Before its mysterious collapse more than 1,000 years ago, the Maya civilisation in Mesoamerica was home to one of the densest populations in human history. But as the ancient and burgeoning civilisation spread across the Yucatan peninsula, it left a pernicious mark on the environment that can still be observed today. A new study shows
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A year ago, the Great American total solar eclipse evoked awe, wonder and bewilderment, as Earth dwellers briefly had the chance to bask in the shadow of the Moon. Close to 200 million Americans viewed the spectacle in some way, including roughly 15 million lucky folks who managed to squeeze themselves within the path of
It looks like something out of a sad fairy tale. Tiny ants are pulling over petals, making a pile, and on top rests a dead bumblebee. The original video was posted by Minnesota resident Nicole Webinger, but has since been taken down – although there’s no shortage of copies proliferating across the internet. “Saw this
They’re incredible. Amazing. Magical. But perhaps the most fantastic thing about lucid dreams – in which the dreamer becomes aware they’re dreaming – is how realistic they seem. Sadly, only about half of us ever experience lucid dreams in our lives, and efforts to trigger the phenomenon have delivered mixed results. But now, new research
How much pressure does light exert on the matter with which it interacts? It’s a problem that’s confounded scientists for nearly 150 years – and it may now have a solution. A team of researchers have come up with a method for measuring the effect a photon has on matter. Even though a photon has
The Meg had one of the biggest opening weekends at the box office this year, taking in more than US$45 million. At the center of the movie is the megalodon, a giant prehistoric shark that ate whales and was 10 times bigger than a Tyrannosaurus rex. Scientists believe the megashark went extinct at least 2
Everybody loves a good optical illusion - and this recently discovered perception trick has us questioning how we see the world around us. Take a look at those lines in the image above (or you can see the full picture below if you scroll down a bit). What kind of lines do you see? Are they
Well, well, well. Looks like the jig is up. The “new kind of aurora” discovered earlier this year, and subsequently named “STEVE” (if that is even its real name) has been rumbled. It seems Steve isn’t an aurora after all. But that doesn’t mean the game is over. Because Steve’s actual identity may be even
Not everybody ‘gets’ art, but one man’s failure to comprehend the artwork in front of him was so extreme he literally fell through a black void into limbo. A museum visitor scrutinising Anish Kapoor’s Descent Into Limbo at the Serralves Museum in Portugal let curiosity get the better of him when inspecting the ultra-black optical
Archaeologists have had a closer look at the bones inside that mysterious black granite sarcophagus, and now have a better idea about who was inside. The three skeletons belonged to two men and a woman, who lived during the early Ptolemaic period. Discovered in Alexandria in July, the sarcophagus – a stone receptacle for the
Shadowy craters near the Moon’s poles may hide untold reserves of ice – an incredibly precious resource in space – within reach of robotic and human explorers. That’s one big takeaway from a new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers took data from US and Indian lunar
A new study has demonstrated that a bunch of the important brain processes known as ‘executive functions’ aren’t affected by someone’s sex or gender, as it has been argued before. The research references more than 150 previous studies into executive functions and associated behaviour, finding “small and subtle to no sex and gender differences in
It was 5,000 years ago. In Africa’s shifting environment, an early society came together on the shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana, and they built something so rare and remarkable, researchers have never seen anything quite like it. Five millennia later, an international team of archaeologists has now uncovered what this ancient structure was: a massive,
The puzzle of how Einstein’s equivalence principle plays out in the quantum realm has vexed physicists for decades. Now two researchers may have finally figured out the key that will allow us to solve this mystery. Einstein’s physical theories have held up under pretty much every classical physics test thrown at them. But when you
Research suggests that you’re more likely to find a narcissist in the corner office than just about anywhere else. As psychoanalyst leadership expert Michael Maccoby has argued, that’s because narcissists often thrive in leadership roles, since so-called “productive narcissists” are super comfortable with risk and charming enough to get people’s backing for their ideas. “Narcissists
The Arctic permafrost really should stay frozen. In many places it’s been frozen for tens of thousands of years, locking away greenhouse gasses and ancient diseases. Unfortunately, our planet’s changing climate is denting permafrosts around the world. And now NASA-funded research has confirmed that the expected gradual thawing of the Arctic permafrost is being dramatically
Their name means ‘monster’, and once upon a time, ancient sailors feared that’s exactly what these giant creatures of the deep were. But while basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) might be the second-largest fish in the ocean, these gentle giants are not fearsome predators but vulnerable plankton-eaters – and despite their massive size, there’s still a
A new report reveals that a shocking amount of contact lens users – nearly 20 percent – dispose of those little plastic circles in a terribly irresponsible way, by flushing them down the toilet or the drain of the sink. Of an estimated 45 million US contact lens wearers, that’s around 9 million right there.
