Are you looking forward to starting or changing something in 2021? Whatever your New Year’s resolutions, there’s an evidence-based way to make them stick for longer – and it’s all in the phrasing. Rather than telling yourself you’ll stop or avoid doing something, tell yourself you’re going to start doing something instead. For example:
Month: December 2020
Scientists are edging closer to making a super-secure, super-fast quantum internet possible: they’ve now been able to ‘teleport’ high-fidelity quantum information over a total distance of 44 kilometres (27 miles). Both data fidelity and transfer distance are crucial when it comes to building a real, working quantum internet, and making progress in either of
Just when we thought octopuses couldn’t be any weirder, it turns out that they and their cephalopod brethren evolve differently from nearly every other organism on the planet. In a surprising twist, in April 2017 scientists discovered that octopuses, along with some squid and cuttlefish species, routinely edit their RNA (ribonucleic acid) sequences to adapt
Despite several cliff-scaling efforts to locate another of its kind, so far this native Hawaiian flower appears to be unique. Found on one of the steep forested slopes of Helu that loom over Lahaina in West Maui, Hawaii, Cyanea heluensis was first discovered back in 2010 but it has only just been formally described.
Although we humans generally have control of our skeletal musculature, there’s at least one we don’t always have a handle on. In the middle ear sits the tensor tympani, and it seems most people are unable to contract it voluntarily. Those that can contract their tensor tympani – a small muscle located above the
With just a handful of days left in this strange beast of a year that will most certainly go down in history books, we thought it would be nice to reflect on the marvellous things scientists still delivered, despite everything. Of course, scientific achievements are usually years in the making. Nevertheless, here’s a round-up
It’s taken nearly five years, 45 research expeditions, and more than 80 scientists and students, but the largest oceanic research enterprise, the ATLAS project, is officially complete. Exploring 12 locations in the deep northern Atlantic, the project has set a gold standard for future marine research. Driving underwater robots to areas never before explored, researchers
We’re naturally reluctant to abandon something we’ve sunk time, effort, and money into, even when the best option is to just walk away – and it turns out that monkeys feel exactly the same, according to a new study. This “sunk costs” phenomenon can apply to our relationships, home improvements, books, video games, car
Almost a millennium ago, a major upheaval occurred in Earth’s atmosphere: a giant cloud of sulphur-rich particles flowed throughout the stratosphere, turning skies dark for months or even years, before ultimately falling down to Earth. We know this event happened because researchers have drilled and analysed ice cores – samples taken from deep within
The world’s (former) largest iceberg continues to break apart into smaller pieces on the doorstep of a major marine wildlife haven and home to millions of macaroni and king penguins in Antarctica. This comes less than a week after the mammoth iceberg, known as A68a, first split in two, Live Science recently reported. Scientists at the US
To the disgust of many of our readers, we have discovered that keeping leeches as pets is actually a thing. And yeah, it’s certainly… a bit different. But in light of humanity’s disconnect with nature, and our concerning lack of knowledge about parasitic creatures, the idea that some of us are nurturing these parasites is also, uh, fascinating.
Scientists have just set a new world record for high-temperature sustained plasma with the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device, reaching an ion temperature of above 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit) for a period of 20 seconds. Known as Korea’s “artificial sun”, the KSTAR uses magnetic fields to generate and
In an exciting development, a new type of whale song may very well belong to a previously unknown population of blue whales, peacefully swimming in the Indian Ocean. The unusual song was picked up at three different underwater locations separated by 3,500 kilometres (2,175 miles) of ocean. First recorded in 2017 off the coast of
A young German pilot said Sunday he traced a giant syringe in the sky as a way of marking the start of Germany’s roll out of vaccines against the coronavirus. Samy Kramer, a 20-year-old amateur pilot, had carefully plotted out the route he needed to take in advance in order to create the effect in
A 2,000-year-old fast-food stall unearthed from the ash of Pompeii has given researchers new clues about the snacking habits of the ancient Romans. The ornate snack bar counter, decorated with polychrome patterns and frozen by volcanic ash, was partially exhumed last year but archaeologists extended work on the site to reveal it in its full
Sometimes, science is all about the mind-aching big picture. Like the idea that our Universe is just a giant hologram, or that we’ve actually detected gravitational waves from a neutron star collision. Or that we might not actually have as much free will as we think… Those are really exciting concepts. But then there are
Most people know the world’s oceans are on the rise, but further inland, the scales of climate change are tipping in the exact opposite direction. As melting glaciers feed fresh water to the oceans, heat and drought are draining our lakes and inland seas of precious liquid. The largest inland body of water on
Imagine opening the weekend paper and looking through the puzzle pages for the Sudoku. You spend your morning working through this logic puzzle, only to realise by the last few squares there’s no consistent way to finish it. “I must have made a mistake,” you think. So you try again, this time starting from
It’s one of the greatest puzzles in physics. All the particles that make up the matter around us, such electrons and protons, have antimatter versions which are nearly identical, but with mirrored properties such as the opposite electric charge. When an antimatter and a matter particle meet, they annihilate in a flash of energy.
