IFLScience - Break It Down

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

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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

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