Sitting in traffic can expose a driver to intense irritation, as well as a range of sound frequencies. Humming engines typically emit low-frequency sounds, while car horns release high-frequency blasts. Emergency vehicle sirens are high-pitched, and the rumblings from large trucks are lower-pitched. For most people, their ears are able to process these wide-ranging sounds…
The asteroid 2024 YR4, once considered potentially hazardous, isn’t likely to hit us anytime soon. Now, a team of researchers says that instead of stressing about the near miss, we can be excited by it because it will give us a surprising opportunity to study the asteroid up close. 2024 YR4 was first discovered in…
In the pantheon of dinosaur royalty, sauropods may have been the biggest and tyrannosaurs the deadliest. But the ceratopsians, ankylosaurs and stegosaurs were the most metal dinosaurs of all. With their horns and spikes, body plates and tail clubs, these horned and armored dinosaurs have long captured popular imagination. In the early 1900s American paleoartist…
Ancient pyramids in modern-day Sudan Martchan/Shutterstock Archaeologists have long assumed that ancient Egyptian pyramids were reserved for the richest members of society – but an analysis of burials at a site called Tombos suggests low-status workers could merit a place in pyramid tombs too. Tombos, an archaeological site in northern Sudan, came under ancient Egyptian…
It was the opening scene of the 1995 feature film “Apollo 13” and was recreated for the Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man” more than 20 years later. It was one of the catalysts for the Soviet Union to land the first human on the moon in the Apple TV+ alternate history drama “For All Mankind”…
Some of Sydney’s koalas are facing an uncompromising dilemma. The koalas living in one corner of Australia’s largest city are perilously inbred, researchers report February 26 in Conservation Genetics. But the solution — interbreeding with neighboring koala populations — risks introducing the koalas to a deadly sexually transmitted disease. In 2021 and 2022, University of…
One stormy Monday in March, 1827, the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven passed away after a protracted illness. Bedridden since the previous Christmas, he was attacked by jaundice, his limbs and abdomen swollen, each breath a struggle. As his associates went about the task of sorting through personal belongings, they uncovered a document Beethoven had…
Recent findings from samples collected by China’s Chang’e 6 mission have provided valuable insights into the history of the moon, particularly its far side. The Chang’e 6 mission launched in early May 2024, landed in the vast South Pole-Aitken (SPA), and returned to Earth with 4 pounds and 4.29 ounces (1,935.3 grams) of the first-ever…
Life’s building blocks may not have been crafted in the lightning flashes of a tempest, a new study suggests, so much as in the ceaseless glow of rolling ocean mists. Researchers from Stanford University have demonstrated a phenomenon they call ‘microlightning’ is able to generate organic compounds necessary for life, putting a far gentler spin…
Population estimates in rural areas of China may be incorrect Shutterstock/aphotostory Our estimates of rural populations have systematically underestimated the actual number of people living in these regions by at least half, researchers have claimed – with potentially huge impacts on global population levels and planning for public services. However, the findings are disputed by…