The start of electric aviation is upon us, but it’s going to take many more years before the average environmentalist can fly guilt free on a fully electric long haul jet. In the meantime, scientists are trying to make the commercial planes we already have more sustainable, and one of the best ways to do
A small town in Romania called Costesti is home to unusual geological manifestations – bulging bulbous boulders called trovants. These stones have long intrigued locals, with their organic-looking shapes and strange cement oozings, inspiring myths about the stones’ ability to grow and move – like living beings rather than inanimate objects. Trovants vary greatly
Within the next few decades, according to some experts, we may see the arrival of the next step in the development of artificial intelligence. So-called “artificial general intelligence“, or AGI, will have intellectual capabilities far beyond those of humans. AGI could transform human life for the better, but uncontrolled AGI could also lead to
Found mostly in the open prairies of North America and some remote regions of Northern Europe, snow doughnuts or snow rollers might look like icy man-made structures, but these tire-shaped curiosities are entirely natural. They’re very rarely seen because the number of weather conditions that need to be just right for them to form
A newly developed glue that gets its stickiness from a magnetic field could lead to serious energy and cost savings for companies that need to stick things together on an industrial scale. To harden – or cure – the mix of chemicals in most epoxy-based glues, some kind of environmental effect like heat, light,
We’re learning more about earthquake triggers all the time, but there’s also plenty still to find out about how these seismic shifts work. Now, geologists think they’ve identified a key mechanism behind some of the biggest earthquakes on the planet. Megathrust earthquakes happen at subduction zones, where one tectonic plate is being pushed under
It’s been one heck of a year, but we’re on the home stretch. Now, let’s celebrate by looking at something very strange that seems to make no sense whatsoever to my poor befuddled brain. What we have here is the winner of this year’s Best Illusion of the Year Contest for 2020, and it
Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Valviloculus pleristaminis makes for a perfect example. Scientists only recently identified this mysterious, extinct flower. It once bloomed in the Cretaceous period – a floral relic of a bygone age, preserved in time-stopping amber since some nameless day when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth. “This
Above water, they sound like bellowing Wookies. Below the ice, they sound like chirping, chattering robots. Either way, the Weddell seals of Antarctica should have no trouble finding work in an upcoming Star Wars project. “The Weddell seals’ calls create an almost unbelievable, otherworldly soundscape under the ice,” Paul Cziko, a visiting professor at the University of
For Thai rescue worker Mana Srivate, performing resuscitation has been part of his job for 26 years. A few days ago, things went down a little differently – he achieved his first successful resuscitation of a baby elephant. “When the baby elephant [started] to move, I almost cried,” Mana told Reuters. The young Indian elephant
They’re among the most popular and captivating animals in the ocean – a creature that delights at every splash or glimpse. And many are dying. A deadly skin condition, first noted in dolphins near New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, has now been formally identified by scientists. ‘Freshwater skin disease’, as researchers define
In the ancient past, Europe was a very different place – once upon a time, Britain was yet tethered to the European continent. Only millennia later, when that connection had long been severed, did modern humans start to rediscover ancient artefacts of stone age peoples that once dwelled in lands now hidden below the waves.
