This week on Break It Down: lasers revealed 1,200-year-old mummies’ sweet tats, the mission to de-extinct the thylacine takes a leap forward, video footage of a meteorite hitting someone’s garden might be a world first, China announces plans to build the solar power station equivalent of “Three Gorges Dam” in space, researchers discover an Iron Age society ruled by women, and how did dinosaurs have sex? We find out from palaeontologist Riley Black what we do (and don’t) know so far.

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Tattooed mummies

Thylacine de-extinction

Meteorite strike

Can you keep meteorites you find?

Solar power in space

Iron Age women

Dinosaur sex

How did dinosaurs have sex? Podcast

Alligators’ penile jack-in-a-box

How did the chicken lose its penis?

We Have Questions

Subscribe

Skrunkly crab

Sunfish popcorn larva

This week on Break It Down: unexpected and unexplained structures have been discovered hiding under the Pacific Ocean, the oldest equatorial dinosaur fossil in the world dates back a whopping 230 million years, a painted dog penis bone has been found in a ritual shaft in England (some puns write themselves), cave art from France could be the oldest 3D map in the world, Nobel Prize winners can go loopy (and start talking to raccoons) after winning, and what was Plato talking about when he described a metal "more precious than anything except gold?”

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Unexplained structures

This week on Break It Down: one of the most significant mammal recoveries ever recorded (and four other wildlife wins), a once-in-a-lifetime event is about to kick off in space, spookily accurate predictions made by a “professor” 100 years ago, an undersea volcano is about to erupt, scientists achieve a world-first embryo milestone on the path to giraffe IVF, and 100 years since Hubble proved the universe is unimaginably vast, we explore how he did it.

So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Saiga antelope recovery

Coronae borealis nova event

Spooky 2025 predictions

Undersea volcano eruption

World-first giraffe embryo breakthrough

100 years since Hubble proved the Universe is massive

DNA phenotyping

How many ants are there in the world?

This week on Break It Down: Earth’s magnetic pole is in a new position, the second most cited paper to ever be withdrawn is finally retracted, Charlotte the bubble-butted turtle gets a special swimming harness, The Blob’s legacy marks the worst single-species mortality event in modern history, a Roman solution to Mars suggests blood makes for great cement, and we send one of our writers on a mission to test out ancient hangover cures. Anyone for cabbage?

Links:

Magnetic pole movements

Paper retracted

Turtle “bubble butt”

The Blob mortality event

Blood houses on Mars

Ancient hangover cures

We Have Questions

Sign up to receive CURIOUS

The Big Questions

Pacific sleeper shark

This week on Break It Down: fishers discover a mysterious tablet bearing an unknown language, sequencing the oldest human genome reveals when we first bred with Neanderthals, Jupiter’s got a shiny new ring, a new predator captured in the darkest depths of the Atacama Trench, working out the rules to an ancient boardgame, and can donor organs transfer memories? Transplant patients report strange personality changes.

So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Mysterious tablet

Complaint tablet

Sequencing the oldest human genome

Jupiter’s new ring

Sharks older than Saturn’s rings

Deep-sea predator

Ancient boardgame

The Big Questions

Donor organs and memory

Piggyback heart transplant

Guitarfish

True crime

We Have Questions

Subscribe

This week on Break It Down: scientists may have discovered a new ancient relative of humans, collar cameras from Andean bears reveal Paddington may have a taste for cubs, we’ve been paying the salmon tax to dogs for 2,000 years more than thought, new biohybrid wood glows green in the dark, diamond batteries could last for thousands of years, and it turns out spaceports make for remarkably good wildlife sanctuaries.

Links:

New human species

Cannibalistic Paddington

Ancient dog friends

Sign up to CURIOUS

Glowing wood

Diamond battery

Spaceports and nature

The Big Questions

Genghis Khan

Frosty the orca

True Crime: Harold Shipman

Wisdom the albatross has laid an egg 

This week on Break It Down: killer whales have been wearing salmon hats (again) and sucking out the livers of the world’s largest shark, 1.5-million-year-old footprints reveal Homo erectus co-existed with a now-extinct protohuman, fossil dinosaur poop and vomit indicate their rise to power began with plants, we have a date for when Pluto will complete its first orbit since we discovered the non-planet (don’t hold your breath), COVID-19 may hold the key to shrinking tumors, and we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Lucy's discovery, a moment that changed our understanding of human evolution.

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Killer whale fashion

Killer whales eating whale sharks

1.5-million-year-old footprints

Dinosaur poop and vomit

Pluto’s birthday

COVID-19 shrinking tumors

Lucy’s legacy

True crime: Colin Pitchfork

Subscribe

CURIOUS magazine

This week on Break It Down, astronomers have taken the first-ever close-up photo of a star outside of the Milky Way, putting weight back on after losing it could be down to your fat cells' “memories”, the mystery surrounding the Earth’s inner core “freezing”, footage shows a “giant” virus infecting a cell for the first time, the world’s thinnest spaghetto is 200 times narrower than a hair, and meet Dadu, a shark-hunting dog who survived alone on a remote island for nearly a year, and then became beloved. 

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Star outside the Milky Way

Dog shoving children in the Seine

This week on Break It Down: turns out the one time we saw Uranus it was having an uncharacteristically windy moment, new meanings behind the Amazon’s most incredible rock art, the world’s largest coral found lurking off the Solomon Islands, a ~35,000-year-old saber-toothed baby comes complete with fur, whiskers, and toe beans, and amber found in Antarctica for the first time ever. Plus, can we phase out animal testing? Science is trying.

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Uranus was having a bad day

Amazon rock art

World’s largest coral

Saber-toothed cub

Antarctic amber

Animal testing

Disco worm

Fire and ice

UAP hearing

We Have Questions

How Many Geese

This week in Break It Down: clues inside Pompeii victims' casts reveal they're not who we thought they were, the frogs of Chernobyl are doing just fine, cat physics and a crime of authorship, the North Atlantic is getting saltier and saltier, good news for double jabs, and a DNA scientist who picked up the research that would solve her own murder.

So sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down...

Pompeii Victims

Chernobyl Frogs

⁠Cat Physics

Salty Atlantic

Double Jab

1985 Murder

We Have Questions

How Many Geese

Bats On Treadmills

Oldest Text

Tsunami: Race Against Time