Twelve members of a boys’ soccer team in Thailand and their coach have been found alive nine days after the group was trapped in a cave in the northern part of the country. The governor of Chiang Rai province, Narongsak Osatanakorn, said that all 13 were found safe at about 10:30 pm local time Monday.
Humans
If you’re going to slather on sunscreen before jumping in the water, you might want to check the label first. The state of Hawaii is moving forward with a groundbreaking plan to ban the sale of all sunscreens containing the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate by the beginning of 2021. The Hawaii senate just sent the
A picture is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, those words sometimes speak lies. A new analysis of almost 1,000 scientific papers has revealed a shocking number contained inappropriately duplicated images – and while many of these resulted from honest mistakes, about one in ten of the papers caught out ended up being retracted. That’s a
Stress is great. It makes us faster, stronger, more agile and our brains have better recall and flexibility. That’s why people are willing to put themselves in stressful work situations or engage in extreme sports. The problem is that uncontrolled, stress can leave us frozen to the spot and unable to think – something all
Some may remember the deadly book of Aristotle that plays a vital part in the plot of Umberto Eco’s 1980 novel The Name of the Rose. Poisoned by a mad Benedictine monk, the book wreaks havoc in a 14th-century Italian monastery, killing all readers who happen to lick their fingers when turning the toxic pages.
Consider this: right now, you are not where you think you are. In fact, you happen to be the subject of a science experiment being conducted by an evil genius. Your brain has been expertly removed from your body and is being kept alive in a vat of nutrients that sits on a laboratory bench.
The internet has been giggling over the latest satellite map discovery, and we can’t blame them. A giant penis drawing has appeared on a dry lake bed in Victoria, Australia. Details on its provenance are scant, but those who think the dick-and-balls shape is the work of crafty photoshopping can easily check out the real
It turns out the unlucky Pompeiian man whose body was found under a giant piece of masonry last month wasn’t crushed to death after all. Archaeologists have finally located and excavated his skull – and it’s in perfect condition. Images of the man’s skeleton went viral at the end of May 2018. He had been
Your snacks drawer may have been worth a lot more in the time of the Maya. A new study has revealed chocolate was used as currency by the ancient civilisation, exchanged for goods and services in the same way we might hand over coins or notes. Dominating Mesoamerica during the first millennium CE, the Maya
It seems inevitable. When we grow older, time seems to speed up as we experience the same things over and over again, and part of it’s because even our favourite things in life have become, sadly, no longer new to us. But is there another way? New research has uncovered a simple trick anyone can
Sometimes it feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to see everybody and do everything. Now we can put a figure on the number of places you’re likely to go to, and it’s way fewer than you’d think. While we all have different habits that change over time, a recent study looked
Receiving explicit images of strangers’ private parts is an ugly, unacceptable reality for many online – but for others, it’s called field work. A researcher in Missouri is right now encouraging literally thousands of men to send her these usually unsolicited nude photos – let’s just call them dick pics for short – to gather
Giving children music lessons won’t just introduce them to a world of rhythm and melody – it could also significantly improve their language skills. While numerous studies have shown that learning an instrument can impact things like language ability, it wasn’t understood if this was a side effect of a general boost to cognitive skills,
For the past 235 years, a 2.31 metre (7 foot 7 inch) tall skeleton has stood overlooking shelves of pickled cancers, malformed limbs and other assorted medical curiosities in London’s Hunterian Museum. Following a statement by the Royal College of Surgeons, it’s possible those bones might at last be laid to rest on the murky
It’s no secret that our brains are exceptionally flexible and can adapt to new situations. Whether it’s a brain reusing parts of itself for surprising purposes, or helping someone live normally with only 10 percent of the brain undamaged, we’ve got a lot to thank brain plasticity for. But neuroscientists haven’t been sure of how
Archaeologists in southern Siberia have unearthed a remarkable find – the mummified remains of a woman, carefully adorned in silk and buried with riches. Miraculously, her resting place was unscathed after being underwater for many years. The team spotted the grave on the bank of the Yenisei River upstream of a giant dam – in
Every summer, thousands and thousands of couples tie the knot. That decision has lasting effects on their health over time. Researchers have identified a variety of trends that show how getting married changes people. There has historically been an idea that marriage is good for your physical and mental health, perhaps due to the idea that
