Thank you!

We have emailed you a PDF version of the article you requested.

Can't find the email?

Please check your spam or junk folder

IFLScience Home
IFLScience logo

Complete the form below to listen to the audio version of this article

You can unsubscribe at any time. View ourprivacy policy and terms below.

IFLScience needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time.

For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out ourPrivacy Policy

Ad

link to article

The "Face On Mars" At 50: The Face That Launched A Thousand Conspiraciesthe icon face on mars image from the viking 1 orbiter, the face is half in shadow, with another shadow creating the illusion of an eye and parted lipsThe "Face On Mars" At 50: The Face That Launched A Thousand Conspiraciesthe icon face on mars image from the viking 1 orbiter, the face is half in shadow, with another shadow creating the illusion of an eye and parted lips

The "Face On Mars" At 50: The Face That Launched A Thousand Conspiracies

Viking 1 landed on Mars 50 years ago and snapped what would become one of the most famous space images of all time.

clock-icon3 hours ago

link to article

Musk Suggests The Impact Of USAID Cuts Was Overstated, But New Research Tells A Very Different StoryA man prepares food rations for people fleeing violence in South Sudan at the Kule refugee camp in Ethiopia.
health-iconmedicine

Musk Suggests The Impact Of USAID Cuts Was Overstated, But New Research Tells A Very Different Story

clock-icon2 hours ago

link to article

We’re In A Golden Age Of Citizen Science – AI Slop Is Threatening Everything It AchievedA photo showing two images of the same small blue bird standing on a branch, but they are mirroring one another. One the left is a normal photo of the animal, showing its bright blue body and black wings. It also has a black patch over its eye that looks like it went too heavy with its makeup. On the right is the same image but all its color has been enhanced so it looks less real.
nature-iconanimals

We’re In A Golden Age Of Citizen Science – AI Slop Is Threatening Everything It Achieved

clock-icon3 hours ago

Watch As A Seizure Speeds Through A Brain In Fascinating, First-Of-Its-Kind Video

clock-icon3 hours ago

First Humanoid Robot Surgeries Have Been Performed On Live Animals – Why It Could Make Spaceflight Safer

clock-icon7 hours ago

Tuna Rarely Show Up In Public Aquariums, And There Are A Bunch Of Good Reasons Why That's The Case

clock-icon9 hours ago
trending-icon

Trending

link to article

Did The Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Cause The Evolution Of Tuna? It's Not As Simple As ThatA photo of a yellowfin tuna
nature-iconanimals

Did The Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Cause The Evolution Of Tuna? It's Not As Simple As That

Tuna are truly odd fish, growing to massive size and featuring warm blood. But what made them this way?

clock-icon2 days ago

link to article

Four Newly Discovered Lineages of Peruvian Cacao Trees Could Save Chocolate’s FutureThe University of the West Indies' Chocolate Research Center makes it one of the coolest universities in the world, and these are some on-site cacao plants
nature-iconplants

Four Newly Discovered Lineages of Peruvian Cacao Trees Could Save Chocolate’s Future

Having Paddington be from darkest Peru living among such chocolate diversity, yet prefer marmalade sandwiches, has to be considered a major plot hole.

clock-iconJuly 6, 2026
book

Most Read

link to article

Lake Mead Nears All-Time Low. California Gives Up Billions Of Gallons Of Water To Help It SurviveLake Mead water levels as seen from Hoover Dam, showing the distinct white "bathtub ring" where water levels have dropped.
nature-iconenvironment

Lake Mead Nears All-Time Low. California Gives Up Billions Of Gallons Of Water To Help It Survive

The US Bureau of Reclamation will pay California's water district agency $65 million to leave 326,000 gallons of water in the reservoir.

clock-icon6 days ago
comments icon6

link to article

After More Than 60 Years Presumed Dead, A Coral Reef Is Alive and Thriving Off The Coast Of BeninAn underwater photograph of a coral reef showing colorful fan like corals and the sandy bottom of the sea floor.
nature-iconenvironment

After More Than 60 Years Presumed Dead, A Coral Reef Is Alive and Thriving Off The Coast Of Benin

Could this be the first of a whole network of overlooked deep-water reefs off the West African coast?

clock-icon4 days ago
latest-icon

Latest

link to article

Global Cancer Cases May Double By 2050, WHO Report Says – But It Doesn't Need To Be InevitableA close up photo of a patient's arm as they lay in a hospital bed. The arm has a bandage around the wrist where a drip can be connected. The patient is also wearing a medical tag. The rest of their body is out of the frame, but there is gentle morning light coming in through a window in the background.
health-iconhealth

