IFLScience - Break It Down

3I/ATLAS, CKM Syndrome, And Mosquitos’ Final Frontier

This 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

Trump and Tylenol

3I/ATLAS tail changed direction

CKM syndrome

Extinct humans no Denisovan DNA

Mosquitos’ final frontier

Wind phones

CURIOUS

The Vault

YouTube

The Big Questions - Why do people believe in the paranormal?

Sign up with code NESSIE50 for 50% off*

 

*Terms and Conditions: 50% OFF PROMO CODE: NESSIE50 offer for 1 billing period of an All Access Subscription: Annual paid subscription only on iflscience.com. Offer starts September 30, 2025, and ends November 30, 2025, 12:00 am EST. To apply the promo code, you must enter it prior to completing checkout. Your credit card will be automatically charged upon checkout completion, and your subscription will continue until you cancel auto-renew. You can cancel at any time. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period, and you will not be charged upon renewal. If you choose to renew, no action is required, and the full amount will be billed at the start of the renewed term. Taxes may apply. Promo codes are not transferable/redeemable for cash or credit. Membership paid subscriptions are only available in Canada, the United States (excluding Puerto Rico and US territories), the United Kingdom, and Australia. Our standard terms & conditions apply.

A Two-Headed Fossil, 50/50 Spider, And World-First Butt Drag

This 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
Pig liver transplant
Oldest human habit
50/50 spider
Two-headed fossil
Sword Dragon of Dorset
CURIOUS magazine
What lives in Loch Ness?
The Big Questions
What’s all the fossa-bout?

Mummified Cheetahs, Skin Cells Turn Into Eggs, And Almost Life On Enceladus

This 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 Goodall and her incredible life.

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Blue pigment
Oldest animals
Skin cells
Babies born with genes from three people
Mitochondrial disease
Mummified cheetahs
Enceladus
Goodbye Jane Goodall
CURIOUS
Spooky Season at the Vault

Neanderthal Noises, Dome-Headed Dinosaurs, And Mystery Larvae

This 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

Pachycephalosaur

Asteroid

Mystery larvae

Human evolution

Neanderthal noises

We Have Questions

The Big Questions

Ned the snail

Tropical Mammoths, Dazzling Brain Map, And Perfectly Preserved Pterosaurs

This 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 let’s Break It Down...

Links:

Ants
Brain map
Upload your brain
Tropical mammoths
Bacteria on mammoth teeth
Perfect baby pterosaurs
Cougar submerged
Homo naledi
Biggest Egg
The Big Questions Podcast

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 beam go through their head, and why does frozen seafood glow? Why indeed.

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Links:

Silly map
Pacific Ocean antipodes
Glowing plants
Wow! Signal
Punky ankylosaur
Proton beam to the head
Glowing seafood
The Big Questions – What Will The Fossils Of The Future Look Like?
CURIOUS Magazine

Shaman Training Cave, Uranus's New Moon, And A Bright Orange Shark

This 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 something else entirely? 

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

Fossil trackways

Neanderthals and Homo sapiens

Only surviving human species

Bright orange shark

Orange crocs

Uranus’ new moon

Shaman Training Cave

Finding fossils

We Have Questions Podcast

Northern white rhinos

Giraffes are now four species

Orange Crocodiles, New Human Species, And Death By Meteorite

This 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 died by getting hit by a meteorite? The records show: just one.

 

So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…

 

Links:

New human species

HUMAN with Ella Al-Shamahi

Tunnel of bones

Sex reversal in wild birds

Zipf’s law applies to birds

Orange crocodiles

Defining long COVID

Death by meteorite

Why do we feel pain? Interview with Chris Hemsworth and Dr BJ Miller

The Big Questions – Will We Ever Get A Universal Flu Vaccine?

We Have Questions