Covid-19 Health

Life expectancy dropping in places with bad COVID-19 vaccine rates

Life expectancy in western Europe bounced back in 2021, a new study has found – but it hasn’t in some other places.

Music Science

German scientists unlock the secret of jazz music’s ‘swing’

It’s been nearly 100 years since Duke Ellington recorded ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing’, and science has just caught up.

Animals

Petting dogs is good for your brain – but they have to be real

Petting a dog lights up the part of the brain that regulates and processes social and emotional interactions, a new study has found.

Language

People like product reviews with swearwords in them

Next time you’re writing an online review, consider dropping an F-bomb or two, if the platform allows it.

Personality Sociology

Science has finally worked out why dudes send nudes

Finally, we know why some men send dick pics – to get nudes in return, or sex. 

Dinosaurs New Zealand Space

Evidence for dinosaur-killing asteroid’s tsunami found in New Zealand

The asteroid that (probably) wiped out the dinosaurs released more than 30,000 times the energy of the deadly 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, a new study has found.

Food and Drink Strange news

Scientists make beer nicer by genetically engineering it to have more ‘banana’ flavour

Scientists say they’ve found a way to make beer tastier using genetic engineering. But they’re not entirely sure why it works.

Space

Moon might have taken just hours to make, NASA says

One day the Earth had no moon, the next it was there, according to a radical new theory on the creation of our only major satellite. 

End of the world Space

The asteroid NASA hit with a probe now has a 10,000km-long tail

The asteroid NASA smacked around last week now has a tail almost as long as the Earth is wide.

Health Sports

Rugby players more than twice as likely to suffer dementia, Parkinson’s

And that’s not all – playing at the top level boosts the risk of motor neurone disease by 15 times.

Animals Climate Change

How ruining the climate for bugs will backfire on humans

Animals can only endure temperatures within a given range. The upper and lower temperatures of this range are called its critical thermal limits.

Music Personality

Extreme metal guitarists out to impress other men, not women – study

Male guitarists who spend hours a day practising extreme metal licks and riffs only do so to impress other men, a recent study concluded.

Science What the hell

Erect nipple-shaming common despite being ‘uncontrollable’ – study

People think women whose nipples get erect when sexually aroused are more promiscuous and less intelligent than those who don’t, a new study has found. 

Sociology Technology

Might robot warfare make commanders more humane?

Reducing the number of humans an order passes through might make those making the decisions feel more responsibility for the outcomes. 

Personality Politics

Parents’ politics leave mark on kids as young as three – study

Kids with conservative parents are more likely to punish wrongdoers from outside their own groups than kids with liberal parents, a new study has found.

Animals Evolution

‘Extinct’ cockroach species found surviving in a single tree

A long-lost cockroach species considered extinct for 80 years has been found thriving at the foot of a single banyan tree. 

Personality

Giving people choices makes people more individualistic – study

The sheer amount of choice we have in modern society could be driving us to make decisions that run counter to the collective good.

Animals Evolution

Radiation-protected pitch-black frogs are taking over Chernobyl

Chernobyl tree frogs have a much darker colouration than frogs captured in control areas outside the zone.

Covid-19 New Zealand

Antivaxxers Voices for Freedom lose appeal over misleading billboards

New Zealand anti-vaccination group Voices for Freedom has lost its appeal against a ruling earlier this year which saw some of its billboards taken down.

Covid-19 Personality

COVID-19 hastened youngsters’ decline into being grumpy adults

COVID-19 changed our personalities in the space of a year or two what would normally take a decade, a new study has found.