Science

More men are getting 'the snip' and cite the rising cost of living for decision

Bronwyn Thompson — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 01:12:41 GMT

While cost-of-living pressures continue to impact consumer behavior, one business appears to be booming: the vasectomy industry.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Male Contraceptives, Contraception, Society, Reproduction, Birth Control, Aging population, Surgery

Threat of extreme solar storms may be far worse than we imagined

Mike McRae — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 03:09:00 GMT

A theorized limit to our planet’s response to geomagnetic storms may be the product of a statistical illusion, researchers claim, revealing that the extent of damage from the most extreme solar events could be greater than we ever imagined.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Sun, Magnetic field, geomagnetic, NASA, coronal mass ejection, solar-storm

Princesses in Ancient Egypt were trained in their grave weapons

Mike McRae — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:06:00 GMT

Life as a daughter of royalty in Ancient Egypt may not have been all rose petals and feather fans.

Category: Archaeology, Science

Tags: ancient, Egypt, Mummies, Weapons, pyramids, Bones

New clues to 2,000-year-old game played by millions before vanishing

Bronwyn Thompson — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 06:29:10 GMT

The unearthing of 2,000-year-old boards has given historians a new insight into an ancient game akin to chess that was played much earlier, by everyone from royals to commoners in society.

Category: Archaeology, Science

Tags: China, ancient, Board, Fossils, Chess, Game, Puzzles

Hidden chemistry of nuclear fallout glimpsed in recent experiments

Pranjal Malewar — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 06:53:00 GMT

The bomb drops. A nuclear blast erupts. Uranium is vaporized, where it mixes with the atmosphere and is dispersed across the land as toxic dust called fallout.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: Nuclear weapons, Nuclear Fission, Uranium, Explosion, Bombs, Chemistry, Radioactivity

Why nature has never evolved a perfect weapon for any species

Bronwyn Thompson — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 01:52:00 GMT

From a snake's venomous fangs to the sharp spines that cover a cactus, puncture tools can be found right across the animal kingdom. While they come in all shapes and sizes, there's a fascinating force driving their diverse designs.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: University of Illinois, Animal science, Animals, Evolution, Charles Darwin, Weapon, nature, Self-defense, Resources, Energy-efficient

Little red dots from long ago could be source of mystery neutrinos

Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:06:26 GMT

For nearly a decade, physicists have watched a steady drizzle of energetic neutrinos rain down on Earth. The IceCube Observatory, buried deep in Antarctic ice, has been catching them since 2013.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Neutrino, Quasar, Black hole, little-red-dots, James Webb Space Telescope

Monkeys get freaked out by the ‘uncanny valley’ too

Mike McRae — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 21:06:48 GMT

On the road to constructing flawless simulations of human faces, there’s a zone where things get … weird. Too realistic to be a caricature or cartoon, too fake to be the real deal, these middle-ground representations trigger responses of discomfort in many who encounter them.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Psychology, Communications, Future Robot, CGI, Uncanny valley

30 years since Dolly the sheep. This is where cloning science is at now

The Conversation — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:20:00 GMT

Sathana Dushyanthen, The University of Melbourne/The Conversation

Category: Biology, Science

Stolen gene lets deep-sea creature go without food for years

Jay Kakade — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 02:45:41 GMT

About a kilometer deep beneath the ocean surface, where sunlight disappears and food becomes scarce, lives a giant creature that can wait out starvation and survive more than five years without eating.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Genetics, Diet, Animals, Marine Biology, isopod

Earliest animal known to have a head was also right-handed

Mike McRae — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 22:28:00 GMT

Around 90% of all humans prefer to use their right hand. For cockatoos, it’s mostly the left.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Fossils, Hand, Ediacaran , Brain, American Museum of Natural History, Paleontology, Animal science, ancient

Hobbits may have relied on dragons to hunt their prey

Jay Kakade — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 06:19:00 GMT

Our distant relatives, Homo floresiensis, nicknamed “hobbits,” have been credited with two advanced skills: hunting small elephant relatives and controlling fire – both generally associated with large-brained hominins, such as Neanderthals and modern humans.

