Tardigrades, aka water bears or moss piglets, have experienced a recent upsurge in popularity. They’re tiny little critters (only about 0.5 millimeters, or 0.02 inches), and scientists have known about them since the eighteenth century. But despite scientists studying them for hundreds of years, there’s plenty we are still learning about tardigrades. For example,...
Read more →
It’s well known that dolphins are quite intelligent, but did you know that they have been known to show forethought, an understanding of delayed gratification, and even planning? In 1993, a dolphin at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi named Kelly learned that bringing litter to her keepers would earn her fish....
Read more →
Scientists have recently been studying the possible use of ketamine as a fast-acting treatment for depression, particularly major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. Ketamine is predominantly used as a medication for starting and maintaining anesthesia, for humans and domestic animals. It has also been used as a recreational drug. But with low, subanesthetic doses,...
Read more →
Math and probability are fascinating topics, which not everyone enjoy. But for those who are fans of these things, there are all sorts of unusual facts in these fields. This article lists ten of the most surprising math facts. Of them, the Birthday Paradox was a familiar one, though we’re still not sure how...
Read more →
We know that plants are alive, but did you know that they can be sedated with the same drugs used to sedate humans? Scientists have recently published a study in the Annals of Botany that details their experiments on the effects of a variety of drugs on pea plants. “Under anesthetics, the physical properties of...
Read more →
While many people chirp or make other noises at their pet birds or birds in the wild, humans and birds in Mozambique actually communicate with one another through the sounds they make. The Yao people of Mozambique and the honeyguide birds (Indicator indicator) work together to locate honey and the honeycombs that contain the...
Read more →
These monkeys are just as shocked as we are that that some of their cousins have been cloned! Using the same technology that allowed for the cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996, Chinese scientists have now created identical long-tailed macaques named Hua Hua and Zhong Zhong. While monkeys have been cloned previously using a...
Read more →
A research team in Pennsylvania hopes to experiment with injecting stem cells into the spinal column of brain-dead individuals to see if it will restore them to functionality. The stem cells aren’t the only method that will be used–“an injected protein blend, electrical nerve stimulation, and laser therapy directed at the brain” are other...
Read more →
Mass disappearances have happened throughout history, but one of the most curious is the disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion from somewhere between what is now England and Scotland, in the second century A.D. The Roman Ninth Legion was one of the most formidable forces of the Roman Army in Britain, which the Romans...
Read more →
Alien geometry is a common trope in cosmic horror. You can’t swing a dead eldritch horror without hitting geometry that is “abnormal, non-Euclidean, and loathsomely redolent of spheres and dimensions apart from ours.” But what does that look like? Some mathematicians and game designers have worked to make exploring strange geometry fun. There’s certainly...
Read more →