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It’s a truth often played for laughs that alcohol messes with your brain function. That’s why the cops make you do stuff like walk in a straight line and touch your nose when they suspect you’ve been drinking: those are some of the first things to deteriorate after a heavy night at the bar. But a new study has shown that frequent alcohol consumption may have some pretty gnarly effects long-term, too. “We looked at how alcohol affects the brain as people get [...]

While carrying out surveillance of bats in Brazil, scientists have identified multiple different coronaviruses, including a brand-new one that they discovered was closely related to the virus behind Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The discovery came as part of a project to identify new pathogens with zoonotic potential – meaning they can jump from animals to humans – in the hopes of nipping new diseases in the bud before they can reach humans. Bats are considered to be [...]

The genetic hardware that gave rise to humanity’s unique language capabilities first emerged at least 135,000 years ago, when all Homo sapiens still lived in one unbroken tribe. As this original group later split into a multitude of regional populations, the shared capacity for verbal and symbolic communication may have facilitated the development of modern human behavior and culture by around 100,000 years ago. Although our species has been on the planet for around 230,000 years [...]

Few can resist the appeal of an adorable animal; from diddy chameleons to cute baby cows, the world is full of species that make you go "awww". Now, it seems the ranks of impossibly small and incredible creatures have been bolstered by one new addition: a brand-new species of flea-toad that is the world’s second smallest vertebrate. The new species belongs to the genus Brachycephalus, more commonly known as the flea toads. The other six members of the genus are pretty tiny, [...]

SARS-CoV-2, the virus whose name we all wish we didn’t know, can hang around in sperm for 110 days after infection according to a new study. There’s long been a suggestion that COVID-19 could have a negative impact on sperm, but the authors believe their study is the first to show just how long the virus can linger in semen samples. We mostly think about respiratory symptoms when we think of COVID-19 – cough, breathlessness, loss of sense of smell – but we’ve [...]

The rainforest can be a noisy place to be, so how do you make yourself heard if you end up in trouble? For the clay robber frog, the answer is to give off an almighty scream – but it’s one that we humans can’t naturally hear. However, a team of scientists have now successfully recorded it for the first time. The use of ultrasound is common in the animal world for communication and echolocation – bats, dolphins, and whales are all known to use it. Frogs can use [...]

But there's controversy over who owns the sunken landmass.

New species are discovered all the time – and while some fit nicely into previously created taxonomic families, others are so funky that they get a whole new naming system created just for them. Introducing the St George’s Cross Medusa (Santjordia pagesi) a brand new medusa jellyfish species from deep waters off the coast of Japan. This new species was seen and then captured at 812 meters (2,664 feet) deep in the Sumisu Caldera off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands, roughly 460 [...]

Our galaxy has a weak – but immense – magnetic field that stretches across most of it. Although we know its broadest outline, the fine-scale detail is a mystery. Now, the magnetism or a small portion of has been revealed at finer resolution, revealing there is a lot more jumble to it than smooth models previously suggested. The galactic magnetic field is not strong enough that you could use it to stick something to your fridge, let alone generate electricity from a turbine. [...]