Iflsciencebreakitdown - Podcast Details

Shows

IFLScience - Break It Down Deep-Space Toilet, Mega-Stegosaurus, And The Only Venomous PrimateThis week on Break It Down: How a transplant patient lived for two days without lungs, the Artemis II Orion Capsule is probably smaller than you’re thinking (but it does have a toilet), the world’s only venomous primate is also super adorable, why a pair of giant legs has scientists questioning everything we thought we knew about stegosaurus, a cosmic miracle has been confirmed, and why do humans love fire? We asked the experts. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Lung transplant Artemis II Th...

2026-01-3038 min

IFLScience - Break It Down 3I/ATLAS, CKM Syndrome, And Mosquitos’ Final FrontierThis week on Break It Down: a potential environmental trigger for autism has been identified, interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is doing weird things with its tail, 90 percent of people are at risk of a newly recognized syndrome, why we know the Denisovans didn’t hook up with the Jomon, as Iceland falls, mosquitos have just one place left on Earth they’ve yet to conquer, and why are people talking to “wind phones”? It’s all to do with “after-death communications”. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Environmental trigger for autism...

2025-10-2434 min

IFLScience - Break It Down A Two-Headed Fossil, 50/50 Spider, And World-First Butt DragThis week on Break It Down: 3I/ATLAS is a 10 billion-year-old time capsule, a world-first fossil captures the moment a rock hyrax dragged its butt 126,000 years ago, a living person received a pig liver transplant for the first time, the “oldest human habit” might not be what it seems, a rare gynandromorph spider is a 50/50 wonder, and what is this prehistoric creature with two heads? We asked a dinosaur expert. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: 3I/ATLAS Butt drag fossil Trackways of fish leaving the ocean

2025-10-1032 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Mummified Cheetahs, Skin Cells Turn Into Eggs, And Almost Life On EnceladusThis week on Break It Down: the second oldest use of the color blue ever has been discovered in Europe dating back 13,000 years, “chemical fossils” suggest the oldest life on Earth may have been sponges 541 million years ago, skin cells have been turned into fertilizable egg cells thanks to some pretty nifty genetics research, the world’s first naturally mummified big cats have been found in a cave in Saudi Arabia, complex chemistry coming from Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus could be a big clue to eventually finding life in the Solar System, and we remember the pioneering scientist Jane Goo...

2025-10-0338 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Neanderthal Noises, Dome-Headed Dinosaurs, And Mystery LarvaeThis week on Break It Down: Homo habilis might not have been the apex predator we thought it was, the oldest and most complete pachycephalosaur reveals why they were so weirdly dome-headed, we’ve been able to track an asteroid’s full life story for the first time, nobody knows what these mysterious larvae grow up to be, humans are in the middle of an evolutionary transition, and what did Neanderthals sound like? Probably not what you think. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Homo habilis Pachycep...

2025-09-1934 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Tropical Mammoths, Dazzling Brain Map, And Perfectly Preserved PterosaursThis week on Break It Down: Queen ants are throwing the rules of reproduction out of the window by producing offspring of two different species, for the first time ever we have a complete map of brain activity and boy is it pretty, a new lineage of tropical mammoths have been discovered in Mexico, 150 million-year-old baby pterosaurs have been perfectly preserved thanks to some stormy weather, the controversy surrounding whether Homo naledi might have buried their dead is back, and we explore just how big the biggest egg on Earth really was. So, sit back, relax, and...

2025-09-0542 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Glowing Plants, Punk Ankylosaur, And Has The Wow! Signal Been Solved?This week on Break It Down: Think you know Earth? Think again; a new campaign is trying to overturn the highly erroneous map we were all taught in school. A new injection can make succulents glow pretty much any color you like, and better yet, they’re rechargeable. An intriguing new theory to explain the legendary Wow! Signal makes a convincing case. Turns out the oldest known ankylosaur was also ridiculously spiky with a trait we’ve never seen in any vertebrate – living or extinct – before. See the first 3D digital analysis of the only person known to have a proton...

2025-08-2943 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Shaman Training Cave, Uranus's New Moon, And A Bright Orange SharkThis week on Break It Down: Tracks left in ancient rock suggest fish crawled out of the seas 10 million years earlier than we thought, a 140,000-year-old child’s skull is the earliest evidence Neanderthals and Homo sapiens got it on yet, a bright orange nurse shark makes history as the first example of xanthism in this species and in the Caribbean Sea, JWST spots a new moon around Uranus, bringing its total up to 29, cave paintings from the French Pyrenees suggest a dangerous “shaman training cave”, and what did ancient people think when they discovered fossils? Griffins, cyclops, or someth...

2025-08-2235 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Orange Crocodiles, New Human Species, And Death By MeteoriteThis week on Break It Down: The discovery of some fossilized human teeth reveals the oldest known members of our genus weren’t alone; their neighbors were a species we’ve never found before. A world-first study reveals that sex reversal is surprisingly common in wild Australian birds. A law of abbreviation that mysteriously fits all human languages also applies to bird song from several species. Orange crocodiles lurking deep within caves in Central Africa have the potential to become a new dwarf species. The lack of a standardized definition is holding back long COVID research. And has anybody ever...

