This week on Break It Down: a quantum cat experiment breaks a record for surviving over 23 minutes, Voyager 1 encountered a glitch but fixed itself with some old school tech, fossils from the Ordovician are a glittering new species, animals are getting drunk more than we thought, though we’re not quite sure why, kyawthuite is the rarest gemstone of them all, and we wish happy birthday to a giant, city-destroying lizard who has much more cultural impact than meets the eye.

Links:

Quantum Cat Experiment

Voyager Phoned Home

Fool’s Gold Fossils

Drunk Animals

Rarest Gemstone

Ruby Seed

Jade Toughest Natural Mineral

Godzilla At 70 

Annie Jacobson Curious Live Interview

Polar Bear Week

How Is Climate Change Affecting Polar Bears?

This week on Break It Down: the discovery of the smallest-ever dinosaur eggs reveals teeny tiny bones, first black hole triple is changing our understanding of giant star death, the longest venomous snake is now four separate species, a rare bit of positive carbon capture news, how a new overdose implant can save lives, and why do people believe in ghosts? We asked an expert.

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

Links:

Smallest known dinosaur eggs

Black hole triple

How many times could the Earth fit in the Sun?

King cobra x 4

Positive carbon capture news

Overdose implant

Why do people believe in ghosts?

Can Fear Be Fun? CURIOUS October issue

Prof. Chris French interview

Spooky Season trailer

We Have Questions: What’s It Like Working In A Human Tissue Bank

The Big Questions: Are Octopuses Sentient?

Ricky The Bear

This week on Break It Down: the Sun has entered its solar maximum bringing new auroras and geomagnetic storms, a chance find of a thylacine head in a jar could be the next step in the de-extinction of the species, microplastics have been discovered in the breath of wild dolphins for the first time, why Neanderthals never improved their spear-throwing, how high-potency THC could leave markers on your DNA, and does the page you’re reading this on look blurry? We explore what astigmatism is.

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

Links:

Solar Maximum 

Thylacine Genome

Microplastics In Dolphin Breath

High-THC Cannabis And DNA

Neanderthals Can't Throw

Astigmatism

Are Octopuses Sentient?

This week on Break It Down: two comb jellies become one, how Hurricane Milton grew so intense, superpowered scans reveal COVID’s impact on the brain, a humanlike robot’s jokes fail to impress his friend, Lucy the Australopithecine might have used tools 3.2 million years ago, and Mozambique’s elephants offer modern-day proof of evolution.

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

Links:

Comb jellies

Hurricane Milton NASA animation

NOAA Hurricane Hunters

Florida coastline after Milton

COVID-19 and the brainstem

Robot conversation

Lucy’s hands

Elephant evolution

The Big Questions: What Would A Human On Mars Look Like?

Dino Footprints

This week on Break It Down: resurrecting Cold War spy planes to explore radioactive storms, the most detailed brain wiring diagram we've ever seen, mystery “skyquake” sounds have the world perplexed, plus grinning dolphins, glow-in-the-dark gemstones, and can you really feel when you’re being watched?  

Radioactive storms

"Google Maps" for the brain

Mysterious "skyquakes"

Smiley dolphins

Glow-in-the-dark crystal

Lab-grown ruby

Are you being watched?

The Big Questions: What Would A Human On Mars Look Like?

The Science Of Whisky

Solar Systems interview

Fat Bear Week 2024

This week on Break It Down: the major African civilization the world forgot, the world’s oldest cheese gets found on mummies, blasting asteroids with X-rays, a fish that’s basically got tongues for legs, the resurrection of a biblical seed, and why no one can decide how fast the universe is expanding.

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

Links:

African civilization: https://www.iflscience.com/five-thousand-years-ago-africa-had-a-major-civilization-we-forgot-76094

This week in Break It Down: Earth's about to get a new mini-moon (if only for a while), ancient rock art may have been based on a fossil, "third state" identified between life and death, a truly supermassive black hole with jets spanning 23 million light-years, there's a new blood group, and the remarkable reason why giant gorillas have tiny penises. 

