There was a point in the mid-19th century when the state of the citadel of Carcassonne fell into such disrepair that the French government decided that it was time to demolish the 700-year-old fortress. Fortunately, for those into medieval architecture, after public outcry the citadel was rebuilt and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. On a hot …
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Astronomers have found that a weird space rock at the edge of the solar system is locked in a rhythmic dance with Neptune. The object, designated 2020 VN40, is part of a family of distant solar system objects called trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). 2020 VN40 is the first object discovered that orbits the sun once for every ten orbits Neptune makes. …
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Maria Diaz/ZDNET If a TikTok trend has you spooked about your Ring camera’s security, there’s good news — everything is OK and nobody is watching your videos. Over the past 24 hours, videos of a strange problem with Ring cameras have flooded TikTok. The videos make some fairly unsettling claims and urgent warnings. If you check your device history, people …
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Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains are not for the faint of heart. Scientists who have gone on expeditions here have been rewarded for their efforts with everything from leeches stuck to their eyes, to malaria, earthquakes, exhausting heat, and a few venomous animals to boot. Still, they did strike gold when they discovered a tree-dwelling shrimp. Yes, in 2023, an entirely new …
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NASA’s Viking 1 orbiter photographed this region in the northern latitudes of Mars on July 25, 1976, while searching for a landing site for the Viking 2 lander. The image shows a mesa that resembles a human face (centre), which helped to spawn a cottage industry of pseudoscientific claims about ancient Martian civilisations. Further high-resolution images from later missions revealed …
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Despite the powerful telescopes that modern astronomers have to work with, the distant reaches of the Solar System are still mysterious. Not much sunlight pierces these regions, and there are strong hints that undiscovered objects lurk there. The objects that astronomers have discovered in these dim reaches are primordial, and their orbits suggest the presence of more undiscovered objects. Piecing …
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In a surprising discovery last April, geologists working at Yellowstone National Park’s Norris Geyser Basin uncovered a previously undocumented thermal pool. Found during routine maintenance at temperature logging stations, the pool is located in the Porcelain Basin subbasin. This new thermal pool, measuring about 13 feet wide, features clear blue water with a temperature of approximately 109 °F (43 °C). It sits …
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Energy drinks are big business. Marketed as quick fixes for fatigue and performance dips, energy drinks are especially popular among young people, athletes, sports enthusiasts, and so-called “weekend warriors” – people who pack their workouts into the weekend instead of exercising regularly. Gamers are now a major target too. But as the market grows, so do concerns about what’s actually …
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, an episodic look at the crew of the USS Enterprise set before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, has proved so popular that in April 2024, Paramount Plus renewed it for a fourth season while season 3 was still in production. But after laying off hundreds of employees in June 2025, the streaming …
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Last April, geologists conducting routine maintenance at temperature logging stations in Yellowstone National Park’s Norris Geyser Basin found something unexpected: a previously undocumented thermal pool of blue water. The newly identified pool, found in the Porcelain Basin subbasin, is about 13 feet (4 meters) wide, its idyllic blue water is around 109 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius), and the water’s …
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