Category: Archaeology, Science

Tags: hobbit, Fossils, Human, Diet, Hunting, Fire

Mystery deepens over why only some people hear 'The Hum'

Pranjal Malewar — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 01:11:37 GMT

Do you ever lie awake at night when the house is quiet, only to notice a low hum that seems to come from nowhere?

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Hearing, tinnitus, Sound, Frequency

'Black hole energy machine' successfully tested in the lab

Mike McRae — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 08:16:00 GMT

If you happen to have an uncharged black hole handy, you may be able to power your house with it. Just set it spinning.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: Black hole, Power, Energy, Gravity, Astronomy, City University of New York

Ovaries take on a surprising new job after menopause, study reveals

Pranjal Malewar — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 23:48:27 GMT

The ovaries are the earliest aging organ. Their supply of egg-containing follicles slowly runs out over a woman's lifetime, so that by the time menopause arrives, follicle numbers have dwindled to approximately one thousand.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Menopause, ovary, Women, The Immune System

First photo of Earth ‘quasi’ moon transmitted by Chinese probe

Mike McRae — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:48:50 GMT

It’s small, blurry, and shaped like a Corn Flake, but the image taken of Earth’s tiny “quasi” moon, Kamo'oalewa, is one for the family album.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Asteroid, Moon, Tianwen-2, China

Our evolution from the ocean may not have happened as we thought

Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:23:52 GMT

All terrestrial animals with four limbs and a backbone – whether a frog, a bird, a lizard, or even a mammal such as ourselves – can trace their evolution back to a fish-like ancestor that made its way from the ocean onto land.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Vilnius University, Evolution, Animal science, Amphibious, Marine Biology, Fish

These whale mothers float upside-down for a very good reason

The Conversation — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 16:19:00 GMT

Kate Sprogis, Fredrik Christiansen & Renae van Noort, The University of Western Australia/Aarhus University/The Conversation

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: University of Western Australia, Aarhus University, Whale, Reproduction, Marine Biology, Ocean

Daddy longlegs seen catching and eating frogs in astonishing first

Jay Kakade — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 02:06:02 GMT

Daddy longlegs, also called harvestmen, have been documented catching and consuming living frogs larger than themselves in South American rainforests. All without the use of venom.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Spiders, Frogs, Predator, Ecology

Plasma jet is captured in 'most detailed X-ray view ever'

Chris Young — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 02:22:27 GMT

In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration made history by releasing the first-ever image of a black hole – an object that, until then, had never been directly observed by humanity.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: NASA, Space exploration, Jets, Astronomy, X-ray

Strange ‘in‑between’ celestial object is testing astronomers’ boundaries

The Conversation — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 20:33:00 GMT

Md Redyan Ahmed, University of Sydney/The Conversation

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: University of Sydney, Space exploration, Space telescope, Stars, Planet, Brown dwarf, Jupiter

Breakthrough: Scientists made a living cell from scratch. Then it reproduced

Mike McRae — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:47:00 GMT

Soon after Earth formed, life happened. It all started with a soup of complex organic chemicals delivered express from space. Then stuff happened, and pow, there were itty-bitty cells.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: University of Minnesota, Cells, Molecules, Experimental, Genetics, Genome, Evolution

A hidden map in your nose may hold the secret to smell

Pranjal Malewar — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 04:32:23 GMT

For centuries, scientists have marveled at the brain's ability to organize sensory information into neat topographical maps. Vision, touch, and hearing rely on orderly patterns in which neighboring neurons respond to adjacent features.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Brain, olfactory, Smell, Sensory, neurons

Baffling graves could be evidence of a deadly Stone Age plague

The Conversation — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 22:48:49 GMT