2025-08-1539 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Dancing Cockatoos, Spider Schlongs, And Will I Be Hit By An Asteroid?This week on Break It Down: cockatoos have added 17 new dance moves to their official tally, we may finally know where the ancient “hobbit” humans came from, four new species of tarantulas have been discovered with one key difference to other species, science has the answer as to whether you're more likely to be killed by an asteroid or an elephant, RFK Jr uses misinformation to pull millions of dollars from mRNA vaccine research, and we discuss how science fiction is helping scientists explore possible futures. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

2025-08-0835 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Moa De-Extinction, Fashionable Chimps, And Robot Surgery – No Human RequiredThis week on Break It Down: just a week after the discovery of our third-ever interstellar visitor we may know where it came from, ancient enamel provides a snapshot into the lives of prehistoric rhinos, the moa becomes the fifth species targeted for de-extinction, a robot performs gallbladder surgery – no human required, chimps start a new fashion trend with grass in their ears (and rears), and 100 years since The Scopes (Monkey) Trial, how much has changed? So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Interstellar visitor Pr...

2025-07-1142 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Interstellar Object, Cheesy Nightmares, And Smooching OrcasThis week on Break It Down: We’ve just seen our third-ever interstellar object whizzing though the Solar System, eating cheese really might give you nightmares (but so might dessert), cavers are rewarded with a treasure trove of blind, mummified invertebrates including the only known cave-adapted wasp, the Neanderthal fat factory is just a delicious as it sounds, orcas caught kissing out in the wild, and if the Moon gets slapped by an asteroid as NASA predicts there’s a 4.1 percent chance it might, it would be a 1-in-5,000-years spectacle for Earth to enjoy (from a safe distance).

2025-07-0434 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Wellness Whales, A New Blood Type, And A DJ Set From SpaceThis week on Break It Down: feast your eyes on the stunning first images from the world’s largest digital camera, capturing millions of galaxies and thousands of new asteroids. Why killer whales are rubbing each other luxuriously with seaweed, the world’s oldest rocks aren’t that much younger than the planet, mice born from two dads prove they’re fertile, a French woman becomes the only known person in the world with a new kind of blood type, and we celebrate 50 years of the European Space Agency with a special interview with astronaut Luca Parmitano. So, sit...

2025-06-2734 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Artificial Eclipse, Dancing Dinosaurs, And 50 Years Of “JAWS”This week on Break It Down: Two spacecraft just created the first ever artificial solar eclipse, thanks to some impressive drone photos we know now dancing dinosaurs might have been leaping around to impress females in Colorado, a child from the world's oldest burial site appears to be a Neanderthal-Homo sapiens hybrid, for the first time we know what a Denisovan face looks like, a medical breakthrough means we could have a vaccine against HIV (if only anyone could buy it), and 50 years after JAWS was released, we take a look at the lasting impact on shark conservation the...

2025-06-2036 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Ice Age Puppies, Sauropod’s Last Supper, And A First Look At The Sun’s ButtThis week on Break It Down: Seeing the Sun’s south pole for the first time ever, Ice Age puppies frozen in permafrost turn out to be wolves, a world-first fossil discovery reveals a sauropod’s final meal, “razor blade throat” and a traveling nimbus reveal what to expect from the new COVID variant, the deepest map of the universe now reaches 13.5 billion years into the past, and is giving nature a personhood a good way to get it better legal protections? Maybe. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Sun’s butt...

2025-06-1334 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Space Explosions, Dead Sea Scrolls, And Why It's So Hard To Sex A DinoThis week on Break It Down: A great big explosion in space is the most energetic since the Big Bang, AI reveals the Dead Sea Scrolls could share the same authors as the Bible, it looks like the Milky Way and Andromeda will not collide in 5 billion years after all, pregnant female mice with low iron levels can lead to the development of male embryos with ovaries, two smiling porpoises are released back into the wild for the first time in a win for conservation, and we take a deep dive into why it's so hard to sex a...

2025-06-0641 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Oldest Fingerprint, AI Decoding Wolf Language, And Injecting Life On Other Worlds?This week on Break It Down: The oldest fingerprint in the world might be left by a Neanderthal hoping to complete a face, scientists propose seeding life on Enceladus to see what would happen, we’re starting to understand more about the Incas’ mysterious string writing system, bioacoustics research could pave the way for us to chat to wolves in Yellowstone, prions prove they are just as scary as we always thought when they take over a woman's brain after 50 years, and we explore just how much memory humans really have in these big old noggins of ours.

2025-05-3042 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Capuchin Kidnappers, Spinosaurus Daddy, And A New Member Of The Solar SystemThis week on Break It Down: the Solar System just got a new member, capuchins have started stealing howler monkey babies on a remote island, the US ran a solar storm emergency drill and it didn’t go so well, stunning new fossil evidence reveals never-before-seen feathers that indicate Archaeopteryx could fly, a deep dive into Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA turns up six alleged relatives, and what Walking With Dinosaurs has to say about Spinosaurus’s parenting skills and T. rex’s nocturnal hunting. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links:

2025-05-2337 min

IFLScience - Break It Down T. Rex Leather, Glow-In-The-Dark Gas Clouds, And Musical Sea LionsThis week on Break It Down: a new kind of leather is borrowing its foundations from fossil T. rex collagen, we’ve just discovered an enormous glow-in-the-dark gas cloud surprisingly close to Earth, a musical sea lion has shown it can keep beat better than some humans, a new-to-science embalming technique has been discovered in Austria, man who let himself be envenomated by all the snakes inspires an antivenom not thought possible, and do scientists have a responsibility to fight misinformation about their subjects? We asked them. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… ...