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

Links:

Earth’s new mini-moon: https://www.iflscience.com/asteroid-2024-pt5-is-set-to-be-a-mini-moon-of-earth-for-two-months-75955

Fossil rock art: https://www.iflscience.com/african-rock-art-may-show-extinct-animal-that-lived-millions-of-years-before-humans-76015

Life after death: https://www.iflscience.com/the-third-state-that-lies-beyond-the-boundaries-of-life-and-death-75985

Giant space jets: https://www.iflscience.com/truly-supermassive-black-hole-has-jets-spanning-23-million-light-years-the-biggest-ever-seen-76006

New blood group: https://www.iflscience.com/scientists-solve-50-year-old-mystery-and-discover-an-entirely-new-blood-group-76000

Gorilla dicks: https://www.iflscience.com/gorilla-dicks-are-absolutely-tiny-the-reason-why-is-fascinating-76004

We Have Questions: https://www.iflscience.com/podcasts

Solar System: https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2023/professor-brian-cox-solar-system

Are the drugs of the future coming from the deep ocean: https://www.iflscience.com/iflscience-the-big-questions-are-the-drugs-of-the-future-coming-from-the-deep-ocean-75958

Antimicrobial resistance deaths: https://www.iflscience.com/antimicrobial-resistance-forecast-to-increase-by-almost-70-percent-by-2050-threatening-millions-76025

This week on Break It Down, the first-ever private spacewalk makes history and also maybe a crime, a plasma bubble over the pyramids is spotted by snazzy Chinese tech, a new Neanderthal lineage lived in isolation for 50,000 years, a chance encounter on Google Maps leads to a new discovery, the recipient of a face and eye transplant has a major breakthrough, and we take a deep dive into whether orcas are really the “killer” whales they’d made out to be.

So sit back, relax, and Break It Down...

Links:

Private Spacewalk: https://www.iflscience.com/polaris-dawn-crew-makes-history-with-first-ever-private-spacewalk-75929

Space Crime?: https://www.iflscience.com/did-everybody-just-watch-a-live-stream-of-billionaires-breaking-space-law-75925

Space Law Interview: https://www.iflscience.com/how-to-create-your-own-space-civilization-according-to-a-space-lawyer-72934

Plasma Bubble: https://www.iflscience.com/chinese-radar-spots-plasma-bubbles-over-the-pyramids-of-giza-75896

Neanderthals: https://www.iflscience.com/meet-thorin-a-cave-dwelling-population-of-neanderthals-were-isolated-for-50000-years-75910

Google Maps Structure: https://www.iflscience.com/man-finds-unusual-spherical-structure-while-browsing-google-maps-it-could-be-a-huge-discovery-75869

Face And Eye Transplant: https://www.iflscience.com/worlds-first-eye-and-face-transplant-1-year-later-eye-now-responds-to-light-75873

Do Orcas Attack People?: https://www.iflscience.com/do-orcas-attack-humans-reports-from-the-wild-are-very-rare-75898

Dino Sex: https://www.iflscience.com/iflscience-the-big-questions-how-did-dinosaurs-have-sex-75489

We Have Questions Trailer: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_vg7J6iola/

Coming soon: join IFLScience as we explore the questions nobody thought to ask but everyone wants the answers to. Get the behind-the-scenes conversations from CURIOUS magazine’s We Have Questions interviews, as we hunt down the experts to answer some of science’s stranger questions.

This week on Break It Down, “dangerous” asteroid Apophis has a slightly increased risk of hitting Earth, a pig in Hong Kong undergoes an operation by a team in Switzerland, people in Iceland are throwing puffins off cliffs, an asteroid impact over the Philippines just made history, a python somehow managed to ingest another python, and we take a closer look at why homeopathy isn’t all it's cracked up to be.

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

Links:

Asteroid Apophis: https://www.iflscience.com/the-chance-of-asteroid-apophis-hitting-earth-may-be-slightly-higher-than-we-thought-75797

Pig Surgery: https://www.iflscience.com/a-pig-just-had-surgery-by-a-team-operating-9000-kilometers-away-75803

Pufflings: https://www.iflscience.com/why-are-people-in-iceland-throwing-baby-puffins-off-of-cliffs-75820

Asteroid in the Philippines: https://www.iflscience.com/meteor-that-burned-up-over-philippines-is-just-ninth-ever-detected-before-earth-impact-75836

Python eating python: https://www.iflscience.com/in-world-first-burmese-python-is-found-eating-reticulated-python-75787

Homeopathy isn't real: https://www.iflscience.com/how-we-know-homeopathy-isnt-real-science-75811

How Did Dinosaurs Have Sex?: https://www.iflscience.com/iflscience-the-big-questions-how-did-dinosaurs-have-sex-75489