Who (or what) killed the Neanderthals? We still don’t know. Some anthropologists point to environmental causes – climate change or a disease epidemic, for example. Others pin the blame on our ancestors, Homo sapiens, for either introducing tropical diseases on their migration from Africa, for being intellectually and culturally superior, or for simply interbreeding Homo neanderthalensis to extinction. The new …

At least eight people were killed and nine more injured after a rental truck tore through a bike path in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday. The truck was driven down a popular cycle path close to the World Trade Centre memorial, injuring at least 11 people on Tuesday afternoon. The driver barrelled along the bike path in a rented Home Depot …

Researchers were able to spot suicidal thoughts on a brain scan – paving the way to new methods for screening people at risk of taking their own life. The groundbreaking study by Carnegie Mellon University showed unique brain activity in suicidal people when they heard death-related words. “There really is a difference in the way [suicidal] people think about certain …

Black holes are famous for being ravenous eaters, but they do not eat everything that falls toward them. A small portion of material gets shot back out in powerful jets of hot gas, called plasma, that can wreak havoc on their surroundings. Along the way, this plasma somehow gets energized enough to strongly radiate light, forming two bright columns along …

Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber grabbed breakfast together on Sunday morning (October 29) and there’s a photo of the former couple circulating on the Internet. TMZ reported that on-again-off-again exes Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez have started hanging out again as just friends (Gomez is dating The Weeknd; Bieber is maybe casually dating actress Paola Paulin). The Weeknd, who’s away …

Taylor Swift has just dropped yet another incredible music video, but not everyone’s a fan of the vid for new track Ready For It. We seriously don’t get why people have a problem, but apparently Taylor’s nude bodysuit is a big issue for some. As always, Taylor was watching it all go down. And on Friday, after the world had …

Conspiracy theorists are yet again convinced that the mysterious plant Nibiru is set to destroy Earth in the coming weeks. Nibiru was supposed to eradicate Earth on September 23 after a Christian numerologist claimed it was on a collision path with our planet. The doomsday prediction drew enough media attention that Nasa was forced to publicly refute the claims. Now, …

NASA has released a chilling compilation of the ‘sounds’ of space, bringing to life the radio emissions captured by its spacecraft as they journey across the solar system. The collection, shared in a new playlist on Soundcloud, includes everything from the roaring warble of lightning on Jupiter to the eerie boom of starlight. Read more about some of the sounds …

Researchers from The Open University (OU) have discovered a process that could explain the long-debated mystery of how land features on Mars are formed in the absence of significant amounts of water. Experiments carried out in the OU Mars Simulation Chamber – specialised equipment, which is able to simulate the atmospheric conditions on Mars – reveal that Mars’ thin atmosphere …

Researchers have long known that being in space takes an immense physical toll on the body. But it may also change astronauts’ genes, according to research on NASA’s Scott Kelly and his identical twin brother, Mark Kelly. NASA’s Twins Study preliminary results have revealed that space travel causes an increase in methylation, the process of turning genes on and off, …

Researchers said this week that a “diminutive” dinosaur from China is the first to sport a so-called “bandit mask” pattern around its eyes, an evolutionary feature common in modern-day mammals and birds, including raccoons. Sinosauropteryx prima first made a splash back in 1996 when it was unveiled as the first non-avian dinosaur to have plumage, with a defined line of …