Science & Health News

A strange new eye cell is rewriting how vision works

April 14, 2026 12:02 am | Chelsea Haney
Researchers have identified a hybrid photoreceptor in the eyes of fish that carries traits of both rods and cones – a combination that doesn’t fit either category. It suggests the retina may be far more flexible than scientists have long assumed.

Welcome to Refractor.io - here's what we're all about!

March 17, 2026 02:03 pm
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Dust is the sky's desaturation filter

April 13, 2026 09:02 am | Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo
The explanation is weirder than you might think – in fact, the sky is probably closer to violet. Tiny air molecules and larger particles like dust and pollution scatter sunlight in different ways, painting the sky from deep violet to hazy white.
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In recent months, AI-generated wildlife clips have flooded social media, merging real animal behavior with playful fabrications but scientists warn that these digital deepfakes can distort people’s sense of what the natural world looks like.
It may sound like a plot twist out of a science fiction novel, but researchers have detected mysterious radio signals coming from beneath the Antarctic ice that appear to be inconsistent with the standard models of particle physics.
A nuclear production facility in Washington state, called the Hanford site, once forged the plutonium that reshaped the world. Now it’s forging glass; a quiet act of undoing at one of Earth’s most contaminated sites.
The Artemis II mission, which will return US astronauts to lunar space, has run into problems that have critics demanding NASA remove the crew from the flight for safety reasons. The bigger question is, why do we have astronauts at all?
An antiviral targeting the dengue virus was quietly abandoned by industry, but it's now suddenly back in the spotlight. A new study suggests it didn’t just slow the dengue virus, it blocked viral replication and reduced infection rates at high doses.
Every couple of years we see a wave of stories claiming picking your nose is a causal factor in the onset of Alzheimer's disease. So where does this story come from and why is it, according to neuroscientists New Atlas contacted, "extremely unlikely."
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The Food and Drug Administration has approved a landmark eye drop that uses a combined dose of medication to restore age-related near-sightedness, without the need for surgery, for longer than anything else on the market – and with fewer side effects.
Researchers have discovered a new way to potentially treat liver disease. By blocking a key inflammatory pathway it could be possible to reduce liver damage and improve blood vessel function in patients suffering cirrhosis.
High on sheer cliffs in China, ancient coffins are wedged into rock faces hundreds of feet above the ground. These dramatic burials, now re-examined using ancient DNA, point to a broader practice where disparate cultures all had their own "sky graves."
For nearly a century, a strange band of 5,200 holes carved into a hillside has defied explanation. Stretching for nearly a mile along the edge of the Pisco Valley, Monte Serpe – "serpent mountain" – may have finally revealed its secrets to scientists.
As it heads out of the solar system never to return, the deep space probe Voyager 1 is headed for yet another cosmic milestone. In late 2026, it will become the first spacecraft to travel so far that a radio signal from Earth takes 24 hours, or one light day, to reach it.
Deep underground in a dark, sulfuric cave, scientists have made an incredible discovery – a giant communal spider web spanning more than 1,000 square feet, home to an estimated 110,000 spiders that defy nature to coexist in harmony.