There are many sides to this story. Scientists remain baffled over a mysterious 12-sided bronze object dating back to the Roman Empire — theorizing it could be anything from a candle holder to a “cosmic symbol.” The first Roman dodecahedron was discovered in 1739 in the English Midlands. Since then,120 of the geometric enigmas have … Read more
It gives new meaning to dog years. Various types of sled dogs have been used by humans across the Arctic for almost 10,000 years, but new research reveals one particular type to be the oldest continuously domesticated breed. According to a new study published in Science, Qimmit have been kept by Inuit populations in Greenland … Read more
Move over, fashion week — the hottest accessory of the season is a blade of grass shoved in your ear. Or, for the truly daring: your butt. Chimpanzees at a Zambian wildlife sanctuary are going viral — not for escaping or throwing poo, but for their bizarre behavior that’s as puzzling as it is cheeky. … Read more
Where does the time go? For once, we know for sure — sort of. If tomorrow, July 9, feels even shorter than your average day filled with too much to do, there’s a scientific phenomenon that’s to blame, scientists say. This summer, Earth is suddenly spinning faster as a result of the moon’s position, the experts … Read more
No, this photo-bombing pachyderm is not an apparition, a phantasm or a spooky specter. He is the only African forest elephant to be spotted — via remote trail cam — in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park in five long years. The “ghost” epithet can be applied to a range of endangered species, but ghost elephants in … Read more
Stop, hammertime! Weeks of heavy rain have prompted a plague of massive, toxic hammerhead flatworms to erupt from the ground in North Texas, much to the chagrin of frightened locals. “It was terrifying, like these are truly the end times, even the worms are demonic,” Keller resident Adam Ingle told NBC5 of the subterranean scourge, which … Read more
As it turns out, our personalities are, in fact, shaped by the environments we grow up in, and Nevada, New York, South Dakota, and Texas contain the highest percentages of those in possession of “dark personality traits.” A recent study conducted by Ingo Zettler, Lau Lilleholt, Benjamin E. Hilbig, Morten Moshagen, and Martina Bader at … Read more
Archaeologists finally broke the cipher on 255 strange symbols etched into a Canadian rock over 200 years ago — and it’s the Lord’s Prayer… in Swedish. Discovered in 2018 after a tree fell near Wawa, Ontario (just a stone’s throw from Michigan), the bizarre runes had stumped many — until Ryan Primrose from Ontario’s archaeology … Read more
The spotted lanternfly might be the least of your worries this summer. Experts are sounding the alarm about the Asian needle ant — a tiny but dangerous insect moving across the US whose sting can lead to severe and even deadly reactions. As Americans flock outdoors to soak up the sunshine, scientists are urging caution … Read more
‘Core season,’ as the pros at NASA have dubbed it, is officially upon us. While the ‘core’ of the Milky Way galaxy is visible in the night sky across the Northern Hemisphere almost all summer long, experts have long recognized June as the ultimate time of year for stargazers. Preston Dyches, messaging strategist at NASA, … Read more
This discovery made major waves. Researchers have discovered a vessel that sank over 140 years ago — closing the book on one of the UK’s most enduring maritime mysteries. Footage of the long-lost wreckage is currently making waves online. The historic steamer, dubbed the SS Nantes, had sunk in 1888 after colliding with a German … Read more
Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s … genetic optimization? Prospective parents using in vitro fertilization (IVF) will soon be able to select embryos based on their potential risk for diseases — including illnesses that develop later in life — thanks to a groundbreaking $5,999 service announced this week by a US biotech company. “Before … Read more
Talk about a kid with a lot of heart. A 14-year-old from Frisco, Texas, developed a groundbreaking smartphone app to detect early signs of heart disease in just seven seconds. Circadian AI records heart sounds, filters out ambient noise and analyzes the data using a cloud-based machine learning model — all by placing a smartphone … Read more
An estimated 39 million people around the world are living with HIV — and, while treatment options can ensure they have long, healthy lives, there is no known cure. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) — the most effective current treatment — can reduce HIV levels in the body so low the virus is almost undetectable. An estimated … Read more
Skipping dessert really can leave you down in the dumps. No one who’s been on a diet has ever said, “I love calorie restriction,” but a new study has found a not-so-surprising link between low-cal eating and depression. And some people have it worse than others. Researchers found that men and those whose BMI classified … Read more
Quiet, please! If the sounds of chewing, crunching, slurping, yawning, pen clicking, tapping, water dripping, sniffling, whistling and breathing make you angry or even panicked, you may have misophonia. The term, coined in 2001, describes a chronic condition in which certain sounds trigger strong negative responses that can affect daily life and social interactions. If … Read more
John Brenkus, the host of “Sport Science” that aired on ESPN, died by suicide, TMZ reported on Tuesday, citing the Virginia Department of Health, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. His family announced Sunday that he had died following a battle with depression at 54 years old. “It is with profound sadness that we share … Read more
Forget killer asteroids and nuclear annihilation — Earth’s ultimate fate may hinge on a cosmic coin toss. Astronomers have revealed that our Milky Way galaxy has a 50/50 chance of colliding with its massive neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy, sometime in the next 10 billion years — an intergalactic smash-up that could fling our solar system … Read more
A real ache-ievement! Duke University researchers have devised a promising, potent pain reliever — seemingly without the harmful side effects and addictive highs of opioids. While opioids interact with numerous cellular pathways, the experimental drug is more selective. SBI-810 targets a receptor in the brain and spinal cord, activating a single pain-relief signal while steering … Read more
Florida’s about to get a free shipment of dust — straight from the desert. A mammoth cloud of Saharan dust, roughly the size of the continental U.S., is barreling across the Atlantic and expected to smother parts of the Sunshine State in a rusty haze this week. The gritty gift from North Africa has already … Read more