Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
This month on Break It Down: Why are there over 8 million pickled fish in some WWII-era bunkers in Louisiana? How one chatbot encouraged the assassination of the Queen of England, and scientists explain why building an enormous underwater wall could be the best plan to save the “Doomsday Glacier”. Intrigued? There's so much more...
The discovery of the world’s oldest clothes predates the previous record holder by 9,000 years.
A cave coral from Japan shows off its flashy burglar alarm.
The mystery of why some people experienced blood clots following a specific kind of COVID vaccine has finally been solved.
Curiosity finds the second most compelling evidence of life on Mars yet.
Why scientists created a 228-meter popsicle that delves 23 million years into the past by digging deep beneath Antarctica.
Conservation success as it’s announced we’ve successfully saved the Bermuda snail from extinction.
And meet the people taking bold new approaches to the biodiversity crisis in creating a “de-extinction toolkit” that can benefit some of Earth’s most threatened species.
Plus, everything you can find in this month’s issue of CURIOUS, a teaser of a fascinating chat about games vs metrics with Professor C Thi Nguyen, and what do other worlds smell like? We sent our space editor to find out.
So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…
Links:
Pickled fish: https://www.iflscience.com/where-can-you-find-a-one-of-a-kind-pocket-shark-among-8-million-pickled-…
Oldest clothes: https://www.iflscience.com/these-tiny-unremarkable-looking-scraps-of-elk-hide-may-be-oldest-sewn-cl…
Prof Hannah Fry on AI: https://www.iflscience.com/in-2021-a-teenager-started-a-relationship-with-artificial-intelligence-t…
Flashy cave coral: https://www.iflscience.com/funky-green-glowing-coral-is-the-first-report-of-bioluminescence-within-…
Doomsday glacier’s underwater wall: https://www.iflscience.com/the-radical-plan-to-build-an-80-kilometer-wall-around-the-doomsday-glaci…
COVID blood clots: https://www.iflscience.com/mystery-of-rare-blood-clots-after-covid-vaccines-finally-solved-after-ye…
Life on Mars: https://www.iflscience.com/mudstone-molecules-might-be-second-best-proof-weve-found-that-mars-once-…
Drilling beneath Antarctica: https://www.iflscience.com/scientists-drilled-into-antarctic-ice-until-they-met-bedrock-then-got-a-…
Snail saved from extinction: https://www.iflscience.com/we-can-prevent-extinction-snail-officially-saved-from-extinction-proving…
The world’s first de-extinction lab: youtu.be/1kEeZRacCds?si=p1tsE4p66cbrKvLi
Interview with C Thi Nguyen, author of The Score: penguin.co.uk/books/457380/the-score-by-nguyen-c-thi/9780241653975
CURIOUS magazine: iflscience.com/curious-magazine
What do other worlds smell like? iflscience.com/podcasts/we-have-questions
This month on Break It Down: Why are there over 8 million pickled fish in some WWII-era bunkers in Louisiana? How one chatbot encouraged the assassination of the Queen of England, and scientists explain why building an enormous underwater wall could be the best plan to save the “Doomsday Glacier”. Intrigued? There's so much more...
The discovery of the world’s oldest clothes predates the previous record holder by 9,000 years.
A cave coral from Japan shows off its flashy burglar alarm.
The mystery of why some people experienced blood clots following a specific kind of COVID vaccine has finally been solved.
Curiosity finds the second most compelling evidence of life on Mars yet.
Why scientists created a 228-meter popsicle that delves 23 million years into the past by digging deep beneath Antarctica.
Conservation success as it’s announced we’ve successfully saved the Bermuda snail from extinction.
And meet the people taking bold new approaches to the biodiversity crisis in creating a “de-extinction toolkit” that can benefit some of Earth’s most threatened species.
Plus, everything you can find in this month’s issue of CURIOUS, a teaser of a fascinating chat about games vs metrics with Professor C Thi Nguyen, and what do other worlds smell like? We sent our space editor to find out.
So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…
Links:
Pickled fish: https://www.iflscience.com/where-can-you-find-a-one-of-a-kind-pocket-shark-among-8-million-pickled-…
Oldest clothes: https://www.iflscience.com/these-tiny-unremarkable-looking-scraps-of-elk-hide-may-be-oldest-sewn-cl…
Prof Hannah Fry on AI: https://www.iflscience.com/in-2021-a-teenager-started-a-relationship-with-artificial-intelligence-t…
Flashy cave coral: https://www.iflscience.com/funky-green-glowing-coral-is-the-first-report-of-bioluminescence-within-…
Doomsday glacier’s underwater wall: https://www.iflscience.com/the-radical-plan-to-build-an-80-kilometer-wall-around-the-doomsday-glaci…
COVID blood clots: https://www.iflscience.com/mystery-of-rare-blood-clots-after-covid-vaccines-finally-solved-after-ye…
Life on Mars: https://www.iflscience.com/mudstone-molecules-might-be-second-best-proof-weve-found-that-mars-once-…
Drilling beneath Antarctica: https://www.iflscience.com/scientists-drilled-into-antarctic-ice-until-they-met-bedrock-then-got-a-…
Snail saved from extinction: https://www.iflscience.com/we-can-prevent-extinction-snail-officially-saved-from-extinction-proving…
The world’s first de-extinction lab: youtu.be/1kEeZRacCds?si=p1tsE4p66cbrKvLi
Interview with C Thi Nguyen, author of The Score: penguin.co.uk/books/457380/the-score-by-nguyen-c-thi/9780241653975
CURIOUS magazine: iflscience.com/curious-magazine
What do other worlds smell like? iflscience.com/podcasts/we-have-questions