Ruairidh Macleod, University of Oxford & Stephen Shennan, UCL/The Conversation

Category: Archaeology, Science

Tags: black-death, Bacteria, pandemic, grave, Neolithic

Rare 'white whales' push back date of millipede evolution

Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 07:31:34 GMT

An international team of scientists led by researchers at Virginia Tech has completed the millipede family tree for the first time.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Evolution, Animals, Genetics, Life, millipedes

Our Universe looks like noodles, and it could destroy a major cosmological principle

Mike McRae — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 09:00:14 GMT

Your mother was wrong. Sorry.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Cosmology, relativity, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Galaxy, Big Bang Theory

Decoding the verbal language of birds earns scientist lucrative prize

Bronwyn Thompson — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:45:11 GMT

A scientist has brought us closer to talking to animals, and it's won her the 2026 Coller-Dolittle prize for two-way interspecies communication.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: University of California Berkeley, Birds, Language, Communicate, Animal science, Behavior

It became too easy to shout ‘aliens’, so SETI changed its rules

Chris Young — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:06:36 GMT

For the first time in more than 15 years, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) committee has significantly revised the protocols governing how scientists “evaluate, verify, and announce evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.”

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: SETI, aliens, 3I/ATLAS, Extraterrestrial

The International Space Station keeps leaking. So what happens now?

The Conversation — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 23:45:10 GMT

Christopher Newman, Northumbria University, Newcastle/ The Conversation

Category: Astronomy, Science

Gorilla giggles and chimp chuckles reveal the origin of laughter in humans

Mike McRae — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 20:05:00 GMT

Did you hear the one about the chuckling chimpanzee?

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Chimpanzees, Apes, Orangutans, Human, laughter, University of Warwick

One nut could be our best chance at saving the Amazon from deforestation

Emma Schneck — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 05:05:48 GMT

The only commercial nut exclusively harvested in the Amazon, the Brazil nut is highly sought after for its health benefits, including its remarkable concentration of selenium, a necessary antioxidant in the human body. Not only is the Brazil nut a protein-packed addition to a typical bag of trail mix, but it could also protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Brazil, Amazon, Diet, Timber, Forest, brazil-nuts

The poop emoji hides a deeper truth about physics, study reveals

Kerry Taylor-Smith — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:48:23 GMT

Why does the "poop emoji" look the way it does? Physics has the answer: as most animals defecate downward, each new coil falls a shorter distance, naturally forming the familiar tapered swirl.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: Materials, Animals, Waste, Fluid

World first: Human embryo model grows its own organs – in the lab

Bronwyn Thompson — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 08:27:46 GMT

Chinese researchers have taken a big step toward a world in which we can cultivate organs for transplant, with the first-ever embryo-disc model that can support and grow the seed cells required for in vitro cultivation. It's also a huge leap for regenerative medicine.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Artificial organs, Organ donation, Embrio, molecular biology, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)

Largest black hole collision on record reveals clues on spacetime whirlpools

The Conversation — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 03:13:00 GMT

Neil Lu, Australian National University/The Conversation

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: gravitational waves, Black hole, Relativity Space, Time, LIGO

Your dog’s walk offers clues of early signs of canine dementia

Mike McRae — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:03:00 GMT

Dementia isn’t just a risk humans face as they age. Our canine pals can also experience severe cognitive decline, the early signs of which could be clear in the way they go for walkies.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Dementia, Pets, Dogs, Walk, North Carolina State University, University of Montreal, University of Pennsylvania, Alzheimer's disease, Cognitive functioning, Age-Related, Aging, Brain activity

Mineral clocks reveal age of Earth's oldest known asteroid impact

The Conversation — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 03:07:00 GMT

Chris Kirkland, Curtin University/The Conversation

Category: Astronomy, Science

'Friction' from light seen in strange new physics experiment

Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 19:03:00 GMT

Light could put the brakes on material diffusing through a solution, and the reason why touches on some of the stranger corners of quantum mechanics.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: Quantum Mechanics, Electrons, Water, Carbon, Liquid

