IFLScience - Break It Down

More Whale Sex, Pet Foxes, And The B.O.A.T

This 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-know-what-caused-the-brightest-explosion-ever-seen-in-space-73782

Fox friends: https://www.iflscience.com/foxes-may-have-been-humans-best-friend-long-before-dogs-73754

Not the North Star: https://www.iflscience.com/so-long-polaris-the-earth-will-get-a-new-north-star-73745

A “henge” or not a henge: https://www.iflscience.com/what-is-a-henge-and-why-were-they-built-73755

Golden mole: https://www.iflscience.com/extremely-rare-gorgeous-marsupial-mole-with-blond-hair-spotted-in-western-australia-73776

Etna’s smoke rings: https://youtu.be/fdZGRsA3TI8?si=iVgWl2ol-K-w0yRn

Space Rainbows, Ancient Animal Art, And Heart-Eyed Toads

This 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://www.iflscience.com/this-2000-year-old-peruvian-rock-art-may-depict-psychedelic-music-73677

Largest digital camera: https://www.iflscience.com/worlds-largest-ever-digital-camera-is-completed-73667

Heart-shaped pupils: https://www.iflscience.com/yes-this-adorable-toad-really-has-heart-shaped-pupils-73624

Fly without flapping: https://www.iflscience.com/whats-the-longest-a-bird-can-fly-without-flapping-its-wings-73664

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Ligers V Tigons: https://youtu.be/Aq5Fm4VXIG0?si=keu3BpIBOOaIj4Xb

Black Holes, Barbie Pigs, And The Apocaclipse

This 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

Flower spiders: https://www.iflscience.com/male-and-female-spider-perfectly-resemble-flower-in-potential-cooperative-mimicry-world-first-73530

Black hole’s magnetic fields: https://www.iflscience.com/incredible-first-view-of-the-magnetic-fields-around-our-galaxys-supermassive-black-hole-73563

Earth’s shape-changing time: https://www.iflscience.com/earths-changing-shape-may-cause-a-global-timekeeping-crisis-73567

Female psychopaths: https://www.iflscience.com/are-women-really-less-likely-to-be-psychopaths-than-men-73418

Reptile house: https://www.iflscience.com/mountain-chicken-frogs-giant-salamanders-and-scrotum-frogs-get-a-new-home-at-zsl-73573

Childbirth VS kick to the balls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRZTcCATAWs

Scandalous Pyramids, Quantum Tornadoes, And The Longest Eclipse

This 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: https://www.iflscience.com/the-25000-year-old-pyramid-in-indonesia-was-likely-not-made-by-humans-71767

It isn’t a pyramid: https://www.iflscience.com/study-claiming-humans-built-a-25000-year-old-pyramid-in-indonesia-removed-by-journal-73465

Getting it wrong is a part of science: https://youtu.be/6cBV1fnp7E4?si=OkLQT0bxZFj5a68l

Quantum tornadoes: https://www.iflscience.com/first-ever-quantum-tornado-lets-scientists-simulate-black-holes-in-the-lab-73470

Pig kidney xenotransplant: https://www.iflscience.com/a-crispr-edited-pig-kidney-has-been-transplanted-into-a-living-person-for-the-first-time-73499

Homer’s Iliad shipwrecks: https://www.iflscience.com/archaeologists-find-shipwrecks-using-clues-from-homers-iliad-73448

World’s rarest fish: https://www.iflscience.com/the-worlds-rarest-fish-is-making-a-comeback-one-ridiculous-baby-at-a-time-73476

Longest eclipses: https://www.iflscience.com/when-was-the-longest-recorded-solar-eclipse-in-history-73412

Equinox VS solstice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK9jmLA_Qf0

Superb Nova, Space Crime, And Eclipse Tortoises

This 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.iflscience.com/11000-year-old-earrings-and-lip-studs-are-worlds-oldest-piercings-73321

Iron lung: https://www.iflscience.com/paul-alexander-the-man-in-the-iron-lung-has-died-73363

Animals in a solar eclipse: https://www.iflscience.com/why-do-animals-act-strangely-during-a-solar-eclipse-73346

Mammals trailer: https://youtu.be/fRSEMsutVdI?si=Jcyn-WUQuEm9Vl5s

Unexplained anomalous phenomena: https://youtu.be/QKZl5wIySO8?si=IxwL5O539XbT4TKS

Coral joy: https://www.iflscience.com/watch-corals-release-clouds-of-eggs-and-sperm-in-cambodias-first-observed-spawning-event-73387

De-Extincting Mammoths, The Oldest Fossil Forest, And Elephant Burials

This 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

Anthropocene: https://www.iflscience.com/geologists-conclude-we-are-not-living-in-the-anthropocene-for-now-73251

Elephant burials: https://www.iflscience.com/asian-elephants-bury-and-mourn-for-their-dead-calves-73219

Hypervaccination: https://www.iflscience.com/man-takes-217-covid-19-vaccines-in-29-months-for-private-reasons-is-fine-73253

All four hemispheres: https://www.iflscience.com/people-are-only-just-learning-that-earth-has-four-hemispheres-73288

Lost continents: https://youtu.be/hElndPVxGfA?si=jsm5gC5DzfpLuge9

Toki Pona: https://youtu.be/3dGZ2I4aVuY?si=bXx0rRQ--S7-n86U

Living fossils: https://www.iflscience.com/what-is-a-living-fossil-first-evidence-of-a-biological-mechanism-reveals-all-73272

Whale Sex, Smashing Asteroids, And More (Giant) Whales

This 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

Tiny noisy fish: https://www.iflscience.com/12-millimeter-long-small-brained-fish-can-make-sound-as-loud-as-a-jet-plane-73153

Heaviest animal: https://www.iflscience.com/blue-whale-back-on-top-as-heaviest-animal-ever-to-live-on-planet-earth-73175

Smashing asteroids: https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-hit-an-asteroid-so-hard-it-completely-changed-its-shape-73125

Gravitational waves: https://www.iflscience.com/the-bizarre-behind-the-scenes-story-of-the-first-ever-detection-of-gravitational-waves-73164

Earth Core Video : https://youtu.be/zDd_375k4jo

Perpetual Stew Video: https://youtu.be/9G45eXJMWHk

Space Spiders And Adam Sandler: https://www.iflscience.com/space-spiders-and-adam-sandler-welcome-to-the-love-story-that-is-netflixs-spaceman-73184

Giant Anacondas, Small Stars, And Lab-Grown Testicles

This 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/first-ever-lab-grown-testicles-may-be-capable-of-producing-sperm-73038

Electric vehicle breakthrough: https://www.iflscience.com/breakthrough-could-make-electric-cars-go-1000-kilometers-on-one-charge-73059

Neanderthal glue: https://www.iflscience.com/40000-year-old-multi-compound-glue-suggests-neanderthals-were-smarter-than-we-thought-73056

Math: https://www.iflscience.com/is-math-discovered-or-invented-73005