2025-05-0232 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Tattooed Tardigrades, Doomed Lava Planet, And Meet The “Bone Collector”This week, on Break It Down: a planet with a very rare tail is being boiled apart, the first physical evidence of a gladiator fighting a lion discovered in Britain, scientists are tattooing tardigrades (for science), what’s happening in your brain during a mind blank, the grim fashion of “bone collector” caterpillars, and five health risks associated with tobacco use that don’t include lung cancer. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Boiled-apart planet Gladiator VS lion Tattooed tardigrades Mind blanks Bone col...

2025-04-2536 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Dire Wolves, Intersex Whales, And That Dangerous Asteroid’s Unusual OriginThis week on Break It Down: old skin samples have revealed the first-ever evidence for an intersex Southern right whale, a dangerous asteroid that might hit the Moon has an unusual origin, what dire wolf “de-extinction” really means and how it’s helping red wolves, a mushroom that contains one of the most bitter compounds known to humans, a promising new candidate to topple debilitating long COVID, and is time an illusion? So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Intersex whale Dangerous asteroid Dire wolve...

2025-04-1139 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Near-Death Experiences, Loch Ness Camera Trap, And Why No Frozen Dinosaurs?This week on Break It Down: study uncovers the biological basis of near-death experiences, what a camera trap captured after 55 years in Loch Ness, why it’s taken humans so long to orbit over Earth’s poles, what a sediment core from the “Great Blue Hole” can tell us about the Caribbean’s climatic past and future, why you shouldn’t offer cola to isolated communities, and why are there no frozen dinosaurs? With damn good reason. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Near-death experiences Loch Ness camera trap...

2025-04-0436 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Magic Mushroom Medicine, Neptune’s Aurora Confirmed, And First-Ever Shark SoundsThis week on Break It Down: a new study has become the first to document what sound a shark makes, Neptune has been confirmed to have an aurora thanks to the best telescope ever, a pipeline construction site turned up the terrifying claw of a new species of therizinosaur, why people are trying to prevent measles with Vitamin A (and why it won’t work), 400-million-year-old fossils may belong to a new branch on the tree of life, and the growing role of psilocybin in new medications inspired by magic mushrooms. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Br...

2025-03-2837 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Unknown Lifeforms, How To Live To 117, And Handstanding Sauropods?This week on Break It Down: An unknown lifeform has been making micro-burrows in the Namibian desert, the secret to living until 117 has been revealed, sauropods were not doing handstands in Texas 100 million years ago (boooo), should we be attempting to de-extinct animals, an Australian man achieves a double world-first with a titanium heart transplant, and would you rather go to space or the deepest part of the ocean? We speak to one of the only people on Earth to do both! So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links...

2025-03-2139 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Woolly Mice, 3D-Printed Penises, And The World’s Worst StingThis week on Break It Down: Colossal Biosciences creates the “woolly mouse” in their mission to de-extinct the mammoth, scientists 3D-print functional penises (and have the babies to prove their efficacy), that gaping hole in the ozone layer really is repairing, IFLScience asks why so few international organizations have responded to Trump and Musk’s attack on US science, humans have been making bone tools 1 million years longer than we realized, and what’s the most painful bug sting? One brave scientist penned poetic descriptions of their experiences. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… ...

2025-03-0738 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Rat Sommeliers, Glass Brain, And Internet On MarsThis week on Break It Down: the curious tale of a lump of glass that turned out to be a human brain, the US sees its first measles death in 10 years, rats make great sommeliers, the evolutionary origins of feathers in dinosaurs, AI bots start speaking a secret language to each other, and could we get internet on Mars? Quite possible. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Brain glass Brain in a bucket Measles death Rat sommeliers Hamsters quaffing wine

2025-02-2831 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Most Dangerous Animal, Tomb Discovery, And How To Break HabitsThis week on Break It Down: the first ancient Egyptian royal tomb has been discovered since Tutankhamun over 100 years ago, a brand new ‘dangerous animal’ scale reveals the realistic threat of different creatures, architects are operating on land and at the deepest parts of the ocean (they just don’t look how you imagine), a Paralympian becomes the first astronaut with a disability to be cleared for a space mission, the Moon is getting 4G for the first time ever, and how do you break a habit? We find out. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It...

2025-02-2135 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Dolphin Pee Party, Inside Asteroid Response, And That Ancient Mummy SmellThis week on Break It Down: Amazon river dolphins are saying it with urine proudly sprayed directly into the air, an inside look at the planetary defense response to asteroid 2024 YR4 (and no, it isn’t too late), find out what mummies smell like thanks to a team of “sniffers”, whale song follows Zipf’s Law, red light therapy – does it actually work? And say hello to kama muta, the emotion we've all felt but probably don’t know the name for. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Dolphin pee ...

