Bizarre 'worm tornado' in New Jersey has scientists baffled By Mindy Weisberger A resident of Hoboken, New Jersey spotted the unusual worm spiral after days of heavy rainfall.
Could humans ever be venomous? By Stephanie Pappas Humans have what it takes to make venom, but it may not be worth the trouble.
What if humans didn't have an appendix? By Charles Q. Choi What might life be like then if everyone lacked an appendix? That organ may not be a useless artifact of evolution after all.
To be declassified: UFO broke sound barrier with no sonic boom By Stephanie Pappas Former Trump intelligence director John Ratcliffe told Fox News that more unexplained sightings of flying objects will soon be declassified.
Woman cries blood tears during menstruation in 'rare and unusual clinical case' By Mindy Weisberger In "a rare and unusual clinical case," doctors described a young woman whose menstrual cycle made her weep tears that were made of blood.
An 'absolute plague' of mice is ravaging eastern Australia By Brandon Specktor A productive grain harvest has resulted in a 'plague' of mice rampaging through Australia, and locals are sick of cleaning up their poo.
Meet the swirlon, a new kind of matter that bends the laws of physics By Stephanie Pappas A new form of active matter known as swirlonic matter clumps together in quasi-particles that bend the laws of physics.
Alligators in Oklahoma turn into 'popsicles' sticking out of the frozen water By Laura Geggel Alligators often 'snorkel' during cold snaps, so they don't become trapped underwater without access to air.
Overgrown sheep 'Baarack' gets epic quarantine haircut, loses 78 lbs. of matted wool By Mindy Weisberger A sheep found wandering wild in Victoria, Australia carried a massive coat of fleece weighing as much as a 10-year-old child.
Hidden 'madman' message on 'The Scream' traced back to Munch himself By Yasemin Saplakoglu Experts have long debated the identity of the inscriber, with some suggesting a dissatisfied vandalizer is the author, while others pointed fingers at the Norwegian painter himself.
New AI 'Ramanujan Machine' uncovers hidden patterns in numbers By Stephanie Pappas A new artificially intelligent 'Ramanujan Machine' can generate hundreds of new mathematical conjectures, which might lead to new math proofs and theorems.
How does the rubber pencil illusion work? By Isobel Whitcomb The rubber pencil illusion works because our brain can't keep up.
Venus flytraps produce magnetic fields when they eat By Yasemin Saplakoglu These carnivorous plants generate tiny magnetic signals when they clamp down on insects.
'Pile of rope' on a Texas beach is a weird, real-life sea creature By Mindy Weisberger Frequently mistaken for discarded piles of beach trash, ropelike sea whips are a type of colorful coastal coral.
Russia's 'Dyatlov Pass' conspiracy theory may finally be solved 60 years later By Brandon Specktor The infamous Dyatlov Pass incident, where 9 hikers died under mysterious circumstances, just got its first scientific explanation after 60 years of speculation.
Rock collector finds rare gemstone that looks like Cookie Monster By Stephanie Pappas An agate discovered in Brazil bears a remarkable resemblance to the Sesame Street muppet Cookie Monster.
Can science 'prove' there's an afterlife? Netflix documentary says yes. By Stephanie Pappas The new Netflix series 'Surviving Death' marches through an array of paranormal phenomena, some unprovable, some debunked and some genuinely mysterious.
Lizzie Borden's home, site of brutal axe murders, could be yours for $2 million By Mindy Weisberger The home where Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother were murdered is now a bed and breakfast, and a museum. Its retiring owner just put it on the market.
CIA releases entire collection of UFO-related documents to truth-seeking website By Brandon Specktor The CIA just turned over 2,700 pages of UFO-related material to The Black Vault, a free repository of UFO records online.
10 science records broken in 2020 By Yasemin Saplakoglu From the longest bird flight to the oldest identical twins, 2020 was filled with record-breaking science.
