🚀 #space – factually fun! WHITE BALLOON SEES BLACK HOLES 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1124-1209 XL-Calibur is a telescope that measures X-ray light from black holes from a balloon – at high altitude. Scientists recently looked at Cygnus X-1 and the Crab pulsar, among others. T...

🚀 #space – factually fun! GALILEO GOES ON A JOURNEY WITH ARIANE 6! 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1121-1915 Galileo will soon launch two brand new satellites with an Ariane 6 rocket. With this, the European Space Agency is strengthening the precision and reliability of the navigat...

🚀 #space – factually fun! JUPITER'S LIGHT SIGNATURE FINALLY EXPLAINED 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/0909-1417 Juno has finally found Callisto's light signature. And if you're thinking, "Why did that take so long?!" it was difficult to detect because it coincided with Jupiter's br...

🚀 #space – factually fun! MEGA CONSTELLATIONS THREATEN SPACE 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1217-2009 A study warns that mega constellations like Starlink are polluting space (photography) significantly. Reflections from thousands of satellites already distort images from telescop...

🧪 #science – factually fun! PRINTABLE ELECTRODES ON YOUR OWN SKIN? 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1217-1900 Swedish researchers have devised a way to make electrodes using visible light, but without the dangerous chemicals that would normally be involved. They can then print these...

⌛ #history – factually fun! FIRE-MAKING BEGAN MUCH EARLIER 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1217-1950 Ancient humanoids in England could make fire as far back as 400,000 years ago. In fact, scientists have found pyrite and burnt remains that prove that the fire used was not of natura...

🚀 #space – factually fun! 3I/ATLAS CAME (VERY) CLOSE TO EARTH! 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1217-1310 Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS recently reached its shortest distance from Earth. All the while, it exhibited strange behavior with metals, gases and colors never before observed....

🧪 #science – factually fun! SCIENTISTS CAN MEASURE 'EMPTINESS' 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1217-1241 Researchers have found a way to make the so-called Unruh effect measurable. To do so, they used mirrors and cooperating atoms to convert tiny heat differences into light. This a...

🧪 #science – factually fun! CANNABIS PROVES EFFECTIVE AGAINST CANCER 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1216-2003 Researchers in Thailand have found that both CBD and THC work very well against cancer in the ovaries. The substances inhibit the growth of these tumors, while healthy cel...

🚀 #space – factually fun! TWO EXPLODING WHITE DWARFS 🔥 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1216-2103 Astronomers have observed giant explosions on two white dwarfs. The fast burst in Hercules even spewed gas in two directions at once. And a slower explosion, in Cassiopeia, then took...

⌛ #history – factually fun! FINGERPRINT OF A (SAVAGE?) VIKING 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1217-1216 Researchers have recovered a fingerprint on a nearly 2,500-year-old Viking ship. This Hjortspring boat thus reveals clues about the ancient Vikings centuries after the fact. The c...

🧪 #science – factually fun! MOSASAURUS MASTER OF ADAPTATION 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1216-1448 At the end of the dino era, fearsome mosasaurs not only roamed the sea, but also the many rivers of the time. Indeed, isotope studies of a tooth show that they adapted effortlessly...

🚀 #space – factually fun! A RENDEZVOUS AT (VERY) HIGH ALTITUDE 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1216-1416 Two private companies, Starfish Space and Impulse Space, teamed up to carry out a secret mission in orbit. Their satellites came to within 1,250 meters of each other while being...

⌛ #history – factually fun! THE RICH IN POMPEII LIVED ON HIGH LEVEL 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1216-2035 Archaeologists have discovered a staircase in ancient Pompeii that (once) led to a set of higher-level dwellings. Digital reconstructions show that the wealthiest Romans in...

🚀 #space – factually fun! MORE THAN SUPER HOT PLANET DISCOVERED 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1215-2142 Astronomers discovered a rare rocky planet with an atmosphere using the James Webb Telescope. TOI-561 b is extremely hot but still retains gas around it. Scientists think magma...

🧪 #science – factually fun! NEW BIOPRINTER SAVES VOCAL CORDS 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1030-1831 A Canadian team has developed a tiny robot that can print hydrogels on human vocal cords. This can reduce scarring after surgery and limit voice loss. The device moves like an ele...