Global Cancer Cases May Double By 2050, WHO Report Says – But It Doesn't Need To Be Inevitable

A new WHO report lays out a stark warning that we all have a stake in changing.

clock-icon1 hour ago

link to article

Rituals For Magic And Healing Have Been Performed In An Australian Cave For 25,000 YearsA standing stone installed 2,000 years ago, seen during excavations. Ashy layers surrounding the stone contain burnt phytoliths.
humans-iconarchaeology

Rituals For Magic And Healing Have Been Performed In An Australian Cave For 25,000 Years

clock-icon2 hours ago

link to article

Prehistoric Rock Art Has An “Organizational Grammar”, And May Have Been Used For Communicative And Ritual PurposesMagdalenian rock art from Ekain Cave
humans-iconancient ancestors

Prehistoric Rock Art Has An “Organizational Grammar”, And May Have Been Used For Communicative And Ritual Purposes

clock-icon4 hours ago

link to article

“Exceptionally” Preserved Cretaceous Snake Fossil Allows For The Reconstruction Of Its BrainAn artist's reconstruction of the new fossil snake showing it burrowing underground.
nature-iconPalaeontology

“Exceptionally” Preserved Cretaceous Snake Fossil Allows For The Reconstruction Of Its Brain

clock-icon5 hours ago
humans-icon

Humans

link to article

How An Ancient Murder Was Solved Using Flies: The World's First Case Of Forensic Entomology In 13th Century ChinaTwo old sickles, lying on the ground.
humans-iconhistory

How An Ancient Murder Was Solved Using Flies: The World's First Case Of Forensic Entomology In 13th Century China

clock-icon2 days ago

link to article

These 5,000-Year-Old Spear-Throwers Are The Oldest In The Andes And May Have Been Used To Hunt Ancient Llama AncestorsAtlatls
humans-iconarchaeology

These 5,000-Year-Old Spear-Throwers Are The Oldest In The Andes And May Have Been Used To Hunt Ancient Llama Ancestors

clock-icon3 days ago

link to article

Pompeii: Archaeologist Reveals What Really Happened Following The 79 CE Eruption Of Vesuvius, One Of History’s Most Catastrophic Natural Disastersover the top of a house in ancient pompeii we see vesuvius erupting, huge ash cloud in the sky
humans-iconarchaeology

Pompeii: Archaeologist Reveals What Really Happened Following The 79 CE Eruption Of Vesuvius, One Of History’s Most Catastrophic Natural Disasters

clock-icon3 days ago
comments icon1

link to article

What Links Scott's Expedition To The Antarctic, A Bag Of Rocks, And The Theory Of Plate Tectonics?fossil glossopteris leaves
humans-iconhistory

What Links Scott's Expedition To The Antarctic, A Bag Of Rocks, And The Theory Of Plate Tectonics?

clock-icon3 days ago
health-icon

Health and Medicine

link to article

The Dangers Of Cystic Fibrosis Are Enhanced By An Alliance Of Bacteria Sharing Antibiotic Resistance GenesPseudomonas aeruginosa from a patient with cystic fibrosis. The dangerous pathogen sometimes acquires antibiotic resistance from a relative that doesn't kill on its own.
health-icongenetics

The Dangers Of Cystic Fibrosis Are Enhanced By An Alliance Of Bacteria Sharing Antibiotic Resistance Genes

clock-iconYesterday

link to article

Three Kids With Incurable Brain Tumors Have No Evidence Of Disease Thanks To Breakthrough, First-Of-Its-Kind Clinical Trial3D lateral view of brain with pons highlighted in orange
health-iconmedicine

Three Kids With Incurable Brain Tumors Have No Evidence Of Disease Thanks To Breakthrough, First-Of-Its-Kind Clinical Trial

clock-iconYesterday
comments icon2

link to article

Brain Training That Really Works? First-Ever Clinical Proof That Science-Backed Exercises Can Reduce Levels Of Key Alzheimer’s MarkerNeurons in Alzheimer's disease. 3D illustration showing amyloid plaques in brain tissue, neurofibrillary tangles and distruction of neuronal networks
health-iconneuroscience

Brain Training That Really Works? First-Ever Clinical Proof That Science-Backed Exercises Can Reduce Levels Of Key Alzheimer’s Marker

clock-iconYesterday

link to article

Many Long COVID Patients Are Still Seeking Answers 6 Years On. Some Scientists Think Dopamine Might Be The Missing Pieceillustration of a synapse in pink on a pale blue background with small glowing particles moving across the cleft to represent neurotransmitters, with other neuronal cells in the background
health-iconhealth

