Towering clouds of gas and dust glowing orange and gold against a deep blue sky in the Carina Nebula
“Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula, photographed by the James Webb Space Telescope.NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI · Public domain

Today's Discovery

The Universe Is More Mysterious Than We Think

From invisible matter to distant galaxies, explore the discoveries that continue to challenge our understanding of the universe.

02Discover

The stories readers are exploring this week.

More stories
Henry Fuseli's painting The Nightmare: a sleeping woman with a crouching demon on her chest
Human & Psychology

Why Do We Dream?

Dreams remain one of the most fascinating mysteries of the human mind. Discover what science knows about why we dream and what happens in our brain while we sleep.

6 min read

Most read

Science & Universe

How Black Holes Actually Work

Not cosmic vacuum cleaners, but regions where gravity wins completely. Here is what really happens at the event horizon — and how we finally managed to see one.

8 min read

03Quick facts

Small Facts. Big Discoveries.

Short, sourced and surprising — the kind of thing you will repeat at dinner.

  1. A day on Venus is longer than its year.

    Venus spins once every 243 Earth days but orbits the Sun in just 225.

    Science · Source: NASA

  2. Octopuses have three hearts.

    Two pump blood through the gills; the third pauses while they swim.

    Nature · Source: Smithsonian

  3. Your brain runs on about 20 watts.

    Roughly the power of a dim light bulb — for 86 billion neurons.

    Psychology · Source: PNAS

04Challenge

Challenge Your Knowledge

Short quizzes that turn what you've read into what you know.

All quizzes
  • Science & UniverseMedium

    How Much Do You Know About Space?

    From planets to pulsars — test how well you know the neighbourhood and beyond.

    Question 1

    Which planet has the shortest day?

    12 questions~5 min

    Start Quiz
  • Human & PsychologyEasy

    Test Your Knowledge of Human Psychology

    Biases, memory and the strange shortcuts your mind takes every day.

    Question 1

    What is the “spotlight effect”?

    10 questions~4 min

    Start Quiz
  • History & CivilizationsHard

    Can You Recognize Ancient Civilizations?

    Identify cities, scripts and wonders from five thousand years of history.

    Question 1

    Which civilization built Mohenjo-daro?

    15 questions~7 min

    Start Quiz

05Formats

Understand Things Differently

Some ideas click faster side by side, or laid out across time.

Anatomical model of the human brain showing its folded surface
Human Brain
Macro photograph of a processor die showing intricate metallic circuit patterns
Artificial Intelligence
Comparison

Human Brain vs Artificial Intelligence

Two very different ways of thinking, side by side.

Human Brain vs Artificial Intelligence
AspectHuman BrainArtificial Intelligence
Power useAbout 20 wattsMegawatts to train large models
Building blocks~86 billion neuronsBillions to trillions of parameters
LearningFrom a handful of examplesFrom vast amounts of data
StrengthFlexible, general understandingSpeed, scale and recall
Read: Could AI become conscious?
Thousands of distant galaxies of different colours and shapes scattered across black space
Timeline

A Timeline of the Universe

13.8 billion years in five moments.

  1. 13.8 billion years ago

    The Big Bang

    Space, time and energy begin expanding from an extremely hot, dense state.

  2. 380,000 years later

    First light

    Atoms form and light travels freely — today we see it as the cosmic microwave background.

  3. ~200 million years later

    The first stars

    Gravity gathers hydrogen into the first stars, ending the cosmic dark ages.

  4. 4.6 billion years ago

    Our Sun is born

    A collapsing cloud of gas forms the Sun and, soon after, the Earth.

  5. Today

    Still expanding

    Dark energy is pushing galaxies apart faster and faster.

More from Science & Universe

06Random discovery

Curiosity Starts with One Click

Discover something you didn't know you wanted to learn.

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10 unexpected discoveries are waiting. Press the button to reveal one.

07Newsletter

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