⌛ #history – factually fun! ROMAN IRON SMELTER IN GERMANIA 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1003-1736 A huge Roman settlement was discovered by chance during major excavation work in Lüneburg, Germany. More than a hundred smelting furnaces and ironworking sites from Roman times have...

🚀 #space – factually fun! A SPACE STATION WITH A CANNON 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/0918-2001 The Soviet Union secretly built military space stations under the name Almaz. Two of them were successfully manned and even equipped with real cannons. Despite this technology, ma...

⌛ #history – factually fun! STAMPED, WITH HEART AND SOUL... 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1216-1524 In 1913, the U.S. Parcel Post made it possible for children under a certain weight to simply travel by mail. One stuck stamps on the children, who were accompanied by a postal...

🧪 #science – factually fun! PROJECT HABAKKUK, A SHIP OF ICE 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1215-1429 During WWII, the British wanted to build a giant aircraft carrier out of… pure ice and wood pulp! That material, pykrete, was very strong but also difficult to keep cool. De...

🚀 #space – factually fun! JAPANESE SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1215-2027 Rocket Lab has launched a Japanese satellite in New Zealand. The RAISE-4 is testing as many as eight innovative technologies simultaneously, including a system for better de...

⌛ #history – factually fun! THE MONGOLIAN STORM IN EUROPE 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1215-1447 The Mongols once conquered the world with their speed and unprecedented organization. Their horses, bows and discipline made them unbeatable. They learned to use gunpowder and co...

🧪 #science – factually fun! ALWAYS NOISE; VISUAL SNOW SYNDROME 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1213-1832 Visual Snow Syndrome is a rare, and relatively unknown, neurological disorder that causes a constant snow-like image in the visual field. It is caused by brain activity, no...

⌛ #history – factually fun! VOC AND WIC: TRADING ON TURBULENT SEAS 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1214-2135 The Dutch VOC and WIC were the most powerful companies in the world in the seventeenth century. The VOC traded in Asia, the WIC in the Americas and Africa. Where the VOC...

🧪 #science – factually fun! AI ROBOT WIELDS BLUNT PEN 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1213-1732 Articles written by AI look pretty clever at first glance, but often feel "empty" afterwards. This is because the technique uses big words and a tight structure to appear convincing...

🚀 #space – factually fun! ONE PLANET ORBITS TWO SUNS! 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1215-1951 Scientists have discovered a planet orbiting as many as two suns at once. They discovered it in old data from the famous Gemini telescope (no, not that bot from Google). The world is you...

⌛ #history – factually fun! JóLAKöTTURINN, THE ICY CHRISTMAS CAT! 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1213-2232 Jólakötturinn (the Yule Cat) is an Icelandic Christmas legend about a giant cat that eats people without new clothes just like that. Christmas? Cozy! The story origin...

🧪 #science – factually fun! HOW OXYGEN REACHED OUR OCEANS 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1212-1844 Scientists have discovered that oxygen appeared in the oceans millions of years earlier than thought. In fact, analyses of South African rocks and rocks show strong changes in isotop...

⌛ #history – factually fun! UNIQUE, ANCIENT CIRCLES IN FRANCE 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1212-1916 Archaeologists have managed to bring three prehistoric circles to the surface in Marliens, France. At least, they have always been there but they have only recently – during acc...

🚀 #space – factually fun! NASA LOSES CONTACT WITH MAVEN 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1212-1814 NASA recently lost contact with the Mars probe MAVEN. The satellite failed after an unexplained malfunction and has been unable to be contacted since. Engineers are now trying to figur...

🧪 #science – factually fun! NUCLEAR POWER SEES NEW BREAKTHROUGH 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1212-1216 Scientists in Nevada, USA, have taken an important step toward unlimited energy. Indeed, the company Valar Atomics managed to activate a reactor that maintains itself without p...

⌛ #history – factually fun! COMPLETE CITY UNDER A SWEDISH CITY 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1212-1146 Archaeologists in Sweden have unearthed the remains of a complete 15th-century city beneath the present city of Gothenburg. The old port Nya Lödöse is thus being revived throug...

🚀 #space – factually fun! 3I/ATLAS COLORS EGYPTIAN SKY GREEN 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1212-1042 Egypt is turning green. At least, the sky – or better yet; the world-famous comet 3I/ATLAS. Indeed, the normally white/blue visitor "from far and beyond" is increasingly identif...