Many Long COVID Patients Are Still Seeking Answers 6 Years On. Some Scientists Think Dopamine Might Be The Missing Piece

clock-icon3 days ago
nature-icon

Nature

link to article

Sperm Whales “Regularly” Toot Gas To Hang Motionless In The Ocean While They SleepA pod of four sperm whales sleeping vertically in the water column.
nature-iconanimals

Sperm Whales “Regularly” Toot Gas To Hang Motionless In The Ocean While They Sleep

clock-icon21 hours ago

link to article

Just Like Us, The Great Barrier Reef Has A Unique Microbiome Made Up Of Over 300,000 Viruses And 500 New BacteriaClownfish are iconic, vibrant residents of Australia's Great Barrier Reef
nature-iconanimals

Just Like Us, The Great Barrier Reef Has A Unique Microbiome Made Up Of Over 300,000 Viruses And 500 New Bacteria

clock-iconYesterday

link to article

Orcas Ram Sunfish So Hard They Explode “Into Thousands Of Pieces” And No, We’re Not Jokinga tryptic shows the orca swimming towards a dead sunfish being held by another orca, that orca lets go and the other one swims into it releasing lots of tissue, and in the final image there are flecks of sunfish everywhere as the orcas swim around casually
nature-iconanimals

Orcas Ram Sunfish So Hard They Explode “Into Thousands Of Pieces” And No, We’re Not Joking

clock-iconYesterday
comments icon1

link to article

The Cloaca – A Butthole That Does It All – Has Been Missing A Chapter In Its Evolution. This 294-Million-Year-Old Tailprint Could Change Thatthe clay-colored fossil shows the scale imprint of a cloaca in its center
nature-iconPalaeontology

The Cloaca – A Butthole That Does It All – Has Been Missing A Chapter In Its Evolution. This 294-Million-Year-Old Tailprint Could Change That

clock-icon2 days ago
space-icon

Space and Physics

link to article

First SETI Survey Using ALMA Looked For Aliens Where We've Never Looked For Them BeforeALMA looks at the sky at frequencies SETI doesn't usually search at.
space-iconAstronomy

First SETI Survey Using ALMA Looked For Aliens Where We've Never Looked For Them Before

clock-icon20 hours ago

link to article

Discovery Of Exoplanet With One Of The Longest Orbits Yet Heralds Seismic Change In Search For Earth-like Worldsa gas giant planet with clouds and bands like jupiter is seen in space with a far but bright star in the background
space-iconAstronomy

Discovery Of Exoplanet With One Of The Longest Orbits Yet Heralds Seismic Change In Search For Earth-like Worlds

clock-iconYesterday

link to article

Astronomers Have Found Clearest Evidence Yet Of First Moon-Like Object Beyond Our Solar System – But It's Nothing Like The Moons Back HomeArtist's impression of the CD-35 2722, red dwarf in the distance, brown dwarf close up, and the newly discovered sub-Jupiter that orbits the brown dwarf between.
space-iconAstronomy

Astronomers Have Found Clearest Evidence Yet Of First Moon-Like Object Beyond Our Solar System – But It's Nothing Like The Moons Back Home

clock-icon2 days ago

link to article

One-Of-A-Kind Helium Nova Shot Never-Before-Seen Oxygen-Rich Bullets At 30 Million Kilometers Per HourImage from HST showing the bipolar outflow of material ejected by the helium nova V445 Puppis. The progenitor binary star system is just about visible in the centre of the outflow. Also visible are the 'bullets' of gas that were shot out at either end of the outflow. Image taken in 2013 with the F502N filter on Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3.
space-iconAstronomy

One-Of-A-Kind Helium Nova Shot Never-Before-Seen Oxygen-Rich Bullets At 30 Million Kilometers Per Hour

clock-icon2 days ago
technology-icon

Technology

link to article

Invisible Drones: A New Flying Robot Spins So Fast It Hides In Plain SightLow-visibility drone flying in front of a plant
technology-iconEngineering

Invisible Drones: A New Flying Robot Spins So Fast It Hides In Plain Sight

clock-icon4 days ago
comments icon2

link to article

AI Solved A Math Problem That Had Stumped The World For 80 Years. Not Everyone Is Happy About ThatArtificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality concept. 3D human head made of pixels in neon holographic vivid colors on dark background.
technology-iconartificial intelligence

AI Solved A Math Problem That Had Stumped The World For 80 Years. Not Everyone Is Happy About That

clock-iconJuly 15, 2026
comments icon5

link to article

Back In 2021, Scientists Added A Human "Fat Gene" Into A Potato. What Happened Next Surprised EverybodyA gloved hand with tweezers holding a strand of DNA, with and arrow points from the DNA to a potato.
technology-iconbiotechnology