Alien comet’s chemistry unlike anything seen in our Solar System

Mike McRae — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 01:28:37 GMT

It’s not often that we get guests. So when the interstellar intruder 3I/ATLAS came zooming through our Solar System last year, it provided astronomers with a perfect opportunity to study a rock from another part of the galaxy.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: 3I/ATLAS, Comets, NASA, JWST, interstellar space, Solar System

27,500-year-old grave earliest example of ritual mourning

The Conversation — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 23:06:53 GMT

Layla Tiseo, Université de Montréal/ The Conversation

Category: Archaeology, Science

Tags: Deaths, grave, Paleontology, Bones

Exceptional flying-reptile fossil still hiding traces of its diet

The Conversation — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 20:18:00 GMT

Kliti Grice, Curtin University/The Conversation

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Pteranodon, Fossils, Diet, Bones, Curtin University

Our bodies may be able to regrow lost limbs after all

Mike McRae — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:10:00 GMT

The permanent loss of amputated digits and limbs is the cost of being human. While worms, amphibians, fish and echinoderms all contain species capable of regenerating body parts, few mammals have the knack.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Regenerative Medicine, Mice, wound-healing, Scarring, Texas A&M Universty, Marine Biology, Skin, Bones

'Weather wall' in space could cut solar storm destruction in half

Chris Young — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 01:42:22 GMT

Solar geoengineering methods are often seen as a controversial last resort that may be required in the face of an accelerating climate crisis. They are largely untested, meaning they could have drastic unforeseen consequences affecting everyone on the planet.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Geoengineering, Sun, solar-storm, Magnetic field, Earth

'Critically stressed' US earthquake fault reaches 1,000-year pressure peak

Bronwyn Thompson — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 20:52:00 GMT

The volatile seismic zone along the roughly 750-mile (1,200-km) San Andreas Fault and the smaller San Jacinto Fault are now "critically stressed" – reaching a 1,000-year high level of pressure – increasing the likelihood of a big earthquake hitting the US West Coast.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: California, Earthquake, Seismic, Geology, nature, Stress

Spying on rare wombats reveals their elaborate 'underworld'

Bronwyn Thompson — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 05:51:12 GMT

Nearly three years on from deploying ground-penetrating radar technology to "spy" on the underground lives of one of Australia's most critical endangered species, scientists have learnt that northern hairy-nose wombats will build elaborate burrows regardless of the material they're working with. And that one of the females has a baby on board.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Australia, Endangered, Animal science, Species, Radar

Physicists made a tiny expanding universe to watch time unfold

Mike McRae — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 23:25:00 GMT

Often attributed to Albert Einstein, the quote by science-fiction writer Ray Cummings still serves as the most succinct explanation for one of the most fundamental features of our universe.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: Time, Big Bang Theory, Quantum Mechanics, Bose-Einstein condensate, Albert Einstein, Newton, University of Birmingham

Study predicts when the last plants on Earth will die

Mike McRae — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:50:00 GMT

One day, far in the future, a leaf will turn brown and crumble to dust, representing the end of all plants on Earth. Without a crystal ball, nobody knows for certain when that day will come.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Plants, Extinction, Photosynthesis, Earth, Sun

We might finally now know why T. rex had such tiny arms

Jay Kakade — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 03:32:41 GMT

The Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) is known for its bone-crushing bite, gigantic size, and famously small forelimbs. But why these large, carnivorous theropod dinosaurs evolved tiny arms has long been debated.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Dinosaurs, Fossils, ARM, Predator, tyrannosaurus

The paw your dog favors is a window into their brain and behavior

Bronwyn Thompson — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 23:30:19 GMT

In what must have been some of the most enjoyable experiments ever, scientists studied nearly 50 dogs of all shapes and sizes to assess which paw each pooch prefers – something believed to be a predictor of behavioral issues.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Dogs, Animal science, Behavior, Cognitive functioning, Training, Pet-owners, Pets