🚀 #space – factually fun! OUR GALAXY HAS A DOUBLE LIFE! 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1211-1735 Researchers have figured out that the Milky Way has two types of stars, each with different, chemical compositions. This is not due to cosmic collisions or anything like that, but to g...

🧪 #science – factually fun! LOTS OF STRESS? STRONGER MEMORY! 🧠 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1211-1750 Yale researchers have found that cortisol, the stress hormone, alters the brain networks that guarantee the coupling of both emotions and memory. Subjects with cortisol were...

⌛ #history – factually fun! TEN DUTCH SWORDS IN AN ATTIC 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1211-1651 Dutch researchers have discovered ten swords from the sixteenth century. They were in an attic in the town of Balk and turned out not to be replicas, but actual historical weapons. Exp...

🚀 #space – factually fun! INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL, IMPOSSIBLE DREAM? 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1211-1145 Interstellar travel is not yet possible with current technology. The distances between stars are immense and require near light speed. Ideas such as light sails or antima...

🧪 #science – factually fun! LAMPREYS: VAMPIRES FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1211-1114 Lampreys are very ancient, jawless fish with a sucker mouth full of teeth. They have existed for more than 350 million years and live partly as parasites sucking blo...

🧪 #science – factually fun! ALZHEIMER'S BROUGHT INTO VIEW FASTER 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1210-1822 Researchers in Singapore have discovered that "clogged" brain drains become visible on ordinary MRIs. These so-called clogged drains are in turn strongly associated with very...

🚀 #space – factually fun! CHINA LAUNCHES THREE ROCKETS IN 24 HOURS 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1210-1429 China has broken its own record by launching as many as three huge rockets in less than 24 hours. In the process, the Long March rockets carried both commercial and military...

⌛ #history – factually fun! EDMUND ÆTHELING, THE LOST PRINCE 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1211-1203 Edmund Ætheling was an English prince who lost his throne when the Danes finally conquered England. He then lived for years in exile in both Sweden and Hungary. After his re...

🧪 #science – factually fun! BRAND NEW; A VERY OLD TINY T. REX! 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1210-1241 In America, scientists have confirmed that the Nanotyrannus is not a juvenile T. rex at all. In fact, analysis of a throat bone showed that it was just an adult animal, but very...

🚀 #space – factually fun! SUN FIRES OFF HUGELY POWERFUL SOLAR FLARE 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1210-1120 The sun caused an enormously powerful X1.1 solar flare a few days back. Such flares can greatly affect both communications and technology on Earth. NASA and NOAA are monito...

⌛ #history – factually fun! ANCIENT MOSAIC TELLS TROJAN STORY 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1210-1223 A mosaic depicting a lost Troy story was recently recovered in Rutland, England. The work is based on a play by Aeschylus. Research shows that British craftsmen used patterns from...

🚀 #space – factually fun! PALE BLUE DOT; THE DOT THAT SAYS IT ALL 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1209-1845 The Pale Blue Dot is a picture of Earth, depicted as a blue dot and photographed by Voyager 1. If you don't know better, all you see is a tiny pixel, but Sagan actually...

⌛ #history – factually fun! THE ROMANS MADE SUPER CONCRETE! 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1210-1024 Researchers have discovered an ancient workshop in Pompeii where the Romans once managed to make rock-hard concrete. To do so, they used a technique called hot mixing with volcanic...

🧪 #science – factually fun! ASTRAFOBIA, GREAT FEAR OF THUNDERSTORMS 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1209-1906 Astrafobia (or source phobia) is a strong fear of thunder and lightning. People in such cases avoid storms, hide or even have major panic attacks. Animals, by the way,...

🚀 #space – factually fun! FLOATING DATA IN SPACE 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/0509-1509 Axiom Space plans to launch data centers into orbit in the near future. They will become part of a larger satellite network and operate completely independently of terrestrial systems. Cooper...

⌛ #history – factually fun! VIKING SIGNS IN THE HAGIA SOPHIA?! 📖 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1209-1456 Perhaps a bit strange, but it really is true; in the Turkish Hagia Sophia, rune inscriptions of the infamous famous Vikings were once discovered. The first inscription proba...

🚀 #space – factually fun! Icy islands seen from space 🔗 https://whyrwe.com/@25/1208-2105 Two small islands in the South Atlantic show the power of both fire and ice. Candlemas is partly covered by glaciers and partly formed by lava. Vindication is calmer but eroded by sea an...