2025-02-1440 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Science Under Attack, Dino-Era Ducks, And Do We Own Our Bodies?This week on Break It Down: the world's oldest runestone might have been carved by a woman in a language that predates the Vikings, asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2.3 percent chance of hitting Earth in 2032 (but we’re not panicking yet), an ancient jawbone might reveal a new branch of the hominid family tree, science in the US is under attack after a slew of executive orders from the Trump administration, a fossil from Antarctica suggests ducks have been swimming around for a lot longer than we thought and we explore whether we actually own our bodies. So...

2025-02-0741 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Covid Lab Leak, Mouse With Two Dads, And Are We Living In A Simulation?This week on Break It Down: A CIA report says the origins of COVID being a lab leak is “likely” but what does that really mean? The Doomsday Clock ticks closer to humanity's destruction, asteroid Bennu’s sample contains the building blocks of life (but not aliens), the oldest poison arrow dates back 7,000 years, a mouse with two male parents survives to adulthood in a world first, “boomerasking” might be the social snub of 2025, and we enter The Vault to explore why people believe in the Simulation Hypothesis. So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

2025-01-3144 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Pompeii’s Worst Day, Peeing Together, And The GOAT Dinosaur Movie?This week on Break It Down: a new timeline shows exactly when and how the eruption of Vesuvius spread, chimps have been observed going to the bathroom together all at the same time, trust in science remains high worldwide despite recent global events, sex differences between male and female brains are present as early as newborn babies, and did COVID lockdowns actually affect the temperature on the Moon? Finally, what’s the best dino movie of all time? We asked the experts to find out. So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links

2025-01-2437 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Thylacine De-Extinction, Tattooed Mummies, And A Meteorite World-FirstThis 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 mum...

2025-01-1729 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Precious Penis Bone, North America’s Oldest Dino, And The Mystical Metal Of "Atlantis"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, an...

2025-01-1028 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Saiga Mega Victory, 2025 Predictions, And A Coming Star ExplosionThis 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...

2025-01-0317 min

IFLScience - Break It Down A New North Pole, Bubble-Butt Turtles, And Testing Ancient Hangover CuresThis 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 mor...

2024-12-2030 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Deep-Sea Creep, Jupiter's New Ring, And Inter-Hominid Hook-UpsThis 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

2024-12-1334 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Cannibal Paddington, Glowing Wood, And A New Human Species?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. So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: New human species Cannibalistic Paddington Ancient dog friends Sign...

2024-12-0633 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Killer Whale Fashion, Dinosaur Poop, And Pluto’s BirthdayThis 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...

2024-11-2921 min

IFLScience - Break It Down World’s Thinnest Spaghetto, Earth’s Frozen Core, And A Shark-Hunting Dog?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… Lin...

2024-11-2229 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Uranus Is Windy, Saber-Toothed Baby, And Is Animal Testing Necessary?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

2024-11-1532 min

IFLScience - Break It Down A Murder Solved From The Grave, Chernobyl Frogs, and Cat PhysicsThis 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... Links: Pompeii Victims Chernobyl Frogs ⁠Cat Physics Salty Atlantic Double Jab 1985 Murder...

2024-11-0831 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Quantum Cats, Drunk Monkeys, And Happy Birthday GodzillaThis 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 Foss...

2024-11-0140 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Tiniest Dino Eggs, Hungry Black Holes, And Why People Believe In GhostsThis 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...

2024-10-2534 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Solar Storm Season, Dolphin Breath, And Resurrecting The ThylacineThis 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...

2024-10-1834 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Fusing Jellies, Bad Robot Jokes, And Elephants Evolve Before Our EyesThis 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 conv...

2024-10-1136 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Glowing Crystals, Radioactive Storms, And A “Google Maps” For The BrainThis 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? So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… 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 M...

2024-10-0434 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Biblical Seeds, World’s Oldest Cheese, And A Fish With Tongues For LegsThis 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 World’s oldest cheese: https://www.iflscience.com/the-worlds-oldest-cheese-has-been-found-rubbed-on-a-bunch-of-mummies-76096 Blasting asteroids: https://www.iflscience.com/the-latest-idea-for-deflecting-threatening-asteroids-x-ray-pulses-76077 Tongue-legged fish: https://www.iflsci...

2024-09-2735 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Gorilla Dicks, Life After Death, And Earth's New (Mini) MoonThis 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/a...

2024-09-2030 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Pyramid Plasma, “Killer” Whales, And An Illegal Spacewalk?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.if...

2024-09-1325 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Introducing 'We Have Questions' Our New Science PodcastComing 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. Until then, catch up with the E-magazine here: https://www.iflscience.com/curious-magazine

2024-09-1001 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Tossing Puffins, Python Vs Python, And Homeopathy. Is. Not. Science.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.co...

2024-09-0638 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Killer Whale Pirates, Hunting Aliens, And Flying Spaghetti MonstersThis week on Break It Down: orcas disable another boat as a new theory is put forward for the behavior, bacteria pass “memories” of perturbed genes to descendants, SETI scans 2,880 galaxies for advanced extraterrestrial civilizations, what you need to know about human parvovirus B19, flying spaghetti monsters sighted on a sea mount expedition, and how to avoid the nonsense that plagues the wellness industry. So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Killer whale pirates: https://www.iflscience.com/orcas-strike-a-boat-in-spain-as-a-new-theory-arises-to-explain-the-destruction-75750 Bacteria memories: https://www.iflscience.com/bacteria-pass-memories-of-perturbed-genes-to-their-descendants-75733 Huntin...

