India is getting ready to send humans into space. NPR reports that India's space agency has selected its first four astronaut candidates for the country's first manned space launch, targeted for 2022. As of now, their names and identities haven't been released ... cue the conspiracy theorists.
Read More
Of the many creepy-crawlies that haunt an arachnophobe's nightmares, perhaps none seem so chilling as the dreaded camel spider. But are they as bad as people make them out to be? Here's the creepy truth.
Read More
One of the great unsolved scientific mysteries -- even greater than the question of whether the chicken or the egg came first -- is the question of how life hatched in the first place. Thanks to a new study, scientists may have figured out how life formed on Earth.
Read More
There are few things as universally disgusting as a whiff of rotten milk. Is it really unsafe, though, in addition to being gross? To figure this out, it's important to take a look at what spoiled milk actually does to your body, and assess whether it's ever worth the risk
Read More
Who doesn't like puffins? Just look at the picture, they're adorable. And if for some reason you don't find them cute, the Telegraph reports that Gordon Ramsay thinks they're also quite delicious. But they're talents don't end there. Apparently these seabirds know how to use tools!
Read More
What, one may ask, is the dumbest animal in the world? What beast possesses so little intelligence as to be considered meat with a fart for a brain? Where do we go when we, the apex of natural evolution, want to dunk on the total dip of the animal kingdom?
Read More
There's a reason astronauts use space suits: Given half a chance, space will kill you stone dead. It's a freezing void that isn't prepared to lift a finger to support human life, and exposure to it is pretty much an instant death sentence. Just how long can a human survive in space?
Read More
Here's what happens if you drink gasoline. But seriously, don't do it.
Read More
If you're looking for a boring story, you've come to the right place. But it's not you that will be bored -- it's a mile-long tunnel under Las Vegas, brought to you by the good folks from The Boring Company.
Read More
The human brain: the command center of the body. It tells your meat bits where to go, when to breathe, and whether or not to pump blood all around its insides. But do we really need it? What if you could scoop the old gray matter out and be done with it? How long can a human survive without a brain?
Read More
It's good to know just which particular feline superpower your precious kitten will employ when cats will inevitably rise against us. For instance, which cat breed can you never, ever run away from? Which cat breed is most like the cheetah?
Read More
If you're into stargazing, you might have noticed that the famous wintertime constellation, Orion the Hunter, is acting weird. This is because one of its stars, Alpha Orionis -- which you may know better as Betelgeuse -- is fading. It may be gearing up to go supernova, meaning it may soon explode.
Read More
People have adopted all kinds of animal friends throughout history, but dogs have always been humankind's closest companions. But the contemporary doggo that is the most genetically similar to its ancestors is about the least wolfy little thing imaginable. Here's the dog breed closest to a wolf.
Read More
As you might suspect, the human anatomy has very little in common with the u-bend of a bathroom sink. Here's why you should not drink Drano.
Read More
For all the comic book collectors and mint-condition militants, here's a story of hope. It is the story of a man holding on to a rock for years, hoping it would contain gold, only to learn it was a priceless meteorite.
Read More
Anyone who has ever watched Law & Order will tell you the best way to catch criminals is to look for fingerprints. Everywhere you go, everything you touch gets the full impact on those funky little spirals on each fingertip. But why do we have fingerprints in the first place?
Read More
Scientists have just found a mineral in a meteorite never before seen in nature, according to CNN. Here's the story of a little mineral called Edscottite.
Read More
The world revolves around the sun, and the sun knows exactly how to rock its way out of the 2010s in style. That's why on December 26th, the sun pulled off one final performance -- dubbed by many as a "ring of fire" solar eclipse, for its unique appearance, it amazed crowds throughout Asia.
Read More
It sounds like a scene from a Ghostbusters movie. Liquid evil oozes onto the highway of a gritty city, endangering residents and throwing the area into disarray. Unfortunately, instead of playing in theaters, it played out in real life.
Read More
The economy and industry ministry of Japan this week proposed that the radioactive water accumulating at the Fukushima nuclear plant be released into the sea or evaporated and allowed to fly free like a beautiful carcinogenic bird, according to the Associated Press.
Read More
For ages, men have had it hammered into their skulls that physical strength is integral to their identity. Nowadays, men wrestle with pickle jars just to get them open. Even so, some men lament their comparative lack of strength. But just how strong is the average man?
Read More
In 1689, Johann Weikhard von Valvasor went to press with astonishing news: he'd found baby dragons in Slovenia. Von Valvasor was describing an olm, a species of highly specialized salamanders which live in the cave formations in Eastern Europe. And friend, they're weird to the bone.
Read More
We live in an age of role reversals, where traditional domestic and workplace norms are rapidly shifting to accommodate cultural changes. Now we may also be living in an age of rapid pole reversals -- because scientists are reporting the Earth's magnetic poles are shifting faster than ever, via MNN.
Read More
We've made a big mess of our once pristine planet, treating it the way rocker GG Allin treated his body -- poisoning it with all sorts of noxious concoctions.
Read More
Truffle is brewing throughout North America as feral hogs rampage through billions of dollars of crops. Now they've taken to living in hideouts like "pigloos."
Read More
One spider that doesn't seem to freak out arachnophobes is the daddy long-legs. Who couldn't love a critter with a cute name like that? Big Daddy! Despite their towering, spindly legs, there's something about them that's less creepy-crawly than an ordinary spider. Because they aren't spiders at all.
Read More
There are disturbing stories of people whose whole lives were upended by their visual similarity to a criminal. Setting aside the notion of a doppelganger who transforms your life into a psychological thriller, is there likely to be someone out there you could confuse with a mirror image?
Read More