IFLScience - Break It Down

This week on Break It Down: a new kind of leather is borrowing its foundations from fossil T. rex collagen, we’ve just discovered an enormous glow-in-the-dark gas cloud surprisingly close to Earth, a musical sea lion has shown it can keep beat better than some humans, a new-to-science embalming technique has been discovered in Austria, man who let himself be envenomated by all the snakes inspires an antivenom not thought possible, and do scientists have a responsibility to fight misinformation about their subjects? We asked them. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: T. rex leather Glow-in-the-dark gas cloud Get 30% off with code VE30* Ronan the rhythmic sea lion New embalming tekkers What happens to eyes during the mummification process? Novel route to snake antivenom Scientists VS misinformation 5 kinds of headaches Ballymacombs More Woman   *Terms and Conditions: 30% OFF PROMO CODE: VE30 offer for 1 billing period of an All Access Subscription: Annual, 2-Year, or Monthly paid subscriptions only on iflscience.com. Valid from May 1, 2025, until May 24, 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, USA, United Kingdom, and Australia. Our standard terms & conditions apply.

This week, on Break It Down: a planet with a very rare tail is being boiled apart, the first physical evidence of a gladiator fighting a lion discovered in Britain, scientists are tattooing tardigrades (for science), what’s happening in your brain during a mind blank, the grim fashion of “bone collector” caterpillars, and five health risks associated with tobacco use that don’t include lung cancer. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Boiled-apart planet Gladiator VS lion Tattooed tardigrades Mind blanks Bone collector caterpillars Tobacco effects CURIOUS magazine Subscribe for CURIOUS Live Whale earwax Should you crack your knuckles?

This week on Break It Down: old skin samples have revealed the first-ever evidence for an intersex Southern right whale, a dangerous asteroid that might hit the Moon has an unusual origin, what dire wolf “de-extinction” really means and how it’s helping red wolves, a mushroom that contains one of the most bitter compounds known to humans, a promising new candidate to topple debilitating long COVID, and is time an illusion? So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Intersex whale Dangerous asteroid Dire wolves and red wolves Should we de-extinct species? Animal cloning as a conservation tool Get 35% off with code POD35 * A very bitter mushroom Long COVID treatment candidate Is time an illusion? Octopus in a bottle Grapefruit and medication The Big Questions We Have Questions   *Terms and Conditions: 35% OFF PROMO CODE: POD35 offer for 1 billing period of an All Access Subscription: Annual, 2-Year, or Monthly paid subscriptions only on iflscience.com. Valid from April 4, 2025, until April 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, USA, United Kingdom, and Australia. Our standard terms & conditions apply.

This week on Break It Down: study uncovers the biological basis of near-death experiences, what a camera trap captured after 55 years in Loch Ness, why it’s taken humans so long to orbit over Earth’s poles, what a sediment core from the “Great Blue Hole” can tell us about the Caribbean’s climatic past and future, why you shouldn’t offer cola to isolated communities, and why are there no frozen dinosaurs? With damn good reason. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Near-death experiences Loch Ness camera trap Loch Ness holograms Loch Ness DNA Subscription offer Orbiting Earth's poles Chundering in space Drilling the great blue hole Don’t offer cola to isolated tribes Why no frozen dinosaurs? How fast to fossil Fossil octopus CURIOUS magazine Keep an eye out for NHM videos Deep sea beasties *Terms and Conditions: 35% OFF PROMO CODE: POD35 offer for 1 billing period of an All Access Subscription: Annual, 2-Year, or Monthly paid subscriptions only on iflscience.com. Offer ends April 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, USA, United Kingdom, and Australia. Our standard terms & conditions apply.

This week on Break It Down: a new study has become the first to document what sound a shark makes, Neptune has been confirmed to have an aurora thanks to the best telescope ever, a pipeline construction site turned up the terrifying claw of a new species of therizinosaur, why people are trying to prevent measles with Vitamin A (and why it won’t work), 400-million-year-old fossils may belong to a new branch on the tree of life, and the growing role of psilocybin in new medications inspired by magic mushrooms. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Shark sounds Hear a coral reef Sharks existed before Saturn’s rings Neptune’s aurora New therizinosaur Measles and Vitamin A Supplements and liver injury New branch of life? Magic mushroom medicine We Have Questions – How do you rediscover a “lost species”? Videos galore Melanistic penguin CURIOUS magazine

This week on Break It Down: An unknown lifeform has been making micro-burrows in the Namibian desert, the secret to living until 117 has been revealed, sauropods were not doing handstands in Texas 100 million years ago (boooo), should we be attempting to de-extinct animals, an Australian man achieves a double world-first with a titanium heart transplant, and would you rather go to space or the deepest part of the ocean? We speak to one of the only people on Earth to do both!   So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Unknown lifeform Living to 117 Sauropod footprints Sauropod handstands De-extinction Titanium heart  Spacewalks and deep ocean Cougar photo We Have Questions Blood Rain  

This week on Break It Down: Colossal Biosciences creates the “woolly mouse” in their mission to de-extinct the mammoth, scientists 3D-print functional penises (and have the babies to prove their efficacy), that gaping hole in the ozone layer really is repairing, IFLScience asks why so few international organizations have responded to Trump and Musk’s attack on US science, humans have been making bone tools 1 million years longer than we realized, and what’s the most painful bug sting? One brave scientist penned poetic descriptions of their experiences. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Woolly mouse Elephant pluripotent stem cells Vaccine for baby elephants 3D-printed penis Ozone hole recovering Attack on science response Bone tool use 4 worst insect stings Blob-headed fish CURIOUS magazine

This week on Break It Down: the curious tale of a lump of glass that turned out to be a human brain, the US sees its first measles death in 10 years, rats make great sommeliers, the evolutionary origins of feathers in dinosaurs, AI bots start speaking a secret language to each other, and could we get internet on Mars? Quite possible. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Brain glass Brain in a bucket Measles death Rat sommeliers Hamsters quaffing wine Dinosaur feathers AI language Twin telepathy Mars internet CURIOUS Polar bear dens More podcasts! Bobbly giraffe

This week on Break It Down: the first ancient Egyptian royal tomb has been discovered since Tutankhamun over 100 years ago, a brand new ‘dangerous animal’ scale reveals the realistic threat of different creatures, architects are operating on land and at the deepest parts of the ocean (they just don’t look how you imagine), a Paralympian becomes the first astronaut with a disability to be cleared for a space mission, the Moon is getting 4G for the first time ever, and how do you break a habit? We find out. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…   Links: Ancient Egyptian tomb Crespo scale Animal architects Termite mounds Paralympian astronaut Moon internet Breaking habits Intelligent snake We Have Questions Murderous turtles Chia egg

This week on Break It Down: Amazon river dolphins are saying it with urine proudly sprayed directly into the air, an inside look at the planetary defense response to asteroid 2024 YR4 (and no, it isn’t too late), find out what mummies smell like thanks to a team of “sniffers”, whale song follows Zipf’s Law, red light therapy – does it actually work? And say hello to kama muta, the emotion we've all felt but probably don’t know the name for. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Dolphin pee Asteroid 2024 YR4 Ancient mummy smell Whale song Blue whale whispers Red light therapy Kama muta We Have Questions Vengeful Valentine’s