2024-08-3032 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Tool-Wielding Whales, Earth’s New Ring, And Wow! Signal Solved?This week on Break It Down: Earth has a snazzy new radiation belt, the Wow! signal finally has an explanation and spoiler: it’s still not aliens, whales have joined the list of animals using tools (but do bubbles really count?), a universal flu vaccine is one step closer to reality thanks to some ferrets, the Rift Valley might not be the cradle of humankind after all, and why supermassive black holes are more a part of daily life on Earth than we realized. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: ...

2024-08-2332 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Earth Sausage, Pompeii Panic, And The Disco PlanetThis week on Break It Down: two new victims discovered at the site of Pompeii tell a vivid story, Stonehenge’s altar stone reveals a surprising point of origin, plans to terraform Mars with “glitter”, ancient environments exposed in a kilometer-long Earth sausage, we may know where the dinosaur-killing asteroid came from, and a brief history of humans’ long history of burying the dead. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Pompeii victims: https://www.iflscience.com/two-new-pompeii-victims-found-clutching-coins-and-jewelry-as-they-met-their-doom-75519 Corpse casts: https://www.iflscience.com/the-stone-bodies-of-pompeii-arent-what-you-think-68838 Stonehenge a...

2024-08-1631 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Space Archaeology, Titanium Hearts, And The Russian Sleep ExperimentThis week on Break It Down, the first archaeological study takes place outside of Earth, the oldest calendar might show a comet impact, a new study thinks the ancient Egyptians were using hydraulic tech to build the pyramids (others disagree), what a rock on Mars could tell us about potential life in the Solar System, a titanium heart is something straight out of sci-fi, and why we get taken in by urban legends like the Russian sleep experiment. So, sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Space Archaeology: https://www.iflscience...

2024-08-0935 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Wonky Giraffe, Hamster Vaccines, And Wildlife Rock ArtThis week on Break It Down: a wonky-necked giraffe is somehow still alive, an extraordinary fossil find shows a tyrannosaur with a stubby snout, a vaccine to stop COVID transmission is a success (at least, in hamsters), ancient stars are not where we expect them to be, 12,500-year-old rock art is a wildlife masterpiece, and we debunk some cortisol-based misinformation. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Wonky giraffe: https://www.iflscience.com/wonky-necked-giraffe-spotted-in-south-africa-is-somehow-still-alive-75382 New tyrannosaur: https://www.iflscience.com/new-species-of-69-million-year-old-tyrannosaur-identified-in-awesome-fossils-75343 Hamster vaccines: https://www...

2024-08-0226 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Singing Elephants, Animal Olympics, and A Popcorn-Covered NeanderthalThis week on Break It Down: deep-sea potatoes just shook foundational ideas about life on Earth, NASA plans to launch an artificial star, elephants sing “let’s go” like a barbershop quartet, the most complete Neanderthal skeleton has sprouted cave popcorn, the record for hottest day ever gets smashed twice in one week, and who would win in the animal Olympics? So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Deep-sea potatoes: https://www.iflscience.com/natural-batteries-on-the-deep-ocean-floor-appear-to-be-making-dark-oxygen-75206 Artificial star: https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-will-soon-launch-an-artificial-star-into-orbit-over-the-usa-75197 Barbershop elephants: https://www.iflsci...

2024-07-2630 min

IFLScience - Break It Down $44 Million Stegosaurus, Air Butter, And Life On Venus?This week on Break It Down: why Venus just got very exciting as a potential site of extra-terrestrial life, how you make butter out of thin air, a Stegosaurus on sale for $44 million, the discovery of the first Moon cave, why Earth just landed itself a new microcontinent, and pseudoscience Vs anti-science – what the differences are and how to tackle them. So sit back, relax, and let’s Break it Down… Links: Phosphine on Venus: https://www.iflscience.com/new-detection-of-phosphine-deeper-in-venuss-atmosphere-and-possibly-ammonia-too-75139 Air butter: https://www.iflscience.com/lab-made-butter-created-from-co2-tastes-like-the-real-thing-says-bill-gates-75144 $44 million stegos...

2024-07-1929 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Mammoth Jerky, Endangered Language, And Rocket Science In The JungleThis week on Break It Down we report live from a rocket launch, freeze-dried skin gets us a step closer to bringing back mammoths, “polar rain” auroras seen on Earth in a first, two lion brothers should star in their own Disney movie, a complete larynx transplant for a cancer patient, and the people fighting for the survival of the world’s most endangered language. Sit back, relax and let’s break it down... Ariane 6: https://www.iflscience.com/europes-ariane-6-rocket-is-about-to-launch-heres-why-its-a-big-deal-74147 Woolly mammoth: https://www.iflscience.com/woolly-mammoth-skin-freeze-dried-for-52000-years-delivers-first-ever-3d-chromosomes-75043 Record...

