This Glow-In-The-Dark Crystal Is A Dazzling World-First, Dolphins Smile When Playing With Friends, And Much More This Week

This week, the first “Google Maps” of an entire brain is here and you can zoom inside, mysterious "skyquakes" have been heard around the world but we're not sure what's causing them, and a retrofitted Cold War spy plane has shown that most tropical storms are radioactive . Finally, as it's spooky season, we question if you can actually “feel” when you are being watched .

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This Glow-In-The-Dark Crystal Is A Dazzling World-First

Does it get any more Indiana Jones than a jewel that can glow? Such a piece of jewelry has been made possible thanks to jeweler-turned-scientist Sofie Boons of the University of the West of England. The ground-breaking gemstone is the world’s first single stone lab-grown crystal that can glow in the dark. It was created as part of a years-long deep dive by the award-winning jewelry designer into the viability, limitations, and possible uses of experimentally grown crystals in contemporary jewelry. Read the full story here

World’s First “Google Maps” For An Entire Brain Is Here, And You Can Zoom Inside

In a feat that seemed unachievable just a few short years ago, an international research consortium has unveiled the first complete wiring diagram of an entire fruit fly brain. The map itself is accompanied by a cache of papers, demonstrating how this breakthrough is already leading to new scientific findings – and there’s much more to come. Read the full story here

Mysterious "Skyquake" Noises Heard Around The World, And Nobody Knows What They Are

At various places around the world people have reported strange, loud banging noises that appear to be coming from the sky. Around the world they are known as “Barisal guns” in the Ganges delta and the Bay of Bengal, “yan” in Shikoku, Japan, and “mistpouffers” (fog belches) in Belgium, or collectively, "skyquakes". Read the full story here

We’re Not Imagining It, Dolphins Really Do Smile When Playing With Friends

Dolphins open their mouths in what appears to us to be a smile when they are in the field of vision of others they like. Moreover, this smile is frequently reciprocated as a way for highly social animals to bond. The team who discovered this thinks it is no coincidence that the dolphin expression of fun resembles our own. Read the full story here

Retrofitted Cold War Spy Plane Shows That Most Tropical Storms Are Radioactive

Gamma rays are emitted in nuclear reactions and from the most extreme events in the universe such as supernova explosions, black holes, and more – but they can also come from closer to home. Over the last three decades, scientists have discovered that thunderstorms have the ability to create gamma rays. New research has highlighted how the most energetic form of light happens within storms. Read the full story here

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Feature of the week:

Can You Really "Feel" When You're Being Watched?

At some point in your life, chances are you’ve felt that prickle in the back of your neck suggesting somebody staring at you from across the room. And when we say “chances are”, we’re not exaggerating: various surveys over the years have placed the proportion of people reporting this feeling as anywhere between 68 and 94 percent. But here’s the question: is this, you know… real? Can we actually sense when we’re being stared at by somebody hidden from view?  And if so, how on Earth can we explain it? Read the full story here

More content:

Have you seen our e-magazine, CURIOUS ? Issue 27 October 2024 is available now . This month we asked, “Why Do We Have Phobias?” – check it out for exclusive interviews, book excerpts, long reads, and more.

PLUS, season 4 of IFLScience's The Big Questions Podcast continues. So far, we’ve asked:

• What Would A Human On Mars Look Like?
• Are The Drugs Of The Future Coming From The Deep Ocean?
• How Did Dinosaurs Have Sex?
• How Will The Solar System End?
• Can We Make Dogs Live Longer?
• Is Evolutionary Biology Sexist?
• How Is Climate Change Impacting Our Health?
• Why Are We The Only Surviving Human Species?

The We Have Questions podcast – an audio version of our coveted CURIOUS e-magazine column – has begun. In episode 1, we ask “ How Do Sunken Cities End Up Underwater? ”