Nuclear clock experiments set a landmark in timekeeping technology

Mike McRae — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 05:04:00 GMT

There are many ways we can keep track of passing seconds. Counting “Mississippi” between numbers works. Monitoring the swing of a pendulum is a little more accurate. Or if you want to get super fancy, use the piezoelectric buzz of electrified quartz.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: Atoms, Clock, Nuclear, Time, Mathematics, Atoms

A new way to measure a planet's mass

Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 01:51:13 GMT

Researchers at the University of Warwick in the UK, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and McMaster University in Canada have shown that the structures of dust rings surrounding young stars can be used to estimate the masses of hidden planets.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Planet, Exoplanet, Stars, Disc

Stolen French fries really do taste better, study finds

Kerry Taylor-Smith — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:08:01 GMT

What if the best-tasting morsel isn’t on your plate, but the one you steal? New research suggests “forbidden food” really may taste better.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Psychology, Food, Hunger, Taste

700,000-year-old poop tells rich story of a lost Ice Age world

Bronwyn Thompson — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 06:07:00 GMT

One of the world's oldest turds has been given the royal science treatment, with ancient Arctic ground squirrel droppings offering a smorgasbord of DNA from other animals and plants dating back up to 700,000 years.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: McMaster University, DNA, Wildlife, Animal science, Animals, ancient, Wooly mammoth

Wild mystery: Koalas all but vanished from Earth 100,000 years ago

The Conversation — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:03:00 GMT

Toby Kovacs, University of Sydney/The Conversation

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: University of Sydney, Koala, Australia, ancient, Climate, Extinction

Scientists investigate origins of a ‘ghost particle’ 30x more powerful than any other

Chris Young — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 02:25:25 GMT

Three years ago, a single “ghost particle” soared into the Mediterranean with more energy than any ever observed before.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Neutrino, Quasar, Particle physics, Astrophysics

Dante's Hell was inspired by an asteroid impact

Dr. Jaroslav Boublik — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 23:40:31 GMT

New research is offering a dramatic new way to read Dante Alighieri’s Inferno: not simply as a religious vision of Hell, but as an early attempt to imagine the effects of a catastrophic planetary impact.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Asteroid, Impact, Poetry, dante

The Milky Way's star-forming edge may be closer than we thought

Pranjal Malewar — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:19:10 GMT

Astronomers have uncovered a surprising twist in the Milky Way's story.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: milky way, Stars, Astrophysics

Cave discovery pushes back the moment we first used fire

Mike McRae — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 04:03:00 GMT

There’s no doubt about it – burning stuff is what makes us human. Aside from the fact that fire makes food safer, tastier, and more digestible, burning a few sticks pushes back the darkness, keeps predators at bay, and keeps us toasty warm.

Category: Archaeology, Science

Tags: Fire, ancient, Human, Cave, Evolution, Archeology

Amazon's monkeys have contracted a deadly disease from us

Kerry Taylor-Smith — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 01:10:38 GMT

As deforestation accelerates across the Amazon, scientists are uncovering a disturbing new consequence: humans are transmitting diseases to wildlife.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Amazon, Monkeys, hepatitis-b, Deforestation, Infections

Bumblebees can solve problems like big-brained vertebrates

Bronwyn Thompson — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:08:40 GMT

Bumblebees may be smarter than we give them credit for, with a new study showing the fuzzy insects have the cognitive plasticity required to overcome novel challenges.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: University of Helsinki, University of Oulu, University of Turku, Bees, Animal science, Behavior

'Bootstrap' physics study claims string theory might be inevitable after all

Mike McRae — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 05:02:00 GMT

String theory is perhaps the greatest tragedy of modern science. Mathematically elegant and celebrated savior of divided physics, it is nonetheless crippled by one simple fact – it is utterly untestable.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: string theory, relativity, Quantum Physics, Particle physics