We May Finally Know How Lightning Gets Its Zigzag Shape : ScienceAlert
Everyone has seen lightning and marveled at its power. But despite its frequency – about 8.6 million lightning strikes occur worldwide every day – why lightning proceeds in a series…
Earth’s Oxygen Came From an Unexpectedly Deep And Hot Source, Study Suggests : ScienceAlert
The amount of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere makes it a habitable planet. Twenty-one percent of the atmosphere consists of this life-giving element. But in the deep past – as…
Millions of ‘Silent Synapses’ Could Be The Key to Lifelong Learning : ScienceAlert
Newborns need to store vast amounts of new information quickly as they learn to navigate the world. Silent synapses – the immature connections between neurons that have no neurotransmitter activity…
Astronomers Spot The Biggest Galaxy Ever, And The Scale Will Break Your Brain : ScienceAlert
Earlier this year, astronomers found an absolute monster of a galaxy. Lurking some 3 billion light-years away, Alcyoneus is a giant radio galaxy reaching 5 megaparsecs into space. That’s 16.3…
Engineers Propose an Ambitious Plan to Bury Excess Carbon at The Bottom of The Ocean : ScienceAlert
Our failure to decisively mitigate climate change is prompting researchers to examine more drastic approaches, like fertilizing the oceans to combat the massive excess of carbon dioxide in our air.…
A ‘Wormhole’ Built on a Quantum Computer Teleported Information as Predicted : ScienceAlert
For the first time, scientists have created a quantum computing experiment for studying the dynamics of wormholes – that is, shortcuts through spacetime that could get around relativity’s cosmic speed…
Giant Asteroid Unleashed a Devastating Martian Megatsunami, Evidence Suggests : ScienceAlert
Multiple lines of evidence suggest that Mars wasn’t always the desiccated dustbowl it is today. In fact, the red planet was once so wet and sloshy that a megatsunami was…
It Sounds Crazy, But Walking Backwards Is Really, Really Good For You : ScienceAlert
Walking doesn’t require any special equipment or gym memberships, and best of all, it’s completely free. For most of us, walking is something we do automatically. It doesn’t require conscious…
Psychologists Found a Weird Trick That Changes How Food Tastes : ScienceAlert
If your kids aren’t keen on a particular dish, you might want to try changing the look of the crockery it’s served in. A new study has revealed how the…
Astronomers See a Star’s Final Scream Into a Black Hole Halfway Across The Universe : ScienceAlert
Light that traveled for more than 8.5 billion years to reach us was the last gasp of a dying star as a black hole swallowed it. Two separate teams of…
Oldest Known Dog Bone Hints Our Best Friends Were With Us Earlier Than Thought : ScienceAlert
An ancient bone is helping scientists refine the timeline of humanity’s relationship with our best friends – the canine companions that have brightened our lives for millennia. How many millennia?…
Chilling Glimpse Into Our Future if We Survive Another Million Years : ScienceAlert
Most species are transitory. They go extinct, branch into new species or change over time due to random mutations and environmental shifts. A typical mammalian species can be expected to…
Forests at Risk of Burning an Extra 30 Days a Year Without Climate Action : ScienceAlert
Without strong climate action, forests on every continent will be highly flammable for at least 30 extra days per year by the end of the century – and this fire…
A Tobacco Plant Has Been Engineered to Produce Cocaine in Its Leaves : ScienceAlert
Used by humans as a stimulant and anesthetic for thousands of years, the drug commonly known as cocaine has been carefully shaped by species of the coca plant (Erythroxylum) over…
Cannabis For Pain Relief? Review of 20 Studies Provides Sobering Results : ScienceAlert
Cannabis is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. While there are only a few countries where cannabis is legal for recreational use, many more countries have…
A Strange Thing Happens to Wolves Infected by Infamous Mind-Altering Parasite : ScienceAlert
A study of 26 years’ worth of wolf behavioral data, and an analysis of the blood of 229 wolves, has shown that infection with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii makes wolves…
These Mysterious Fungi Belong to an Entirely New Branch on The Tree of Life : ScienceAlert
Some of Earth’s weirdest fungi, including types of lichen, mycorrhizal, and insect symbiotes, never quite seemed to fit in our current tree of life. But a new genetic analysis discovered…
Mummies With Golden Tongues Discovered in Ancient Egyptian Necropolis : ScienceAlert
Archaeologists have discovered several ancient mummies in Egypt sporting gold chips where their tongues should be. The auspicious discovery was made at the Quweisna (sometimes spelled Quesna) necropolis in the…
Crocodiles Seem to Be Thriving in a Toxic River That’s More Like a Sewer. Here’s Why : ScienceAlert
In one of the most polluted rivers in Central America, a vulnerable crocodile species is thriving despite living in waters that have become a sewer for Costa Rica’s capital, experts…
Mars Once Had So Much Water, It Could Have Been An Ocean World, Scientists Say : ScienceAlert
Today, Mars is colloquially known as the ‘Red Planet’ on account of how its dry, dusty landscape is rich in iron oxide (aka. ‘rust’). In addition, the atmosphere is extremely…
Do You Need to Drink Eight Glasses of Water a Day? It’s Complicated : ScienceAlert