Thousands of people in Sweden have inserted microchips, which can function as contactless credit cards, key cards and even rail cards, into their bodies. Once the chip is underneath your skin, there is no longer any need to worry about misplacing a card or carrying a heavy wallet. But for many people, the idea of
Scientists have thought for decades that one area of the brain simply disappears during human development. Now, genetic similarities between cells in the subplate and neurons linked to autism suggest a different scenario. In a new paper, researchers demonstrate that subplate neurons survive, and in fact become part of the adult cerebral cortex, a brain
Romantic attraction is a complicated thing that scientists still don’t completely understand. But, through research and experimentation, they’ve come up with many ideas about what draws one person to another. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the most compelling scientific insights about the traits and behaviors that make men more appealing to women. The best part? None of the items
So, you might have heard: Scientists figured out how to grow miniature brains out of stem cells. Cool, right? Well, now they managed to grow Neanderthal brains, too. As a result, we have more of an idea of why our populations flourished, helping us become the dominant species on Earth, while theirs faltered. The short
Scientists have struggled for millennia to understand human consciousness – the awareness of one’s existence. Despite advances in neuroscience, we still don’t really know where it comes from, and how it arises. But researchers think they might be closer to identifying its physical origins, after a study pinpointing a network of three specific regions in
The bullet probably hit the Union soldier as he was fleeing. It may have struck his cartridge box first, which sent it tumbling through the muscle of his right buttock, broke his right leg and buried itself sideways in his thigh bone just below the hip. His buddies probably carried him as they retreated before
It seems like a pretty straightforward and reasonable request for authorities to make: do not go near the really hot lava coming out of the volcano. However, the Hawaiian government has had to start arresting people who are trying to get way too close to Hawaii’s active lava flows from the continuously erupting Kīlauea volcano.
If there’s one thing the ancient mathematician Pythagoras of Samos is most famous for, it’s a formula to work out the longest side of a right-angled triangle. The pointy-bearded Greek might get the kudos, but the theorem has popped up independently throughout history, and across the globe. A new book adds another to the list
If you believe in the paranormal you might not be surprised if you hear stories of deceased loved ones appearing during the night, huge explosions heard just as someone is drifting off with no obvious cause, and other peculiar occurrences. But what if you don’t? My interest in the paranormal started with an impromptu coffee
A long-forgotten species of ape has been found buried in a 2,300-year-old tomb. It’s a type of gibbon, which scientists named Junzi imperialis. Gibbons are the smallest apes, chatty and as lanky-limbed as Kermit the Frog. They’re also more closely related to humans than they are to any monkey. And humans, the scientists say, are
The drivers behind climate change denial look to be even more complex than we thought, with new research finding evidence of a “racial spillover” – in which racist attitudes have become linked with skepticism over climate change. A new study examining attitudes to climate change during the Obama presidency found white Americans became significantly less
When Mexico beat Germany 1–0 at the FIFA World Cup on Sunday, the upset was so stunning Earth literally shook at the shock result. It wasn’t natural seismic activity making the ground shake, though, but an artificial quake created entirely by celebrating Mexican fans, whose jumping elation at their team’s unexpected triumph was thunderous enough
Archaeologists excavating the site of a future highway have found a very unusual ancient burial: the skeletons of two men, with smashed skulls, and both legs chopped off at the knees. They were buried with their amputated legs next to their arms. The bodies are among the latest in a long list of discoveries during
It takes a particular kind of person to succeed in politics, but the psychological traits that make for leadership material could be more extreme than anybody ever realised. A first-of-its-kind analysis ranking state-level estimates of psychopathy across the continental United States and the District of Columbia has found Washington DC harbours the highest concentration of
The vast majority of Americans are unprepared or under-prepared for a natural disaster. At least that’s what they said in a recent poll from Business Insider partner MSN. MSN surveyed Americans on their emergency preparedness. It then used machine learning and big data, such as the census, to model how a representative sample of the US