2024-07-1229 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Flying Hippos, Talking Animals, And Palaeolithic UnderpantsThis week on Break It Down, why dinosaurs had to die so that we could have wine, the world’s oldest narrative art, the flying skills of hippos, evidence for pants in the Palaeolithic, turning meteorites into space LEGO, and a bunch of animals talking like humans that really shouldn’t be talking like humans. So sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Dinosaurs VS wine: https://www.iflscience.com/we-might-owe-wine-to-the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-66-million-years-ago-74893 Oldest narrative art: https://www.iflscience.com/oldest-narrative-rock-art-discovered-with-mind-blowing-age-of-51200-years-74927 Flying hippos: https://www.iflscience.com/hipp...

2024-07-0525 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Popsicle Wolves, Primordial Black Holes, And A Fleshy Robot’s SmileThis week on Break It Down, a puppy gets a post-mortem 44,000 years after being frozen in permafrost, altruism found among Neanderthals in Down Syndrome case, the world’s largest terrestrial mammal migration is recorded in East Africa, a robot’s fleshy smile that will haunt your nightmares, NASA is being sued, and the Tunguska Event may have been caused by *checks notes* a primordial black hole ripping through Earth. Right. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Frozen wolf: https://www.iflscience.com/a-44000-year-old-wolf-frozen-in-permafrost-may-still-contain-living-bacteria-74848 Bog body whoopsies: https...

2024-06-2828 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Disco Dinosaur, Ancient Wine, And A $17 Billion ShipwreckThis week on Break It Down, white wine with a hint of human remains becomes the oldest ever discovered, Jupiter’s Red Spot may be younger than the United States, a disco dinosaur has been discovered with one hell of a hat, people volunteer to be infected with COVID-19 – for science, NASA uses its first two-way end-to-end relay system to send pet photos to the ISS, and a $17 billion shipwreck has launched an international argument. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Oldest wine: https://www.iflscience.com/worlds-oldest-liquid-wine-contains-surprising-ingredient-cremated-human-remains-74727 Deep-s...

2024-06-2127 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Corpse Flowers, Grolar Bears, And “Alien Signals” From MarsThis week on Break It Down, elephants have names, the ISS just scared the bejesus out of everybody, how to Benjamin Button yourself in space, grolar bears remain extremely rare, “alien signal” from Mars finally gets decoded, and why London’s Kew Gardens are about to reek of corpses. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Elephant names: https://www.iflscience.com/african-elephants-call-each-other-by-names-just-like-humans-do-74595 ISS audio whoopsie: https://www.iflscience.com/internet-panics-after-hearing-leaked-audio-from-the-iss-they-were-not-supposed-to-hear-74638 Benjamin Button’ing: https://www.iflscience.com/turns-out-billionaires-can-go-to-space-to-temporarily-benjamin-button-themselves-74642 Grolar bears: https://www.iflscience.com/grolar-b...

2024-06-1434 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Shingray Update, Seahenge, And The Longesssst Rock ArtThis week on Break It Down, Charlotte the stingray is back and it’s not good news, a zig-zagging snake stretching over 40 meters might be the world’s longest rock art, the irony of offering endangered orangutans as a form of diplomatic gift, the mysterious aurora STEVE gets a long-lost twin, why Seahenge was built, and how the iconic “March of Progress” evolution image is actually all wrong. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Stingray: https://www.iflscience.com/aquarium-solves-mystery-after-stingray-alone-in-tank-of-sharks-appeared-pregnant-74480 Parthenogenesis: https://youtu.be/W31JiNsN3mg Snake...

2024-06-0727 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Colossal Squid, A Titanic Trip, And Debunking Star SignsThis week on Break It Down, a mystery sighting in the deep ocean could be the first-ever footage of a colossal squid baby, orca attacks are more mischief than vengeance, astrology is debunked yet again, a second billionaire plans a trip to the Titanic, the world's largest genome comes in a surprisingly small package, and we explore the differences between human and chimp DNA. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Mystery Squid: https://www.iflscience.com/mystery-glass-squid-in-antarctica-could-be-first-ever-colossal-squid-baby-filmed-74424 Orca attacks: https://www.iflscience.com/the-puzzling-rise-in-orca-attacks-on-boats-has-been-explained-by-whale-scientists-74395 Astrology: https...

2024-05-3131 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Sexy Neanderthals, Head Transplants, And Dark ExtinctionThis week on Break It Down, we now know when humans and Neanderthals hooked up, could a human head transplant ever be realistic, a dino fossil skin preserved like glass has both scales and feathers, sometimes stars completely vanish, a skull from China tells us more about the Dragon Man, and we delve into the concept of dark extinctions. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Humans and Neanderthals: https://www.iflscience.com/we-now-know-exactly-when-humans-and-neanderthals-hooked-up-74337 Human head transplants:https://www.iflscience.com/hair-raising-human-head-transplant-machine-concept-unveiled-by-startup-but-is-it-realistic-74332 Dino skin fossil: https://www...