In astronomy, cutting-edge technology often begins with a bunch of bulldozers, busted rocks, and dump trucks. So it goes with the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), which will the world’s largest and most powerful when it sees “first light” in 2024. Astronomers hope to use the huge observatory to study the ancient universe and look for
At the time of writing, more than 430 people have died following an earthquake in the Indonesian island of Lombok. A further 2,500 people have been hospitalised with serious injuries and over 270,000 people have been displaced. Earthquakes are one of the deadliest natural disasters, accounting for just 7.5 percent of such events between 1994 and
In a truly fascinating case, scientists have discovered that what was once thought to be an extremely rare, elusive songbird in Africa, may have never existed after all. For more than 30 years, experts tried to catch a glimpse of a bird so evasive it was deemed almost mythical. And last year, DNA analysis pointed
You probably use Wi-Fi on the regular to connect your smartphone, computer, or other electronic device to the glory of the world wide web. But soon, that same technology could also keep you safe in real-life public areas. According to a peer-reviewed study led by researchers from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, ordinary Wi-Fi can effectively and cheaply detect
The news that, after 106 years, Captain Scott’s fruitcake was found by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and ‘smelled edible’, raises the question: are there other foods that have similar staying power? The answer is, yes, several. 1. Honey In 2015, archaeologists reported that they’d found 3,000-year-old honey while excavating tombs in Egypt, and it was
For years, dieters have had to deal with a lot of conflicting advice on how to eat. First, fat was the bad guy. Then it was considered ideal to avoid sugar and go low-carb. Lately, dieters trying the trendy ketogenic diet have discovered that if they replace carbs with fat, they can trick their bodies into a
Former US president Barack Obama famously had a wardrobe full of identical suits. As a world leader, life presents more than enough big decisions – Obama’s reasoning was that it made sense to minimise the complexity of the small decisions. Artists are often thought of as rather different. Francis Bacon, for example, had a tempestuous
Quick: Pick one of these colours. Just the first one that catches your eye, don’t overthink it. Now pick a number between zero and nine. Got it? Good, now scroll past this photo of a dog yawning. Shutterstock If I were a betting man, I’d bet you picked blue and seven. Not everyone makes those choices,
The headlines of record-crushing heat in the Northern Hemisphere began in June and haven’t stopped midway through August. Scores of locations on every continent north of the equator have witnessed their hottest weather in recorded history. The swelter has intensified raging wildfires in western North America, Scandinavia and Siberia, while leading to heat-related deaths in Japan and eastern
There’s amazing stuff happening every day in the wide and wonderful world of science. We’re hoping you didn’t miss a thing! Just in case you did, though, or if you wanted a recap, here are some of our favourite stories of the week. And for those of you who are all over the news, see
This new Hubble image is an excellent way to remind yourself of the sheer enormity of the Universe. The space-based telescope pointed its delicate instrumentation at a particular region of the sky for hours, peering deep into space to a distance of 11 billion light-years – just 3 billion years after the Big Bang. It
Ants don’t tend to get in traffic jams. They might butt heads (or antennae) momentarily as they go about their industrious business, but ants somehow have mastered the art of keeping things moving. They’re geniuses of flow. Another striking thing about ants is that some of them just sit around doing nothing. This has also
A chemical analysis of fossils from 3.4 billion years ago has put them firmly in the running for the title of “world’s oldest evidence of life.” Only discovered in 2011, the microfossils hail from the Strelley Pools formation in the Western Australian desert – an extraordinary find, considering Earth is thought to be around 4.5
During this week 106 years ago, New Zealand was talking about the future of our planet. The predictions weren’t uplifting. On August 14, 1912, a newspaper called the Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette printed a prescient paragraph in its “science notes and news” section. The brief note warned that Earth’s atmosphere was
Elon Musk’s Boring Company, founded in late 2016, has only sold merchandise so far. But this week, it announced plans to build a 3-mile (5-kilometre) tunnel that could transport people in Los Angeles to Dodger Stadium in just four minutes. The Boring Company says its new tunnel to Dodger Stadium will be the first public
