ScienceAlert

Sharing the most fascinating and inspiring science news. We analyse and fact check to bring you the best in genuine scientific research you can trust.

By ScienceAlert

ScienceAlert
China
Worst Fears About China's Organ Transplants And Prisoners Were Just Confirmed
ScienceAlert - PETER DOCKRILL
Concerns have swirled around the origins of China's human organ supply for decades, and grisly new findings confirm these longstanding fears remain …
ScienceAlert
Spiders
Horrifying Photos Show a Huntsman Spider Trying to Devour an Entire Possum
ScienceAlert - TESSA KOUMOUNDOUROS
Once again, Australian fauna have provided the world with a gruesome surprise. This time, it comes at the expense of a tiny little possum, who fell …
ScienceAlert
Acupuncture
Acupuncture Caused an Elderly Woman's Lung to Collapse
ScienceAlert - MIKE MCRAE
For one elderly patient, a thin acupuncture needle inserted the back caused a world of hurt when two days later she ended up in hospital with a …
ScienceAlert
NASA
This 40-Word Letter to NASA Started Sally Ride's Journey as The First Woman in Space
ScienceAlert - SINÉAD BAKER, BUSINESS INSIDER
Sally Ride's journey to become the first American woman in space, and the youngest person ever sent into orbit, began with a handwritten letter. She …
ScienceAlert
Facebook
Facebook's Cryptocurrency Takes It Closer to Being a 'Virtual Nation', Expert Warns
ScienceAlert - JENNIFER GRYGIEL, THE CONVERSATION
Facebook has announced a plan to launch a new cryptocurrency named the Libra, adding another layer to its efforts to dominate global communications …
ScienceAlert
Facebook Messenger
Here's What Facebook's New Cryptocurrency Libra Will Look Like And How You'll Use It
ScienceAlert - ISOBEL ASHER HAMILTON, BUSINESS INSIDER
The social network on Tuesday unveiled Libra, the secretive cryptocurrency it's been working on for more than a year. The currency is being backed by …
ScienceAlert
Environment
Boaty McBoatface's First Mission Results Just Got Published, And It's Serious Science
ScienceAlert - KRISTIN HOUSER, FUTURISM
Boaty McBoatface is no longer just an internet sensation - it's also a valuable contributor to climate change research. In 2016, the Natural …
ScienceAlert
Space
We Just Found 2 of The Most Earth-Like Exoplanets Yet, Only 12.5 Light Years Away
ScienceAlert - CARLY CASSELLA
Astronomers are convinced they've found two new Earth-like planets in our galaxy, and both appear so similar to our own, they're now among the top 19 …
ScienceAlert
Deepfakes
Deepfake Algorithms Just Got Even Smarter, And a Whole Lot Creepier
ScienceAlert - DAVID NIELD
The reminder to not believe everything we see has never been more relevant than now. In the latest video manipulation advance, researchers have …
ScienceAlert
Periodic Table
Mathematicians Have Proposed a New Structure to The Periodic Table
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
The periodic table is such a comforting way of cataloguing the Universe, breaking it down into its elements and organising them in nice neat boxes. …
ScienceAlert
Humanity
First Australians Arrived in an Incredible Planned Migration With Over 1,300 People
ScienceAlert - COREY J. A. BRADSHAW, LAURA S. WEYRICH, MICHAEL BIRD & SEAN ULM, THE CONVERSATION
The size of the first population of people needed to arrive, survive, and thrive in what is now Australia is revealed in two studies published …
ScienceAlert
Environment
Brutally Simple Illustration Shows Climate Change's True Scale Everywhere on Earth
ScienceAlert - PETER DOCKRILL
You can now visualise our climate crisis for almost anywhere on Earth, thanks to a stunning interactive tool that will make you see red in every …
ScienceAlert
Humanity
'Puppy Dog Eyes' May Have Evolved Just to Make Humans Melt - And It's Working
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
You know how when your dog wants something, she makes that face? You know the one - all beseeching, with eyes that seem to positively quiver with …
ScienceAlert
Space
Mars' Mysterious, Intense Dust Storms Appear to Be Cyclical - Just Like Earth's Water
ScienceAlert - EVAN GOUGH, UNIVERSE TODAY
To say there are some myths circulating about Martian dust storms would be an understatement. Mars is known for its globe-encircling dust storms, the …
ScienceAlert
Humanity