2024-05-2430 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Hot Dinosaurs, Alien Megastructures, And Reaching Point NemoThis week on Break It Down, COVID’s new FLiRT variants, when and which dinosaurs went warm-blooded, could a lost river explain the pyramids, the search for alien megastructures, the shrinking Y chromosome, and what’s it like sailing to Point Nemo? Really hard, apparently. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: FLiRT: https://www.iflscience.com/whats-going-on-with-the-new-covid-flirt-variants-74245 Hot dinosaurs: https://www.iflscience.com/the-first-warm-blooded-dinosaurs-probably-evolved-180-million-years-ago-74237 Lost river: https://www.iflscience.com/this-lost-river-could-explain-how-the-pyramids-were-built-74246 Alien megastructures: https://www.iflscience.com/two-new-searches-find-60-potential-alien-megastructures-in-our-galaxy-74222 Shrinking Y chromo...

2024-05-1731 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Talking Whales, Dinosauroids, and Psychedelic Milk Toads?This week in Break It Down, scientists discover the “sperm whale phonetic alphabet”, AstraZeneca pull their COVID vaccine from the shelves, why a weak magnetic field might be a good thing for life on Earth, rock art reveals that the Sahara looked a little different 4,000 years ago, toads might be helping treat depression, and what on Earth is a dinosauroid?! Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Whale alphabet: https://www.iflscience.com/sperm-whale-phonetic-alphabet-surprisingly-similar-in-structure-to-human-language-74097 [Whale Audio Credit: Project CETI] AstraZeneca pull their COVID vaccine: https://www.iflscience.com...

2024-05-1028 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Alpaca Sex, Brainy T. Rex, And Could Earth Have Rings?This week in Break It Down, the debate on T. rex intelligence rages on, a world-first video shows an orangutan applying leaves as medicine, the most complete Neanderthal gets a face, why alpaca sex is so weird that no other mammal does it like them (that we know of), the mystery of a giant hole in Antarctic ice solved, and could Earth ever get its own rings? Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Brainy T. rex: https://www.iflscience.com/t-rex-was-a-smart-giant-crocodile-not-a-massive-brainy-baboon-73991 Dr Orangutan: https://www.iflscience.com/orangutan-seen-treating-a-wound-with-a-medicinal-plant-in-world-first-observation-74034

2024-05-0339 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Gassy Uranus, Giant Megaraptors, And The Pharaoh's CurseThis week in Break It Down, we explore why Uranus might contain more methane than we thought, just what is happening to bacteria on the ISS, quite how long animals have been making their own light for, why carvings on a bear bone are culturally important, giant megaraptor footprints in China, and whether anything spooky might happen if you dare to enter the Pharaoh's tomb. Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Methane on Uranus: https://www.iflscience.com/uranus-may-be-filled-with-a-lot-more-methane-than-we-thought-73921 Space bacteria: https://www.iflscience.com/bacteria-on-the-iss-have-mutated-into-something-not-seen-on-earth-before-73932 ...

2024-04-2628 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Tiny Titanosaurs, Giant Snakes, And Transatlantic Heart TransplantsThis week in Break It Down, a new species of tiny titanosaur is compared to a cow, a 47-million-year-old snake becomes the largest ever, an RNA breakthrough brings us closer to "universal vaccines", a heart flies 7,000 kilometers to its recipient, we question Stonehenge's relationship to the Moon, and why the philosophy of science matters in the modern day. Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Tiny titanosaur: https://www.iflscience.com/anyone-for-a-mini-titanosaur-new-species-is-one-of-the-smallest-ever-found-73817 Giant snake: https://www.iflscience.com/new-species-may-be-the-largest-snake-to-have-ever-lived-73871 Vaccine breakthrough: https://www.iflscience.com/vaccine-breakthrough-could-mean-future-proof-shots-with-no-need-for-boosters-73825

2024-04-1932 min

IFLScience - Break It Down More Whale Sex, Pet Foxes, And The B.O.A.TThis week in Break It Down, 12-million-year-old snails reveal the oldest preserved fossil pigments, the violent mating dance of blue whales is caught on camera, scientists investigate the source of space’s brightest-ever explosion, foxes may have been the OG domestic canid, when is the North Star not the North Star, and what the hell even is a “henge”? Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Old snails: https://www.iflscience.com/oldest-known-intact-polyene-pigments-found-in-12-million-year-old-snail-shells-73735 Whale sex: https://www.iflscience.com/rare-photos-show-blue-whales-performing-the-largest-mating-dance-on-earth-73777 The BOAT: https://www.iflscience.com/we-now...

2024-04-1230 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Space Rainbows, Ancient Animal Art, And Heart-Eyed ToadsThis week in Break It Down, a rainbow-like glory is detected beyond our Solar System, a sand-slab stingray may be the oldest animal art, ancient etchings in Peru may depict psychedelic music, scientists complete the world’s largest digital camera, and a toad with heart-shaped pupils. Plus, how far can a bird fly without flapping? Turns out, pretty damn far. Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Glory in space: https://www.iflscience.com/we-may-have-just-seen-the-first-rainbow-like-glory-on-a-world-outside-our-solar-system-73681 Sand-slab stingray: https://www.iflscience.com/a-130000-year-old-stingray-sand-sculpture-may-be-worlds-oldest-animal-art-73649 Psychedelic rock art: https://ww...

