Biology

Humans’ Sense of Smell is Far More Precise Than We Thought

There is an oft-referenced factoid, reproduced everywhere from websites to textbooks, that the human nose can distinguish between 10,000 smells. But a recent investigation has revealed this under-investigated figure to be off. Like way, way, way off. Photo Credit: talkingplant via flickr / CC The actual figure? “On the basis of the results of psychophysical…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

These Eerily Accurate Mugshots Were Created From DNA Alone

Everyone knows that DNA can be invaluable when it comes to solving crimes. But now genetic analysis can be used to generate incredibly precise mugshots of criminals, too. https://gizmodo.com/controversial-dna-crime-fighting-technique-keeps-it-all-5595808 Researchers have developed a new technique which uses DNA analysis to determine how genes influence facial shape. In turn, New Scientist reports, that’s allowing them to…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Two beautiful dung beetles in love

How lovely it is to roll a ball of dung among the pink flowers, accompanied by the one you adore the most. This is an illustration from the 1921 publication, Fabre’s Book of Insects. You can see more at the Biodiversity Library on Flickr.

io9 Annalee Newitz

The Most Grotesque Humanoid Monsters of the Early Modern Age

As the human race emerged from the Middle Ages into the start of modernity, we learned more about the world around us. We also took some wild flights of fancy, however. The humanoid creatures we imagined living around us were bizarre, and in some cases horrifying. See the most disturbing creatures of the early modern…

io9 Vincze Miklós

These Amazing Science Books Deserve To Become Documentaries

Thanks to Cosmos, astronomy has a great series to communicate the wonder of space to the public. But what about the other sciences? How can we get a new generation hooked on science in general? Here are some brilliant nonfiction books about science, that absolutely must become documentaries or TV series. These are grouped by…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Scientists resurrect the world’s oldest plant, a 1,500 year-old moss

A patch of moss that lay buried beneath the antarctic ice for over 1,500 years has been successfully revived by scientists, who say that it is now the oldest living plant ever recorded. Scientists have revived very old living organisms before (like this 30,000 year old virus that scientists recently thawed out from the permafrosts…

io9 Ria Misra

Do Want: Handmade Octopus Tentacle Jewelry

Kaity O’Shea is a Los Angeles based artist who loves making badass tentacle jewelry out of polymer clay. Seriously, her work is kind of fantastic. These pictures of items from her collection come from O’Shea’s DeviantART page, but you can score something for yourself on her Etsy and Facebook pages. Personally, we’re rather fond of…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Our brains deliberately make us forget things, to prevent insanity

The ability to retain and recall information is an imperfect process even at the best of times — a shortcoming that now appears to be no accident. A new study shows that our brains are actively making us forget unimportant details, and that if it didn’t, we’d probably go insane. Indeed, people with so-called “photographic…

io9 George Dvorsky

New study suggests humans could become radiation-resistant

In the event of a nuclear accident or blast, humans can be exposed to ionizing radiation that causes cancer and heart disease, among other problems. But now a group of scientists have bred a strain of bacteria that can repair its own radiation damage. This has implications for us, too. One of the ways that…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Five Pieces of Sleep Science You Need to Know

Today is World Sleep Day, designed to make us all celebrate sleep and, presumably, try to get a little bit more of it. But even if you can’t catch more shuteye than usual, here are the five most important things you need to know in order to make the resting hours you do get count.…

Health Jamie Condliffe

The Secret to Holding Your Breath for 20 Minutes

Illusionist and stunt performer Harry Houdini was famously capable of holding his breath for over three minutes. But today, competitive breath-hold divers can squeeze ten, fifteen, even twenty minutes out of a single lungful of air. How do these divers do it — and how can you train to hold your breath for longer? Above:…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

In the future we could use plants to mine the Earth for us

In the future we might not need humans, or even robots, to go down into the Earth and hack out chunks of metal. With a little work, plants might be able to do the mining for us. Which is good news, because mining for metals is tiring and dangerous for a human body. It requires…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Why do rotten foods taste so awful?