Astronomers were just looking through photographs received from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Monday, when they noticed something slightly out of place. There, on the surface of the enigmatic Red Planet, in one of the few regions not obscured by a dust storm, was none other than the wide-eyed Beaker – the shy and ill-fated
Scientists just worked out a way of rapidly producing a mineral capable of storing carbon dioxide (CO2) – giving us a potentially exciting option for dealing with our increasingly overcooked planet. Magnesite, which is a type of magnesium carbonate, forms when magnesium combines with carbonic acid – CO2 dissolved in water. If we can produce
The shredded carcasses of microscopic marine algae could play an important role in the formation of clouds over the world’s oceans, a new study has found. We all know clouds form as microscopic water droplets in the air condense on the surface of microscopic particles. These particles can be soluble – such as where salt crystals
High above our heads, there’s a mysterious Russian satellite. And the strange way it’s acting – according to the US State Department – is unlike any satellite we’ve seen before. “We don’t know for certain what it is and there is no way to verify it,” US Assistant Secretary for Arms Control, Yleem D.S. Poblete,
There’s a distinct line between the truly profound and what sounds a bit like it might be profound. But isn’t. And doesn’t actually make any sense. At all. Researchers call the latter thing “pseudo-profound bullshit” (seriously), and as funny as it sounds, it’s an important subject of scientific study. Why? Because the more we find
Thousands of years ago, on what is now the Greek island of Santorini, a mountain exploded in one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history. But scientists have had difficulty establishing exactly when the Minoan volcano Thera erupted – until now. An unusual source may be able to settle the debate from conflicting archaeological
If our Universe happened to be locked in an eternal heartbeat of expansion and collapse, black holes would leave an impression. And it could look just like a number of swirls recently detected in the faint echo of light at the edge of space. It’s hardly the smoking gun for what’s called the conformal cyclic
Melbourne lost its “most liveable city” title yesterday and is confronting being runner-up to Vienna after seven years at the top. These rankings are based on The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, which “assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions”. But the tool was actually designed to
If you notice dogs aiming as high as possible when they pee in public, there might be a very good reason for that: they’re trying to trick other dogs into thinking they’re taller than they really are. We already know that dogs leave a urine marker to label their territory or as a calling card
It’s starting to feel real. Boeing and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) have contracts with NASA to fly astronauts to the International Space Station as part of what’s known as the Commercial Crew Program. Seven years after the end of the space shuttle program, NASA introduced the astronauts who will fly with both companies.
If planets come any hotter than KELT-9b we’re yet to find them. Not only does this roasted ball of gas win first prize for scorching temperatures, it can now claim to be the first planet known to have free-roaming atoms of iron and titanium in its atmosphere. To most of us, the discovery is just
Way out past Pluto, in the region of asteroid-filled space known as the Kuiper belt, NASA probe New Horizons just got a tantalising hint of a long-sought structure in the outer Solar System. An ultraviolet glow picked up by the probe’s Alice UV spectrometer could be evidence of the ‘hydrogen wall’, a region of dense
Disney is making humanoid robots that can perform mind-boggling stunts in midair, according to TechCrunch. Disneyland parks have incorporated animatronics into their displays for decades, but with its new project, “Stuntronics,” Disney hopes to take performing robotics to the next level. The project was born of a research experiment named “Stickman.” Stickman was a robot
The past four years have been the four warmest ever recorded – and now, according to a new scientific forecast, the next five will also probably be “anomalously warm,” even beyond what the steady increase in global warming would produce on its own. That could include another record warmest year, even warmer than the current
George Aldrich has more nicknames than most. Some people call him the Chief Sniffer. Others have called him Nostrildamus, NASA Nose and Master Sniffer. Aldrich prefers the term ‘nasalnaut’, because for several decades, he has been using his nose for the common good at NASA. “I have been a Chemical Specialist at NASA for 44
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