2024-04-0536 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Black Holes, Barbie Pigs, And The ApocaclipseThis week in Break It Down, why the solar eclipse can be fatal, Barbie pigs 5,000 meters below the sea, world-first cooperative mimicry in two spiders pretending to be a flower, the first image of magnetic fields around black hole Sagittarius A*, why climate change might be about to change the time, and are men really more likely to be psychopaths than women? The science appears to suggest otherwise. So sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Apocaclipse: https://www.iflscience.com/potentially-fatal-consequence-linked-to-upcoming-us-total-solar-eclipse-73564 Barbie pigs: https://www.iflscience.com/barbie-pigs-among-strange-and-possibly-new-to-science-species-discovered-in-the-pacific-73539

2024-03-2835 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Scandalous Pyramids, Quantum Tornadoes, And The Longest EclipseThis week in Break It Down, a hill becomes a pyramid and then a hill again, quantum tornadoes teach us about black holes, a living human gets a pig kidney for the first time, Homer’s Iliad helps us find shipwrecks, the world’s rarest fish makes a comeback – one ridiculous baby at a time – and we find out about the longest eclipses on, and off, record. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: It’s a pyramid: https://www.iflscience.com/worlds-oldest-pyramid-was-built-25000-years-ago-inside-this-indonesian-mountain-71414 It might not be a pyramid: htt...

2024-03-2230 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Superb Nova, Space Crime, And Eclipse TortoisesThis week in Break It Down, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a nova, astroforensic science, why everybody thinks male mammals are so big, the world’s oldest body piercings, 70 years in an iron lung, and the strange things animals do during a total solar eclipse. We’re looking at you, Galápagos tortoises. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Nova: https://www.iflscience.com/this-year-could-be-a-once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity-to-see-a-nova-73379 Space crime: https://www.iflscience.com/csi-space-station-scientists-are-investigating-blood-splatter-in-microgravity-73357 Mammalian bodies: https://www.iflscience.com/males-are-larger-than-females-or-are-they-new-data-challenges-100-years-of-bias-73347 Oldest piercings: https://www.iflsc...

2024-03-1533 min

IFLScience - Break It Down De-Extincting Mammoths, The Oldest Fossil Forest, And Elephant BurialsThis week in Break It Down, we talk de-extincting the mammoth, the world’s oldest fossil forest, elephant burials, hypervaccination (and by hyper, we mean 217 COVID vaccinations in 29 months), a small Pacific nation that spans all four hemispheres, and a contentious question on geologists’ lips: are we in the Anthropocene? Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: From elephants to mammoths: https://www.iflscience.com/we-just-got-one-step-closer-to-seeing-a-live-mammoth-by-2028-73258 De-extincting a dinosaur: https://youtu.be/jpcvqFMZFmA?si=wcMj-waAHqEGXpmF Fossil forest: https://www.iflscience.com/at-390-million-years-old-england-just-usurped-the-us-for-oldest-forest-on-earth-73247 Anthropo...

2024-03-0832 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Whale Sex, Smashing Asteroids, And More (Giant) WhalesThis week in Break It Down, the first-ever photographs of humpbacks humping involves two males, NASA changes the shape of an asteroid, a tiny fish makes a big din, some very old megaliths in Peru, the heaviest animal on the planet, and the bizarre story of one of the biggest astrophysical discoveries in recent times. Sit back, relax, and let’s break it down... Links: Queer nature: https://youtu.be/RXE11Ia70GQ Male whales: https://www.iflscience.com/first-ever-photos-of-humpback-whale-sex-involve-two-males-73150 Megaliths: https://www.iflscience.com/ancient-4750-year-old-megalith-discovered-on-peruvian-mountain-73114 Ti...

2024-03-0130 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Giant Anacondas, Small Stars, And Lab-Grown TesticlesThis week in Break It Down, we discuss how a Will Smith series led to the discovery of a new species of giant anaconda, plus the smallest star ever discovered, lab-grown testicles, an electric vehicle breakthrough, sophisticated Neanderthal glue, and how to destroy a dinner party by dropping the question: is math discovered or invented? Sit back, relax, and let’s break it down… Links: New species of giant anaconda: https://www.iflscience.com/new-giant-anaconda-species-discovered-while-filming-with-will-smith-in-amazon-73027 Smallest star ever discovered: https://www.iflscience.com/smallest-star-ever-discovered-and-its-only-a-tiny-bit-bigger-than-earth-73035 Lab-grown testicles: https://www.iflscience.com...

2024-02-2332 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Shingrays, Space Lasers, And Pink Fairy ArmadillosThis week in Break It Down, we discuss whether or not an aquarium in the US is about to become home to the world’s first “shingray,” how scientists are sending messages and power from space, a groundbreaking cancer breakthrough, fossil forgeries, and what on Earth a pink fairy armadillo is. Sit back, relax, and let’s break it down… Links: Shingray: https://www.iflscience.com/shark-ray-hybrid-aquarium-suggests-shark-may-have-impregnated-their-lone-stingray-72919 Space lasers and radio messages: https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-just-received-laser-and-radio-messages-together-from-even-deeper-space-72873 Cancer breakthrough: https://www.iflscience.com/13-year-old-boy-cured-of-terminal-brain-tumor-in-world-first-72950 Fossil forgeries: https://www.iflsci...

2024-02-1633 min

IFLScience - Break It Down Break It Down TrailerA little teaser for our upcoming podcast, Break It Down.

2024-02-1402 min