Back In 2021, Scientists Added A Human "Fat Gene" Into A Potato. What Happened Next Surprised Everybody

clock-iconJuly 9, 2026
comments icon4

link to article

AI Is Easily Tricked Into Claiming It Has Found Alien Life – This Could Cause Havoc In The FutureArtist impression of a virtual hand holding a virtual DNA molecule
technology-iconartificial intelligence

AI Is Easily Tricked Into Claiming It Has Found Alien Life – This Could Cause Havoc In The Future

clock-iconJuly 7, 2026
comments icon1
technology

Culture and Society

link to article

Humans Once Spoke Tens Of Thousands Of Languages, But Now They’re Mostly Extinct Thanks To Colonialism And Imperial ExpansionHieroglyphics and cuneiform tablets
technologyculture

Humans Once Spoke Tens Of Thousands Of Languages, But Now They’re Mostly Extinct Thanks To Colonialism And Imperial Expansion

clock-iconYesterday

link to article

Who Do You Trust More: Science Or Government? A New Study Finds A Hopeful AnswerA photo of the January 2025 protests in New York against science funding cuts by Donald Trump's government. One person holds a sign that says "Fund Science, Save Lives".
technologysociety

Who Do You Trust More: Science Or Government? A New Study Finds A Hopeful Answer

clock-icon6 days ago
comments icon2

link to article

"Backrooms" Plays On Our Fear Of Liminal Spaces – Here's Why They Freak Us The Hell Out3d art scene image render Backrooms empty roo... See more
technologypsychology

"Backrooms" Plays On Our Fear Of Liminal Spaces – Here's Why They Freak Us The Hell Out

clock-iconJuly 16, 2026
comments icon1

link to article

A Second Missing King Of England May Be Buried Underneath A Car Park, According To One Enthusiast. We've Been Down This Road Before.A statue of Alfred the Great, holding a sword.
technologyCulture and Society

A Second Missing King Of England May Be Buried Underneath A Car Park, According To One Enthusiast. We've Been Down This Road Before.

clock-iconJuly 14, 2026
comments icon1
bubble-astronaut

Company and Product Insights

link to article

How To Get More IFLScience: Add Us As A “Preferred Source" On GoogleA logo of IFLScience with a hand pointing towards it
bubble-astronautcompany news

How To Get More IFLScience: Add Us As A “Preferred Source" On Google

clock-iconSeptember 3, 2025

link to article

Unlocking The Future Together: Why IFLScience Is Launching A Membership Modelcollage of images related to science with "iflscience is evolving" written in the centre
bubble-astronautCompany and Product Insights

Unlocking The Future Together: Why IFLScience Is Launching A Membership Model

clock-iconJanuary 20, 2025
comments icon14
share1

link to article

Opening The Vault: Uncovering A World Of Strange And Intriguing ScienceAn image of the vault doors opening with a screenshot of the IFLScience Vault article.
bubble-astronautCompany and Product Insights

Opening The Vault: Uncovering A World Of Strange And Intriguing Science

clock-iconJanuary 20, 2025
feature-icon

Features

link to article

In 2009, Scientists Built A "Haunted" Room By Manipulating Electromagnetic Fields. Things Certainly Got Weird – But Not How You'd Thinka white room with plain walls
technologypsychology

In 2009, Scientists Built A "Haunted" Room By Manipulating Electromagnetic Fields. Things Certainly Got Weird – But Not How You'd Think

“We certainly did not anticipate people reporting terror or sexual arousal.”

clock-icon2 hours ago

link to article

The Ancient Idea That Vision Worked By Shooting Elemental Fire Out Of Your Eyeballs, And Touched The Objects You Were SeeingTwo cats eyes, in absolute darkness.
humans-iconhistory

The Ancient Idea That Vision Worked By Shooting Elemental Fire Out Of Your Eyeballs, And Touched The Objects You Were Seeing

There were a few problems with the idea, such as "so you're saying your eyeballs can touch the freaking Moon?"

clock-icon5 hours ago
video-icon

Multimedia

link to article

How We Remember: The Neuroscience of Memory Explainedblue brain image on a black background to the right of yellow text that reads How Does Memory Work?
technology-iconartificial intelligence

How We Remember: The Neuroscience of Memory Explained

clock-iconMay 1, 2026

link to article

AI Consciousness Explained: Science vs Philosophya robot
technology-iconartificial intelligence

AI Consciousness Explained: Science vs Philosophy

clock-iconApril 24, 2026

link to article

Unethical Experiments That Shook The WorldThe Tuskegee syphilis study
humans-iconhistory

Unethical Experiments That Shook The World

clock-iconApril 17, 2026