Biting into a rotten piece of fruit or meat is a thoroughly unpleasant experience. According to a 40-year-old theory, it’s because microbes have evolved to taste disgusting as a way to fend off competitors — namely you. But proving this theory has been difficult, until now. Back in 1977, ecologist Daniel Janzen proposed the idea…

io9 George Dvorsky

Why Toothpaste Makes Things Taste So Awful

You may think it might be the common mint flavor of toothpaste clashing with other flavors, but in the case of orange juice and many other things, this isn’t actually what’s going on. The culprit here is thought to be two compounds almost universally added to toothpastes -sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium lauryl ether sulfate,…

Tech News Daven Hiskey - TodayIFoundOut.com

Why Elephants Can Recognize Human Voices

Perhaps elephants are known for their memory because their very survival in our human-dominated world depends on it. This may be why elephants can recognize individual people by our voices. Humans are the most significant threat to elephants after lions, but not all humans pose the same threats. New research published today in Proceedings of…

Biology Jason G. Goldman

ALMA Observatory’s new fawn

ALMA Observatory staff interceded to protect this abandoned vicuña fawn when it was being chased by foxes. After failing to reintroduce the fawn to its herd, they stuck it in their truck and brought it back to the observatory. A very lucky young vicuña fawn rescued by observatory staff. Image credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), R. Durán…

Biology Mika McKinnon

Is Eating Your Boogers Good for You?

Does physically taking boogers out of your nose, putting them in your mouth and swallowing boost your immune system? The short answer is probably not. You ingest your snot all the time without needing to channel it through your mouth. So if there is a benefit here, you get it without needing to munch your…

Health Karl Smallwood - TodayIFoundOut.com

What is it like to hear color?

NPR is currently running a great radio piece on posthumanism featuring Neil Harbisson, an artist (and the world’s first government-recognized cyborg) who was born color-blind but now “sees” color with an extrasensory device he wears on his head. You can listen to the NPR piece here, but Harbisson’s TED Talk, above, serves as a good…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Honeybees reveal that evolution is stranger than you ever realized

Darwin’s idea of natural selection is simple. Good mutations are passed on, because the animals who have them will survive to reproduce. But how do you pass on those good mutations in honeybee colonies, where most bees are sterile workers who never have babies? A group of researchers decided to find out. Photo of a…

io9 Annalee Newitz

Who knew an illustration of an abdominal cavity could be so beautiful?

From a much larger collection of anatomical literature and drawings at Heidelberg University comes this surprisingly beautiful illustration by Elisa Schorn. It was Schorn’s use of color, and her organizational decisions, in the images below that originally caught our eye. Even though the drawings were produced around the turn of the 20th century, Schorn’s palette…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Humans’ Sense of Smell is Far More Precise Than We Thought

These Eerily Accurate Mugshots Were Created From DNA Alone

Two beautiful dung beetles in love

The Most Grotesque Humanoid Monsters of the Early Modern Age

These Amazing Science Books Deserve To Become Documentaries

Scientists resurrect the world’s oldest plant, a 1,500 year-old moss

Do Want: Handmade Octopus Tentacle Jewelry

Our brains deliberately make us forget things, to prevent insanity

New study suggests humans could become radiation-resistant

Five Pieces of Sleep Science You Need to Know

The Secret to Holding Your Breath for 20 Minutes

In the future we could use plants to mine the Earth for us

Why do rotten foods taste so awful?

Why Toothpaste Makes Things Taste So Awful

Why Elephants Can Recognize Human Voices

ALMA Observatory’s new fawn

Is Eating Your Boogers Good for You?

What is it like to hear color?

Honeybees reveal that evolution is stranger than you ever realized

Who knew an illustration of an abdominal cavity could be so beautiful?

‘Scream 4’ Is Back, and on Tape

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