ScienceAlert

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

By ScienceAlert

This Photo of 'Not Marbles' Is Probably The Strangest Thing You'll See All Day
ScienceAlert - JACINTA BOWLER
We know what you're thinking: why am I looking at a weird handful of pink marbles in a patch of mud? Because it's a lot cooler than that. Although …
Health
Therapy Ball Pits Have a Gross Secret That Could Be Putting Autistic Kids' Health at Risk
ScienceAlert - MIKE MCRAE
For kids with a sensory processing disorder, a tumble in a pit full of plastic coloured balls can be more than a bit of fun. It can often be an …
Space
Astronomers Have Found One of The Universe's Oldest Star Clusters in Our Own Galaxy
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
After decades of research, an analysis of light has finally identified the age of an ancient star cluster in the Milky Way. It's called HP 1, and …
Humanity
Scientists Are Trying to Get Rid of a Fundamental Measure Used in Science
ScienceAlert - MIKE MCRAE
For a while now, scientists have been debating what to do with one of the most famous tools used to describe scientific certainty, the concept of …
Health
Scientists Have Cured Alcoholic Rats by Shooting Lasers at Their Brains
ScienceAlert - JON CHRISTIAN, FUTURISM
Scientists at Scripps Research say they've found a way to reverse rats' dependency on alcohol by blasting particular neurons in their brains with …
Fossils
Scientists Have Unearthed an Incredibly Rare Haul of Precious Fossils in China
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
A spectacular discovery in south China is shedding more light on the mysterious lifeforms that crawled our planet half a billion years ago. In a …
Particles
CERN Just Got Closer to Figuring Out Why Antimatter Hasn't Annihilated Everything
ScienceAlert - MARCO GERSABECK, THE CONVERSATION
Why do we exist? This is arguably the most profound question there is and one that may seem completely outside the scope of particle physics. But our …
Health
This Woman Can Actually Smell Parkinson's Disease Before It's Diagnosed
ScienceAlert - DAVID NIELD
At the moment, there's no definitive diagnostic test for Parkinson's. Soon, that might change thanks to a woman called Joy Milne – she can sniff out …
Health
This Adorable Monkey Represents Fertility Hope For Male Childhood Cancer Survivors
ScienceAlert - ARIANA EUNJUNG CHA, THE WASHINGTON POST
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists announced a milestone Thursday in their efforts to preserve the fertility of young boys …
Environment
That Pacific Anomaly 'Blob' Now Has a Distinct Cost on Animals, Not Just Weather
ScienceAlert - MIKE MCRAE
It all looked so promising. Ten years ago, a survey of mother humpbacks and their calves showed their numbers were on the up off the coast of Maui, …
Health
There's a Concerning Trend of Pet Owners Wanting to Turn Their Carnivore Animals Vegan
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
Cats and dogs may be carnivores, but that hasn't stopped a surprising number of pet owners from wistfully wishing they could switch their furry …
There's Something Scientists Want You to Know About That Alarming Insect Armageddon
ScienceAlert - PETER DOCKRILL
It's an unthinkable ecological nightmare: the scientific prediction that up to 40 percent of the world's insect species face extinction in the next …
Dark Matter
Only One Experiment Has Detected Dark Matter So Far. Now, The Plot Has Thickened
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
Of all the different dark matter detectors in the world, only one has consistently come up with a positive signal. The results of DAMA experiment in …
Seafloor
Geologists May Have Traced The Source of Last Year's Unexplained Massive Earth Shake
ScienceAlert - DAVID NIELD
Last November, a huge seismic event that shook the planet left experts wondering about its possible source. Researchers now think they know what …
Health
Hot Tea Really Does Increase Cancer Risk, So Here's The Recommended Safe Temperature
ScienceAlert - MIKE MCRAE
The World Health Organisation advises we wait for our morning cup of English breakfast to cool slightly to decrease the risk of getting cancer of the …
Flowers
You Need to See These Satellite Photos of California's Dazzling 'Super Bloom'
ScienceAlert - DAVE MOSHER, BUSINESS INSIDER
The hot, dry hillsides of Southern California are normally covered in drab desert scrub. But some of them harbour a colourful secret: millions of …
Chickenpox
A Politician Who Opposes Mandatory Chickenpox Vaccinations Just Got Chickenpox
ScienceAlert - CARLY CASSELLA
An Italian politician who vehemently opposes compulsory vaccinations is currently dealing with a dose of his own medicine, or lack thereof. In the …
Space
The Last Supermoon of The Year Is Upon Us, And Yep, It Has Another Weird Name
ScienceAlert - IAN LIVINGSTON, THE WASHINGTON POST
Spring officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere early Wednesday evening at 5:58 pm Eastern (9:58 pm UTC). Less than four hours after the onset of …
Health
Horrifying Case Study Shows Why You Need to Lay Off Cotton Buds For Ear Cleaning
ScienceAlert - PETER DOCKRILL
Just in case you needed yet another reason to stop cleaning your ears with cotton buds (aka Q-Tips), one man's run-in with a severe and potentially …
The Brain
Scientists Grew a Mini-Brain in a Dish, And It Connected to a Spinal Cord by Itself
ScienceAlert - CARLY CASSELLA
Lab-growing the most complex structure in the known Universe may sound like an impossible task, but that hasn't stopped scientists from trying. After …
Space
NASA's Surprise Discovery on Bennu Just Changed What We Know About Asteroids
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
A shock discovery is in from Bennu. The NASA spacecraft analysing the asteroid has observed it shooting out plumes of dust that surround it in a …
Porpoises
This Elusive Marine Creature Is Going Extinct Before Our Eyes, With Barely 10 Left Alive
ScienceAlert - PETER DOCKRILL
In the Gulf of California, an innocent, once-flourishing animal is on the verge of disappearing from the world forever: a victim of nets, and the …
Health
This Teen's Sudden 'Schizophrenia' Diagnosis Turned Out to Be... a Skin Infection
ScienceAlert - MIKE MCRAE
Hallucinations, delusions, thoughts of suicide and homicide. All the signs pointed to the 14-year-old patient having rapid onset schizophrenia. But …
Fish
Look at This Absolutely Enormous Fish Discovered on a Beach in Australia
ScienceAlert - JACINTA BOWLER
It's been a weird month of sunfish showing up in unexpected places. Take, for instance, this impressive sunfish that was found at the mouth of the …
Technology
For The First Time, Physicists Have Clocked The Ghostly Speed of Quantum Tunnelling
ScienceAlert - DAVID NIELD
In quantum physics, particles can 'tunnel' through seemingly impenetrable barriers, even when they apparently don't have the energy to do so. Now, …
Mathematics
For The First Time Ever, a Woman Has Won The Prestigious Abel Prize For Mathematics
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
For the first time, a woman has been awarded the prestigious Abel Prize. Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck of the University of Texas at Austin will receive …
Optical Tweezers
Caltech Researchers May Have Found a New Way to Levitate Objects Using Only Light
ScienceAlert - VICTOR TANGERMANN, FUTURISM
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) say they've found a way to levitate and propel objects using only light - though, for …
Humanity
Sharing The Womb With a Twin Brother Seems to Have a Huge Detrimental Effect on Girls
ScienceAlert - PETER DOCKRILL
Nobody ever said having a brother was easy, but for girls who start life by sharing a womb with a male twin, the consequences can be drastically …
Quasars
Astronomers Have Detected 83 Black Holes in The Early Universe, Challenging Cosmology
ScienceAlert - MICHELLE STARR
Astronomers have just found 83 quasars, powered by supermassive black holes and dating back to the infancy of the Universe, when it was less than 10 …