Shockingly Abundant Life Found Thriving in Darkness Under an Antarctic Ice Shelf

Deep under the ice of Antarctica’s Ekström Ice Shelf there is nothing but complete darkness. Well, complete darkness and a thriving ecosystem that’s existed for thousands of years, according to a new paper by researchers from the UK and Germany.   “This discovery of so much life living in these extreme conditions is a complete … Read more

Crowds Can Cause Bridges to Sway Unnervingly, And We May Finally Know Why

You may have experienced an unsettling amount of swaying and wobbling if you’ve been on a bridge with large numbers of pedestrians traveling over it at the same time. Now, we have a fascinating new explanation for what causes this worrying movement in the structure.   Until now, the thinking went as follows: people fall … Read more

Physicists Claim They’ve Quantum Entangled a Tardigrade With a Qubit. But Have They?

A team of physicists claims to have entangled a superconducting qubit and a tardigrade, moving the freezing, tiny, and well-controlled world of quantum into the “hot and wet” systems of life.   However, the results described in this preprint paper are not quite so cut and dried, and many quantum researchers are arguing that the … Read more

Exciting New Paper Tests a Dark Matter And Black Hole Prediction Made by Hawking

The Universe is too heavy. According to our measurements of the normal matter in the Universe, there’s not nearly enough of it to account for the strength of the gravitational effects we can see.   Whatever is making up the rest of the mass is nothing we can detect directly, and the quest to figure … Read more

New ‘Anti-Aging’ Vaccine Has Increased Mouse Life Spans. Would It Work in Humans?

An experimental vaccine successfully eliminated aging cells from the bodies of mice, helping to prolong the rodents’ lives and reverse some signs of age-related disease. The researchers say the experiment is a step on the road to a similar vaccine for humans, but could it really work?    “I think the data was extremely strong… I think … Read more

The Deepest Images Yet of The Galactic Center Reveal a Beautiful Cosmic Dance

In the heart of the Milky Way, stars tread a complex measure. Bound by the gravitational field of the supermassive black hole in the galactic center, Sagittarius A*, a group of stars known as S-stars swoop on wild, years-long orbits. These orbits were recently studied to measure Sgr A*, a result that won the scientists … Read more

Ice Shelf at Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Won’t Last 5 Years, Scientists Warn

A crucial ice shelf on Antarctica‘s Thwaites Glacier is on track to collapse within five years, accelerating the melting of the notorious ‘doomsday glacier’. Thwaites, which is the size of Florida, is already melting quickly, losing about 50 billion tons of ice per year. The glacier earned its grim nickname because its total collapse would raise global sea … Read more

Mysterious Object That Survived a Close Encounter With a Black Hole Is Unmasked

A mysterious cloud that somehow survived a close encounter with a supermassive black hole has now been unmasked. According to a new study of the object, called G2, it’s actually three baby stars, shrouded in a thick cloud of the gas and dust from which they were born. This interpretation offers a very tidy solution … Read more

Bizarre Transparent Fish That Sees Through Its Own Head Captured in Rare Footage

Thousands of feet beneath the surface of Monterey Bay off California, scientists recently captured footage of a fish with a bulbous, translucent head and green orb-like eyes that peer out through its forehead.   This bizarre creature, known as a barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma), is very rarely seen. Researchers with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research … Read more