Too much free time can be just as depressing as no free time — if you’re wasting all of it
Sometimes, you just have to get up and do a thing to be happy.
Sugarcane, slaves, empire-toppling — the story of rum
This spirit had a very busy history.
Machine learning tool 99% accurate at spotting early signs of Alzheimer’s in the lab
That's one job the robots can take, then.
Swedish company produces the first slab of steel that didn’t require any coal
We've come a long way from peat furnaces and bog iron.
The crowd can do as good a job spotting fake news as professional fact-checkers — if you group up enough people
"Quantity has a quality all its own" is an infamous quote, but it's not wrong.
Oil spill from Syria is close to hitting Cyprus’ shores
Hopefully, everyone will be banding together and doing their utmost best to tackle this spill.
Raptor birds around the world are in decline, as they struggle with habitat loss and poisoned foods
It’s a global problem, affecting over half of all species.
Your brain is cleaning itself while you’re dreaming, new research suggests
Keep it squeaky clean, everybody!
Our brains fire up their ‘prediction engine’ when faced with uncertainty — at least with music
They just hate not knowing what’s coming.
Fossil Friday: ancient roots show how trees came to be
“So many dramatic changes occurred at that time as a result of those original forests that basically, the world has...
Purple bacteria turn sewage into hydrogen fuel
Purple is the new black.
Green areas, especially woodlands, are key for children’s development
Cities have many upsides -- but some are nature’s alone.
Rattlesnakes modulate their tail wagging to make you think they’re closer than they are
Actually, I'm not mad at all. Thank you, snakebros.
Social isolation can lead to overeating and under-sleeping — if you’re a fruit fly
But we may be very similar to the flies in this regard.
Leaky pipes in Baltimore are funneling a lot of pharmaceuticals into local waterways
The paper illustrates how outsized an effect old or damaged infrastructure can have on our environment.
Temperature extremes on both ends impair bees’ flight, raising new concerns about climate change
At higher temperatures, bees simply can't fly.
Potential new treatment for drug-resistant depression identified in mice — blocking histamines in the brain
This is the same molecule involved in allergies, but anti-allergy drugs don’t cut it.
Who were the Inca, South America’s largest ancient empire?
One of the most unique among all ancient empires.
Feisty bees make more potent venom, which makes for better medicine
Temperature and geographical location of the hive also have an effect.
Why do beans make us gassy?
An unfortunate side-effect of this tasty legume.
Pesticides, parasites, hunger — bees worldwide are dying faster than we thought, other pollinators might be too
They're definitely not having a buzzing good time.
Biochar can help us keep climate change at bay and more food on the table, according to a new meta-study
I’m always down with more food and fewer heatwaves.
Unprocessed plant-based food keeps your heart healthier at any age
Fewer burgers, more broccoli.
Learning music changes how our brains process language, and vice-versa
Practice makes perfect!
Spanish cave paintings confirmed to have been made by the Neanderthals
They painted it thousands of years before we got to Europe.
Our eyes have a focal point — but images don’t seem to focus on it, weirdly
This, unexpectedly, makes our vision a bit better.
Greece orders emergency measures as heatwave grips the country
The future is here, and it looks drenched in
Radio-wave treatment shows some promise against liver cancer
Although not yet conclusive, the findings are quite encouraging.
The best countries to survive the apocalypse
Let’s hope the scenario stays hypothetical.
The International Space Station was briefly knocked out of position by a Russian module
Everybody is fine and we've put it back in place.
We might have discovered the oldest animal fossils yet in the Canadian Northwest
Now we need to confirm that these were indeed sea sponges.
Sydney extends lockdown for another month as coronavirus cases keep mounting
Low vaccination rates have plunged Australia's cities into repeated lockdowns.
Dementia cases estimated to triple worldwide by 2050, as populations and average age increase
Sometimes, we do have to suffer for our success.
A lab experiment shows that we could engineer malaria-carrying mosquitoes to kill themselves off
Not the kindest thing to do, probably, but it's still a cool idea.
Machine learning is paving the way towards 3D X-rays
It's still not ready for a hospital near you, but it will get there eventually.
Argentinian lake turns bright pink due to industrial pollution
Not pretty, in pink.
Ingenuity has flown a full mile over Mars, and broken its altitude record
Our first Mars helicopter is busy growing into its own.
A drone-flying software outperforms human pilots for the first time
It's not ready for commercial applications, but the potential is there.
Fossil Friday: UK couple accidentally discovers a mother lode of fossils
Not a mean feat at all.
Six cups of coffee a day is enough to start damaging your brain
Going overboard is never good for you.
Archeologists may have figured out why American rabbits were never domesticated
It seems to boil down to "they don't play nice with others".
Cool experiment shows dice ordering themselves in a shaking cylinder
Nothing like a good shake to get you back in order, eh?
Crumbled comet helps researchers understand how their tails form
It roughly overlaps their wake through solar wind.
‘No significant difference’ in air pollution exposure between rush-hour commuters and others
I can't tell whether this is good or bad news. Maybe both.
New AI training approach could finally allow computers to have imaginations
Just you wait until we figure out how to code ADHD.
Climate change is slowing down Europe’s storms, raising flooding risks
The hazard will increase 14-fold by the end of the century.
Why don’t satellites fall down from the sky?
They keep falling, but not down.
Fossil Friday: the oldest kind-of-bat species seen so far, described from set of teeth found in China
The history of bats is surprisingly mysterious. These teeth keep that tradition.
Several city- and state-sized asteroids impacted young Earth. Probably.
It's been so long since then that direct evidence simply isn't around any more.