sometimes give misleading data, new study shows – and it could change whole historical timelines as a result. The discrepancy is due to significant fluctuations in the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere, and it could force scientists to rethink how they use ancient
In the far reaches of the Solar System, objects go into some weird orbits, and astronomers have been baffled as to why. The most intriguing possibility has been that of a huge, unseen planet lurking out there way beyond Neptune. But now a new explanation has emerged, putting a massive dent in the idea of this
Left-handed people haven’t always been treated well throughout history. They have been persecuted for their disposition, been labelled as evil – or even as witches – despite making up about 10 percent of the population. In fact, the word “sinister” comes from “left” or “left hand”. There have been a few theories over the decades
At 2 pm EDT (6 pm UTC) this Thursday, NASA will have a big Mars announcement to make. As with most announcements of announcements, they’ve only released a few details, but we do know that the “live discussion” will talk about “new science results from NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover”. So what has Curiosity found? Well,
Narcissists can be tricky to spot, especially if you are in a romantic relationship with one. This tends to be because they rely on using and manipulating others to fulfil their needs and desires – all while blending in like a chameleon. There are three distinct types of narcissists, and they often behave in specific
Using the whole Solar System as a lab, and our most advanced time-keeping instruments for equipment, scientists have helped to verify the ‘Einstein elevator’ hypothesis – one of the central components of his general theory of relativity. The theory deals with the basics of mass, gravity, space, and time – so proving as best as
It was an unprecedented blip out of nowhere in 1982. For the first time, scientists confirmed the first earthquake in Antarctica – but it wouldn’t be the last. As the decades passed, researchers detected eight more seismic events in East Antarctica. And then all hell seemingly broke loose, with sensors picking up 27 earthquakes in
For the past two years, NASA’s Juno probe has studied planet Jupiter like no spacecraft before it. The US$1 billion mission has peeled back the giant planet’s thick cloud layers, searched for an elusive core, and returned dazzling images of colossal storms and chaotic cloud bands. But all good things must come to an end,
Time seems to move faster as we age, but it turns out that maybe the opposite is true: our days on Earth are getting longer over time, and it’s all thanks to the Moon’s effect on our planet’s rotation. But don’t go planning your extra sleep-ins just yet. A new study has traced the relationship
It’s a towering problem, one to stump the most determined of milliners. You’ve carved almost 1,000 immense statues standing up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall. And now you want to put their hats on. There’s just one problem. The hats, like the graven colossi themselves, are hewn out of solid rock, and weigh several
Dozens of people have been killed, and with many more missing, after Volcán de Fuego (Fuego) in Guatemala erupted on 3 June 2018. In recent years, Fuego has regularly ejected small gas and ash eruptions, which hold little risk to surrounding populations. But Fuego also has a reputation for producing larger explosive eruptions. These larger
Witnesses reported a fireball streaking across the sky above Botswana on Saturday night. The asteroid hurtling toward Earth at 10 miles (16 km) a second looked like it could be the harbinger of catastrophe. A webcam in a rural area west of Johannesburg captured it, showing a luminous orb igniting the sky in a bright
Do you call that a haircut? I hope you didn’t pay for it. Oh please this is rubbish, you’re a disgrace to yourself and your profession. These are just two examples of comments that have followed articles I have written in my career. While they may seem benign compared with the sort of violent and
A neutrino detector has just made an incredible detection: far more of the mysterious particles than they expected. And the best explanation for this mysterious abundance is the existence of a hypothetical type of neutrino, called the “sterile” neutrino. The finding, made at Fermilab’s MiniBooNE, replicates a result from decades ago. Back in the 90s,
Rescuers cradled it in a shallow canal, their arms wrapped around its slick, shuddering body. It could not eat and struggled to swim and breathe. Red umbrellas were opened above it to block the harsh sun. It was a race against time to save the male pilot whale, slowly dying after it was discovered Monday
The world has fallen in love with the spectacular images of Jupiter NASA delivers every few month. But few people know that to obtain these photos is a long, complicated, and even dangerous process. To take them, the shoe-box sized camera on NASA’s Juno probe has survived years of the cold wasteland of space, not
The world’s biggest diamond company, De Beers, recently announced it would start selling synthetic diamond gemstones for the first time in its 130-year history. Artificial diamonds have been manufactured since the 1950s but De Beers has long resisted moving into the synthetic market. The company now believes that technology is efficient enough to produce large
Eighteen-year-old student Ryan Chester won US$400,000 back in 2015 for this video explaining Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, as part of the inaugural Breakthrough Junior Challenge – an international competition that aims to inspire the next generation of scientists and science communicators. And it’s not hard to see why. If you heard the words, “Einstein’s
The greatest mystery in aviation history will keep its secrets for now with the search for the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 ending this week without success. Ocean Infinity, the US-based technology company which began a supplementary search for the Malaysian government at the start of 2018 on a no-find, no-fee basis, failed to
