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This week, researchers have put forward a new hypothesis suggesting that telling stories around a campfire may have sparked the evolution of human language, 54-million-year-old pawprints are the first known mammal footprints ever found in Antarctica, and if Saturn’s hexagonal-shaped wave at its north pole wasn’t enough, it’s now got a new decagonal one in the south. Finally, a veteran researcher has claimed that autism diagnosis risks “losing its meaning”, we spoke to the experts to find out if these arguments stack up.
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New Detection In Dark Matter Experiment Has Physicists Excited – Is It An Unexpected And Rare Background Or The First Evidence Of Dark Matter?
Researchers with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment have reported a single particle interaction that has made them very excited. It is not a confirmed detection of the mysterious and elusive dark matter yet, but it is one of those data points that can raise the eyebrows of the scientists who see it. Read the full story here
Could Telling Stories Around A Campfire Have Sparked The Evolution Of Human Language?
When humans mastered fire, they inadvertently created a unique social arena that enabled prehistoric hunter-gatherers to come together in the evenings and tell stories. This, in turn, provided new opportunities for ancient humans to create myths that helped forge cultural identities, all of which may have been the trigger for the emergence of language, according to a new speculative paper. Read the full story here
Tiny Fossil Pawprints Dating Back 54 Million Years Are The First Known Mammal Footprints Ever Found In Antarctica
Fossils, footprints, and trackways can tell us a lot of information about where ancient animals lived, bred, and spread out to. However, Antarctica's fossil record is pretty scarce when it comes to which species might have been roaming around, so these new pawprints are very rare and very informative. Read the full story here
Saturn Has A New Decagonal-Shaped Wave At Its South Pole To Go With The Hexagon In The North
It’s not often amateur astronomers get to collaborate with the Hubble Space Telescope, but together they have captured a wave developing around Saturn’s south pole with 10 even sides and equal angles. The causes are currently unknown, as is why the shapes at the two poles are similar, but not the same. Read the full story here
These Weird Hexagonal Fossils Have Puzzled Scientists For Centuries. Now, We Finally Know What The Maker Of Paleodictyon Looks Like
The nearly 200-year-old mystery of a peculiar hexagonal fossil that’s been cropping up on Earth over the last 500 million years is one step closer to being solved. A new study has described what the creator behind the trace fossil known as Paleodictyon looks like, highlighting two of the strongest candidates. Read the full story here
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Feature of the week:
Autism Diagnosis Risks “Losing Its Meaning," Says Veteran Researcher. Others Say Her Arguments Just Don’t Stack Up
Is it time for a shift in how we think about autism? Dame Uta Frith believes so. She has spent six decades at the forefront of autism research, but she now contends that the diagnostic criteria for the condition have become too broad to be truly useful. Others are concerned the changes she advocates for could undermine decades of progress, particularly for autistic women and girls. IFLScience spoke to Frith and those who oppose her ideas to explore whether a shake-up in autism diagnoses is needed. Read the full story here
More content:
Have you seen our e-magazine, CURIOUS? Issue 50, September 2026, is available now. This month, we asked, “Why Is It So Funny Watching People Fall Over?” – check it out for exclusive interviews, book excerpts, long reads, and more.
PLUS, the We Have Questions podcast – an audio version of our coveted CURIOUS e-magazine column – continues. In episode 24, we ask, “Could You Turn A Flamingo Blue?”
The Big Questions podcast continues as we ask “How Close Are We To Talking To Animals?” Host Eleanor Higgs sat down with Dr David Gruber, founder & CEO of Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), to discuss decoding whale language, what we'd ask first, and who should really be doing the talking.