The auditorium at Weeki Wachee Springs sits 5 metres (16 feet) underground. Long wooden benches face a thick glass wall, which stays shrouded in blue curtains, resembling ruched swimsuits. But three or four times a day, the curtains rise to reveal clear water. A ledge juts out, and below, the bottom drops down to a
Three out of four pediatricians disapprove of spanking, research finds. The survey of pediatricians around the US finds that most think spanking seldom or never results in positive outcomes for kids. Catherine Taylor, an associate professor of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, surveyed sent
A new map shows thousands of shipwrecks scattered around Ireland since the 16th century – and it shows how many maritime disasters are still a total mystery. The “Wreck Viewer,” released by the Irish government’s National Monuments Service this April, shows the approximate locations of 3,554 shipwrecks across a 355,000 square mile area around Ireland and
The Inca Empire (1400-1532 CE) is one of few ancient civilisations that speaks to us in multiple dimensions. Instead of words or pictograms, the Incas used khipus – knotted string devices – to communicate extraordinarily complex mathematical and narrative information. But, after more than a century of study, we remain unable to fully crack the
Humanity has long dreamed about sending humans to other planets, even before crewed spaceflight became a reality. And with the discovery of thousands exoplanets in recent decades, particularly those that orbit within neighboring star systems (like Proxima b), that dream seems closer than ever to becoming a reality. But of course, a lot of technical challenges
It’s called MAD. The notion that Mutually Assured Destruction would be inescapable if one nuclear superpower were to unleash its deadly arsenal against another. The reasoning is that by launching a first strike against any nuke-toting enemy, the aggressor would inevitably provoke an automatic counter-attack – ensuring mutual, fiery annihilation. But aside from this fatal
In 1946, Albert Einstein stood in front of students at one of the oldest historically black college in the United States and decried the oppression of African Americans. “There is separation of colored people from white people in the United States. That separation is not a disease of colored people. It is a disease of
Scientists have created the most extensive brain map to date of a person with an extremely rare form of blindness. To Milena Canning, objects are invisible – unless they are moving. Canning, who is 48 and hails from Scotland, wasn’t born blind. She was left without sight 18 years ago after a respiratory infection, a
A defining trend in human intelligence tests that saw people steadily obtaining higher IQ scores through the 20th century has abruptly ended, a new study shows. The Flynn effect – named after the work of Kiwi intelligence researcher James Flynn – observed rapid rises in intelligence quotient at a rate of about 3 IQ points
It might sound like an excuse for a bad hair day, but Uncombable Hair Syndrome (UHS) is actually a real genetic condition. It’s caused by a rare genetic mutation, and creates silvery-blond or straw-coloured hair that is easily damaged and cannot be combed flat. The result? Frizzy, shiny hair that sticks out in all directions. Some
As President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have conducted a meeting in Singapore, it’s worth remembering a key impetus for the summit: North Korea can likely strike anywhere in the US with its nuclear weapons. In July and November, North Korea test-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, that can reportedly deliver nuclear warheads to targets
Scientists studying the skulls of long-dead Incas have made a startling discovery: the patients somehow had twice the survival rate after skull surgery than those operated on during the American Civil War – some 400 years later. This flies in the face of western notions of technical superiority, and contradicts previous assumptions that the technology
Hunger is a complex thing. We’ve all heard of the term ‘hangry’ – when something as simple as skipping a meal can change your mood from pleasant into irrationally cranky. But, as new research shows, ‘hanger’ might be more complicated than just a drop in blood sugar, and according to the researchers, it appears to
You’d think that in the age of the internet, where more information than we can possibly consume in several lifetimes is at our fingertips, stubborn myths from the past would die away. But who among us still thinks the Great Wall of China is visible from space, and that it’s a bad idea to pick
At work, a calendar filled with meetings and deadlines often dictates the cadence of our days. But despite what tightly timed agendas might try to insist, our internal body clocks are secretly running the show. Scientists call this personalised daily pattern of sleep and wakefulness a circadian rhythm. Whether you know it or not, our bodies have a
[ad_1] When you first start dating someone, at least one of your friends will tell you to “play it cool.” It’s a piece of advice that’s almost as old as dating itself, and it’s based on the idea that if you act like you’re not really eager for the relationship, you suddenly become irresistible.