It’s unclear exactly where the myth that humans need to drink eight glasses of water a day came from – but we’ve probably all heard it at some point in…
An AI Found an Unknown ‘Ghost’ Ancestor in The Human Genome : ScienceAlert
Nobody knows who she was, just that she was different: A teenage girl from over 50,000 years ago of such odd uniqueness she appeared to be a ‘hybrid’ ancestor to…
Study Attempts to Unravel The Best Ratio of Land to Ocean For Exoplanet Habitability : ScienceAlert
Earth is about 29 percent land and 71 percent oceans. How significant is that mix for habitability? What does it tell us about exoplanet habitability? There are very few places…
10 Days After Its Launch, Orion Has Successfully Entered Lunar Orbit : ScienceAlert
NASA’s Orion spacecraft was placed in lunar orbit Friday, officials said, as the much-delayed Moon mission proceeded successfully. A little over a week after the spacecraft blasted off from Florida…
Octopus Brains Evolved to Share a Surprising Trait in With Our Brains : ScienceAlert
EMBARGO Friday 25 November 1900 GMT | Saturday 26 November 0600 AEDT Our glorious little blue marble of a planet is filled with an astonishingly diverse array of lifeforms, but…
The Science Behind Why You Sprain Your Ankle So Often, And What You Can Do About It : ScienceAlert
Are you one of those people who seems to be forever spraining their ankle? To some extent, ankle sprains are part and parcel of being active. But if it’s happening…
Alzheimer’s Gene Doesn’t Guarantee Dementia. Here’s What You Can Do to Reduce Risk : ScienceAlert
Chris Hemsworth, famous for his role as the god Thor in Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, has announced he will be taking a break from acting after being told he has…
Scientists Glimpse Incoming Asteroid Just Hours Before It Makes Impact : ScienceAlert
For just the sixth time in recorded history, astronomers managed to catch a glimpse of an asteroid before it slammed into Earth. On 19 November 2022, nearly four hours before…
Scientists Revived Ancient ‘Zombie Viruses’ Frozen For Eons in Siberia : ScienceAlert
As the world warms up, vast tranches of permafrost are melting, releasing material that’s been trapped in its icy grip for years. This includes a slew of microbes that have…
People in Portland Planted Trees. Decades Later, a Stunning Pattern Emerged : ScienceAlert
Money may not grow from trees, but something even better does. In a new study led by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, researchers found that each tree…
Colossal Exoplanet Is One of The Most Massive Super-Earths Ever Discovered : ScienceAlert
A newly found exoplanet just 200 light-years away could shed new light on one of planetary science’s strangest mysteries. At around 1.8 times the radius of Earth, the object named…
The FDA Just Approved The Most Expensive Drug in The World : ScienceAlert
The United States Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved a new treatment for a rare blood clotting disease, one with a hefty price tag. Per dose, it’ll cost US$3.5…
Two Black Holes Met by Chance, And It Created Something Never Seen Before : ScienceAlert
The ripples in space-time generated by colliding black holes have taught us a lot about these enigmatic objects. These gravitational waves encode information about black holes: their masses, the shape…
Mysterious Changes Identified in The Brains of People Who Get Migraines : ScienceAlert
Scientists may have just found a major new clue that could help solve the frustrating and ongoing mystery of the migraine. Using ultra-high-resolution MRI, researchers found that perivascular spaces –…
Volcanoes May Have Transformed Venus Into a Blistering Hellscape : ScienceAlert
Is there anything good about volcanoes? They can be violent, dangerous, and unpredictable. For modern humans, volcanoes are mostly an inconvenience, sometimes an intriguing visual display, and occasionally deadly. But…
Hypertension Inside Your Eye Could Be Making It Age Faster, Scientists Say : ScienceAlert
Just like most parts of the human body, our eyes gradually deteriorate over time. A new study now shows how stress can accelerate this aging process, a discovery that could…
‘SuperGPS’ Technology Accurately Pinpoints Your Position Within Inches : ScienceAlert
Many of us rely on GPS (Global Positioning System) to estimate travel times, find our way to new places, avoid traffic congestion, keep track of the kids, and generally avoid…
‘Baby Brain’ Is Real, Scientists Confirm, And We May Finally Know Why : ScienceAlert
The mental fog that can come with pregnancy – commonly referred to as ‘baby brain’ – isn’t merely the result of discomfort, stress, and sleepless nights: A mother’s brain really…
Unabated Carbon Is Shrinking Earth’s Upper Atmosphere, Scientists Warn : ScienceAlert
Rising levels of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere could exacerbate efforts to clean up our increasingly cluttered shell of orbiting space junk. According to two new studies, the greenhouse gas…
Rapidly Melting Glaciers Are Releasing a Staggering Payload of Unknown Bacteria : ScienceAlert
Fast-melting glaciers are releasing staggering amounts of bacteria into rivers and streams, which could transform icy ecosystems, scientists warn. In a study of glacial runoff from 10 sites across the…
The Cause of Alzheimer’s Could Be Coming From Inside Your Mouth : ScienceAlert
In recent years, a growing number of scientific studies have backed an alarming hypothesis: Alzheimer’s disease isn’t just a disease, it’s an infection. While the exact mechanisms of this infection…