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Canadian lake selected as site to mark the start of the Anthropocene

11 July 2023

Geologists hoping to declare a new epoch dominated by humanity’s influence on Earth have chosen Crawford Lake in Canada as the location where the start of the Anthropocene is defined

People who microdose LSD sleep an extra 24 minutes the following night

11 July 2023

Taking small amounts of the psychedelic substance LSD led to people sleeping for longer than when they took a placebo, but why this benefit only occurred the night after they microdosed is unclear

Sex between two males is extremely common in wild macaque monkeys

10 July 2023

Almost three-quarters of male macaques observed by scientists mounted other males, and the behaviour may help to strengthen alliances

Summer 2022 heatwaves killed 61,000 people in Europe

10 July 2023

Last year's summer was the hottest season ever recorded in Europe, and a new estimate shows there were over 61,000 heat-related excess deaths during this period

Gravitational waves spark hunt for cosmic strings and dark matter

10 July 2023

The discovery of low-level ripples throughout the universe called the gravitational wave background has set physicists looking for exotic explanations

Small dome in the Compton-Belkovich region (61.33 ?N, 99.68 ?E). Evidence indicates a volcanic origin for this and other intriguing features in the region. Incidence angle is 64?, Sun is from the SSW, image is ~510 m across. NAC image number M139238146L [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

There’s a huge radioactive slab of volcanic granite buried on the moon

8 July 2023

A block of granite on the far side of the moon used to be the inside of a volcano – though researchers are unsure how the volcano could have formed

Male spider mites rip off females’ skin to be first to mate with them

7 July 2023

Due to fierce competition for mates, male spider mites guard juvenile females and forcibly remove their skin as they near adulthood so they can secure the first mating

Netflix invents new green-screen filming method using magenta light

7 July 2023

A faster and more accurate method for putting footage of actors in different backgrounds allows directors to see how their shots will appear as they film them

The past week was the hottest ever recorded on Earth

7 July 2023

The record for the hottest average global air temperature was broken three times this week, making the past seven days the hottest since instrumental records began in the 1850s

Robot injects drugs into back of eyeball more accurately than surgeons

7 July 2023

Retinal vein occlusion affects more than 16 million people worldwide and can eventually lead to blindness, but treating it is challenging due to the small size of the veins involved – and now a robot could help