Batteries powered by radioactive materials have been around for more than a century, but what they promise in power they usually lose in bulk. Not so with a new kind of power source, which combines a novel structure with a nickel isotope to pack ten times more power than an electrochemical cell of the same
Powering cold, hard mechanics with muscle tissue is a promising idea that so far hasn’t delivered awe-inspiring results. But a new way to grow muscles and attach them to a frame could help overcome existing hurdles, resulting in a biological hybrid device that isn’t just stronger than previous attempts, but lasts longer as well. Engineers
Not that you could tell by looking at it, but the glass of water sitting on your desk contains two different kinds of water molecule rotating in subtly different ways. A recent experiment managed to separate them, discovering one is much better at reacting than the other. We don’t expect this ‘better’ water to become
Every Christmas, sailors from Japan go out into the Southern Ocean, taking “biological sampling” that aims to investigate “the structure and dynamics of the Antarctic marine ecosystem”. But no, they aren’t trying to understand more about climate change, or investigating the mating songs of the ocean. They’re out killing hundreds of Antarctic minke whales, and then
Anyone who thinks there’s no such thing as a stupid question, clearly hasn’t met an online troll before. This week, the US Geological Survey (USGS) was trying to keep the public informed about Hawaii’s ongoing volcanic eruption when suddenly, they were obliged to confirm that no, toasting marshmallows over a volcano is not really the
A rare earth element that doesn’t get much mention could become the key to upgrading atomic clocks to become even more accurate. This could help us explore space and track satellites, and even keep the world’s time zones in sync. Atomic clocks use the oscillations of atoms under laser fire as a measurement of time, in
We’re really bad at choosing passwords. According to a new study by a researcher at Virginia Tech and Dashlane, a popular password manager service, most users make the same mistakes when making passwords, such as making their password the name of a popular brand or sports team. And while these things make passwords easy to
For the last 30,000 years the Great Barrier Reef has experienced all kinds of sea level rises, temperature changes, and sediment increases. But despite a staggering five near-death experiences for the reef, it kept bouncing back – at least in the past. A new study by a group of international researchers looked at fossil reef
Do you have a right to know if you’re talking to a bot? How about the bot? Does it have the right to keep that information from you? Those questions have been stirring in the minds of many since well before Google demoed Duplex, a human-like AI that makes phone calls on a user’s behalf,
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love being able to say “Alexa, play me some bangers”, and those who got one targeted advertisement too many and are paranoid that their smart devices are always listening. Recent news, unfortunately, gives some more credence to the latter. A few weeks ago, a
The hysteria about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. There seems to be no shortage of sensationalist news about how AI could cure diseases, accelerate human innovation and improve human creativity. Just looking at the media headlines, you might think that we are already living in a future where AI has infiltrated every
A disturbing new video lets you watch as a Mexican red-kneed tarantula (Brachypelma smithi) literally crawls out of its skin. The 40-second time-lapse from The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden captures the adult tarantula as it tosses and turns, spending seven long hours shedding its old exoskeleton. The Mexican red-kneed tarantula is a docile spider
About 10,000 years ago, humans evolved a tolerance to cow’s milk; over the past 150 years, we’ve added 10 centimetres to our average height; and over the past 65 years, we’ve added 20 years to the average lifespan, mostly thanks to advances in science. We’ve come so far in such an incredibly short period of
Okay, time to stop everything and nut out a brain teaser: if Earth is spinning to the east at 1,180 km/h (733 mph), and we’re in a plane flying west, shouldn’t we get to our destination quicker, seeing as it’s literally spinning towards us? The short answer is no, because our plane is also affected
We’ve all heard about the infamous number 666, which is rather cryptically referred to as the “number of the beast” in the New Testament, and has more recently become known as the number of the Antichrist. But what is it about this simple, symmetrical number that’s been giving everyone the heebie jeebies for the past 2,000
If you really want to teach someone something, starting with a misconception and working backwards is one of the best techniques. A new video from Veritasium does just that. In the episode, host Derek Muller debunks one of the most common misconceptions about science – namely, that science is simply a steady, gradual way of
Deep in western Russia, if you know where to look, you’ll find a small collection of ragged scrap metal and crumbled concrete. Which isn’t that exciting. But if you rifle through the rubble, you will find a large, metal disc bolted to the ground. This isn’t just any old disc – it’s the welded-shut cap of
We all know that Earth is old, but it’s hard to put into perspective just how old it is. After all, what does 4.5 billion years really mean? How do you even comprehend that amount of time with our short-lived human brains? Well, Business Insider has done a pretty incredible job of it in this
Mirror image is a tricky thing, but it’s pretty clear when you look at words in a reflection, that mirrors flip things horizontally rather than vertically. Or, at least it seems that that’s the case. For example, when you hold up a sign saying “Food” in the mirror”, it flips reads a backwards “dooF”, but
It might not feel like it, but the adult bladder can hold as much as half a litre (2 cups) of pee before you’ll feel the need to ‘go’. Your body knows how much is in there because your bladder wall is filled with tiny receptors that send a message to your brain when the