Trophies Made of Human Skulls Hint at Something Sinister Around Time of Maya Collapse
ScienceAlert - GABRIEL D. WROBEL, THE CONVERSATION
Two trophy skulls, recently discovered by archaeologists in the jungles of Belize, may help shed light on the little-understood collapse of the once …
ScienceAlert
Tesla
Tesla Driver Caught Sleeping For More Than 30 Miles on One of California's Busiest Freeways
ScienceAlert - CARLY CASSELLA
Sometimes our expectations of modern technology can transcend reality in a dangerous way. While Tesla is on the path to creating a fully autonomous …
ScienceAlert
Space
Astronomers Have Spotted a New Crater on Mars That's Like Nothing They've Ever Seen
ScienceAlert - CARLY CASSELLA
The planet Mars does not bruise easily, but when it does, the result is practically a work of art. A fresh impact crater, spotted in April by the …
ScienceAlert
Health
This Odd Bacterium Appears to Protect Its Host From The Damaging Effects of Stress
ScienceAlert - PETER DOCKRILL
Scientists have isolated a unique molecular pattern that might one day enable a 'stress vaccine' to exist for real – and they found it hidden inside …
ScienceAlert
Weird
Scientists Have Found Evidence a Strange Group of Quantum Particles Are Basically Immortal
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
Nothing lasts forever. Humans, planets, stars, galaxies, maybe even the Universe itself, everything has an expiration date. But things in the quantum …
ScienceAlert
Humanity
Mysterious Artificial Islands in Scotland Are Thousands of Years Older Than We Thought
ScienceAlert - PETER DOCKRILL
In the distant past of the northern British Isles, ancient humans didn't always dwell on dry land. Across Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, the …
ScienceAlert
Space
A New Instrument Is Actively Searching For More Planets Around Alpha Centauri
ScienceAlert - EVAN GOUGH, UNIVERSE TODAY
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to us, at 4.37 light-years (about 25 trillion miles) away. In 2016, astronomers discovered an exoplanet …
ScienceAlert
Space
This Incredible Orbit Map of Our Solar System Makes Our Brains Ache
ScienceAlert - EVAN GOUGH, UNIVERSE TODAY
If you want to know what a talent for scientific visualizations looks like, check out Eleanor Lutz. She's a PhD student in biology at the University …
ScienceAlert
Space
Cassini's Breathtaking Final Images Reveal Never-Before-Seen Shapes in Saturn's Rings
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
In its final year, Cassini plunged where no spacecraft had plunged before, down in the space between Saturn and its rings. Again and again it dove, …
ScienceAlert
Health
FDA Has Stopped Fecal Transplant Trials After The Death of a Patient
ScienceAlert - KRISTIN HOUSER, FUTURISM
Fecal transplants are experimental procedures in which doctors use stool from a healthy donor to treat a person whose own microbiome has been thrown …
ScienceAlert
Particles
New Experiment Shows The Uncertainty Principle Isn't as Uncertain as We Thought
ScienceAlert - HOWARD WISEMAN, THE CONVERSATION
The word uncertainty is used a lot in quantum mechanics. One school of thought is that this means there's something out there in the world that we …
ScienceAlert
Greenland
Greenland Was 40 Degrees Hotter Than Normal This Week, And Things Are Getting Intense
ScienceAlert - WASHINGTON POST
Ice is melting in unprecedented ways as summer approaches in the Arctic. In recent days, observations have revealed a record-challenging melt event …
ScienceAlert
Humanity
Science Suggests You Actually Do Have a Type, And It's Probably Your Ex
ScienceAlert - STANLEY GAINES, THE CONVERSATION
"They're just not my type." Whether during private conversation with a trusted friend, or while watching a favourite romantic comedy, we've all heard …
ScienceAlert
Eczema
Scientists Think They Finally Know What Happens in The Skin When You Have Eczema
ScienceAlert - SIGNE DEAN
Scientists have pinpointed a bunch of processes that go wrong in the skin for people who have eczema (also known as atopic dermatitis), and it could …
ScienceAlert
Environment
Can You Swim in Shade Balls? This YouTuber Was Wild Enough to Try
ScienceAlert - FIONA MACDONALD
If you've seen photos of the Los Angeles reservoir covered in millions of black balls, you might have wondered two things. One: what the heck are …