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This week, a newly discovered marine reptile fossil has such well-preserved internal organs that you can still see their color, we explore if there’s a dark side to the internet’s latest obsession with peptides, and a never-before-seen material was created by the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima. Finally, we spoke to the experts to sort the fact from the fiction surrounding the “Sea Peoples” lurking throughout Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
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Ancient DNA Reveals Woolly Mammoth With A Sex Chromosome Combination Never Before Seen In An Extinct Species
While studying the bones of mammoths hunted by humans, scientists noticed a striking trend: the majority of the slain animals were females. Conversely, the mammoths that had seemingly died of natural causes were overwhelmingly males. However, not all of the mammoths studied fit neatly in this strict male-female binary. Read the full story here
Incredible Marine Reptile Fossil Preserves Its Internal Organs In Such Detail That Its Liver Is Still A "Reddish Color"
Sometime during the Triassic Period, a small marine reptile took its last breath, and its body sank slowly to the bottom of the warm sea. Now, 245 million years later, researchers have uncovered its perfectly preserved remains, revealing an almost complete set of digestive organs including stomach, liver, and intestines. We can even see what colour they were. Read the full story here
Peptides: With Talk Of Looser Restrictions In The US, We Ask If There's A Dark Side To The Internet's Latest Wellness Obsession
Everybody’s talking about peptides. At least, in certain corners of social media they are. You may be bombarded with posts about them, or you may have no idea what we’re on about – it all depends on your algorithm. But with a recent vote to recommend the FDA relax its rules on peptides, it's time we paid a bit more attention. Read the full story here
Never-Before-Seen Material Was Forged In "Gigantic Accidental Laboratory" Created By Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Explosion
A brand new metallic alloy has been found in the sands of Hiroshima Bay. The material is a product of metals vaporized by the heat of the atomic bomb dropped on the city, condensing together in ways that have never been seen before. Read the full story here
Astronomers Looking Through Forgotten Observations Find Bizarre And Beautiful Planet-Wide Rings On Venus
Way back in 2010, astronomers at the William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands were observing the skies, waiting for the Sun to set so that they could get a good look at the disks of dust surrounding young stars. During the wait, the team captured the planet Venus in 36 minutes' worth of observations. Now, astronomers looking through these old and forgotten observations have found evidence of bizarre and beautiful planet-wide rings within Venus's atmosphere. Read the full story here
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Feature of the week:
Were The Mysterious “Sea Peoples” Lurking Throughout Nolan's The Odyssey Real? We Asked The Experts
Everyone, it seems, has a hot take on Christopher Nolan's multi-million-dollar interpretation of The Odyssey, but beyond the glowing reviews/snooty commentaries and engagement farmers on social media, what do historians make of the movie? How much of it is historical, how much is Hollywood codswallop, and were the mysterious and threatening "Sea Peoples" even real? Turns out, it's complicated. Read the full story here
More content:
Have you seen our e-magazine, CURIOUS? Issue 48, July 2026, is available now. This month, we asked, “What Is Archaeoastronomy?” – 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 23, we ask, “Why Do 8 Million Pickled Fish Sit In Louisiana's WWII Bunkers?”
The Big Questions podcast is back for season 6! In episode 4, we ask “Are ‘Natural Disasters’ On The Rise?” Host Dr Russell Moul sat down with Dr Samantha Montano, a disasterologist and emergency management expert, who has seen taxonomy from the other side, to ask about the ways in which disasters are changing and how societies respond to them.
