If one were to eat substances from blandest to nastiest, the bracket fungus, Amaropostia stiptica, would sit at the farthest end of the unpleasant spectrum.A team of scientists determined just what makes that particular fungus so aggressively distasteful, a group of researchers report in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry. They identified a compound called oligoporin D in the bracket fungus that activates the human bitter taste receptor TAS2R46. The substance is so strong that even barel ...read more

About 100 million years ago, a previously unknown armored dinosaur wielding a clubbed tail lumbered through the Canadian Rockies. The species resembled the well-known ankylosaurus (Nodosaurid ankylosaurs) — but with two major differences. The first-ever identified footprints of this species sported only three toes (putting it into the ankylosaurid ankylosaurs category), instead of four (belonging to Tetrapodosaurus borealis). Also, the more known ankylosaurus swung its flexible tail to wield i ...read more

From the food we eat to the air we breathe, microplastics and their even smaller equivalent — nanoplastics — are just about everywhere. And while the body may expel some of the plastics we’ve consumed, there are still plenty that linger in our blood and organs, leading to other health issues. Recent research, as part of the FFG bridge project Nano-VISION, uses a new sensor platform that allows for a laser to be shone at clear, bodily fluids. Through this process, researchers can now deter ...read more

Pinpointing when animals became our companions is harder than it sounds. Every fossil find and genetic study tweaks what we think we know about the timeline or the circumstances under which domestication occurred. When it comes to cats, the story is still evolving. Scientists continue to debate where and how our feline friends first went from wild hunters to household companions.For a long time, ancient Egypt was thought to be the starting point — home of cat worship, divine felines, and famou ...read more

Key Take-Aways on Dark Oxygen: Dark oxygen is produced on the seafloor by a process other than photosynthesis.A new study published in Nature Geoscience in July 2024 suggests it’s unclear what causes dark oxygen, but a possible source could be polymetallic nodules.This discovery could rewrite our understanding of how aerobic (oxygen-respiring) life evolved on Earth. And it could even point to new possibilities for extraterrestrial life, perhaps on Saturn’s watery moons.The traditional story ...read more

Ever wished upon a shooting star? Though beautiful, shooting stars are also signs of the cosmic shooting range through which Earth is currently whizzing. The ammunition consists of countless space rocks, microscopic to mountainous, moving impossibly fast. The few that end up scoring a direct hit are called meteorites. Organizations like NASA's CNEOS track thousands of these near-Earth objects. Occasionally, candidates like the building-sized asteroid 2024 YR4 make headlines. In April 2025, it wa ...read more

Humans love to take liberties when we talk about our heights. But Afruca tangeri fiddler crabs don’t have that luxury. Looking and listening in on the members of this species as they tried to attract mates, a team of researchers found that the males’ mating songs are shaped by their size, and are thus accurate signals of their fitness as mates, according to a press release, at least from the perspective of female fiddler crabs.Publishing their findings in a study in the Journal of Experiment ...read more

One of the most important parts of living a healthy lifestyle is getting a good night’s sleep. Quality sleep can prevent illness, reduce stress, and enhance cognitive function, just to name a few. A research team working with the Baycrest Corporate Centre for Geriatric Care has now added a new benefit to the list: unlocking the brain’s ability to sort memories. According to a study published in Nature Human Behaviour, sustained deep sleep not only safeguards against memory decline but also ...read more

Black holes — the supermassive gravitation forces at the center of most galaxies — actually spend much of their time dormant, or essentially asleep. Astronomers have now spotted one not only waking up but appearing to hit the celestial equivalent of a snooze button every few days. The black hole at the center of a galaxy named SDSS1335+0728, about 300 million light-years away, first showed signs of stirring when, in 2019, the galaxy started shining brightly. But since 2024, that black hole t ...read more

Every April, as winter’s grip finally loosens and the nights grow a little warmer, Earth drifts through a centuries-old cloud of cosmic dust. That’s when the Lyrid meteor shower — one of the oldest known and most reliable meteor showers of the year — lights up the night.The Lyrids will peak overnight from April 21, 2025 into April 22, 2025 this year. On the days near that peak, patient skywatchers may be treated to a modest but mesmerizing display of shooting stars streaking across the s ...read more