A female wolf pup mummy, perfectly preserved as it remained locked in permafrost for 57,000 years, is finally giving up some of its secrets, including how the grey wolf died and ended up alone in the ice so long ago. The mummified grey wolf (Canis lupus) was discovered by a gold miner excavating permafrost in Yukon,
Close your eyes. What colour is a river? The perfect blue we can see in our imagination is not usually reflected in reality, where rivers can run green, brown, yellow, and more. These different hues are not superficial. The colour of rivers reflects the health of natural waterways, which means simply looking at a
Dropping your smartphone often means living with a cracked screen until your next upgrade, or footing an expensive repair bill – but researchers have been busy bringing self-healing display technology closer to a practical reality. A team from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has developed a self-healing electronic material that can
In new proof that 2020 has been a crappy year basically everywhere, scientists have captured video evidence of octopuses randomly punching at fish, possibly for no reason other than being spiteful. While this remarkable, rather nasty-sounding behaviour might seem like it comes from a place of direct conflict between different animal species, that’s not
While many of us might long to just sleep through this entire winter, humans – unlike a lot of other mammals – don’t have the capacity to hibernate. But a newly published study has investigated if early humans had this ability at some point. The results – although preliminary – surprisingly suggest that they did,
An iceberg the size of Delaware, which was on course to crash into an island populated by a penguin colony, has broken into two pieces, scientists tracking its journey said on Friday. In the last few weeks, the iceberg, dubbed A68a, came dangerously close to South Georgia Island in the south Atlantic, threatening to cut
The skulls of two baboons, mummified more than 3,000 years ago, have helped narrow down the location of a fabled “land of plenty”, which once supplied ancient Egypt with gold, frankincense, myrrh and monkeys. Known as the land of Punt, or ‘God’s land’, this faraway fantastical realm may have actually existed outside its renowned
Geologically speaking, Australia is a relatively quiet place to live. Earthquakes are rare and typically gentle, and as for volcanoes, there hasn’t been as much as a burp of magma on the mainland in thousands of years. It wasn’t always this way. In fact, the land is littered with the remains of mysterious eruptions
With their long eyelashes, banana-shaped ears, upturned mouths, and stocky bodies covered with curly wool, llamas look like creatures that walked out of a Dr. Seuss story. And now they’re celebrities in the US. Because of their gentle and docile demeanor, llamas are often favorites at petting zoos. They appear at festivals and weddings
Like listening to music, something is calming about being outdoors, and it might have to do with how we see and perceive natural patterns. When the shape of something is repeated at ever smaller scales, like the branching of a tree, the spiral of a shell, or the fingers of a river, studies have shown
The Movile cave in southeast Romania wouldn’t be top of your holiday destination list: no light gets down to it, the air is thick with poisonous gases, and it was cut off from the outside world for around 5.5 million years before its accidental discovery in 1986. Life does exist in the Movile though,
How much are you conscious of right now? Are you conscious of just the words in the centre of your visual field or all the words surrounding it? We tend to assume that our visual consciousness gives us a rich and detailed picture of the entire scene in front of us. The truth is very
There are hidden costs to eating meat not included in the price tag. If consumers in the western world were also charged for the greenhouse gas impacts of their hearty meal of protein, a new study estimates they would have to pay nearly 2.5 times – or 146 percent more – than today. If the
Humans have been trying to ‘let it go’ long before Queen Elsa began singing in her icy isolation. Now that many in the world are facing their longer quarantines, it’s become much harder to stop ruminating on all our fresh concerns. A new psychology study has come at just the right time. Brain imaging
With bizarrely ornate feathers and outrageous dances, New Guinea’s birds-of-paradise are glorious living examples of how sexual selection can make animals’ evolution get hilariously whacked. Now we have evidence that such fancy and impractical flamboyance was a thing well before modern birds even evolved. A chicken-sized dinosaur with a dense mane of thick hair-like
Supercontinents – giant landmasses made up of multiple continents – could emerge again on Earth 200 million years from now, and where they form on the globe could drastically affect our planet’s climate. Scientists recently modeled this “deep future” view of Earth with a supercontinent makeover, presenting their findings Dec. 8 at the annual
How many particles do you need before individual atoms start behaving collectively? According to new research, the number is incredibly low. As few as six atoms will start transitioning into a macroscopic system, under the right conditions. Using a specially designed ultra-cold laser trap, physicists observed the quantum precursor of the transition from a