Cosmos
Cosmos is a quarterly science magazine. We aim to inspire curiosity in ‘The Science of Everything’ and make the world of science accessible to everyone.
By Cosmos
Science is often an exercise in wonder: finding things that are dazzling, surprising, and counterintuitive.
But sometimes, scientists go looking for something – and find exactly what they were expecting. Here are 6 extremely unsurprising things that scientists discovered in 2024.
Bin chickens love bins
We confirmed it: ibis like to live near rubbish.
A study has found that Australian white ibis (Threskiornis moluccus, or more familiarly, ‘bin chicken’) are more abundant within 10km of waste management facilities in the Moreton Bay region of Queensland.
“We were definitely expecting that,” says Caitlin Willis, a doctoral student at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Ancient Egyptians with desk jobs got desk job injuries
Archaeologists have described work-related injuries in the skeletons of ancient Egyptian scribes for the first time. Some of their injuries are all too familiar to today’s office workers.
A team compared scribe skeletons to those of non-scribes. They found greater incidence of osteoarthritis in the scribes’ hips, jaw, neck, thumb and shoulder joints.
Monkeys can’t write Shakespeare
The Infinite Monkey Theorem is a thought experiment used to explain some basic principles of probability and randomness. It posits that a monkey – or an infinite number of monkeys – given typewriters and an infinite amount of time would eventually type out the complete works of William Shakespeare.
Mathematicians have taken on the thought experiment in a light-hearted research project. In an epic “well, actually” moment, they have crushed the dreams of monkeys everywhere.
It’s harder to fake a Belfast accent than a London accent
Across the UK and Ireland, people from Belfast are best at detecting when someone is faking their accent – while people from London are worst at it, according to a new study.
The study also finds that people from Glasgow, Dublin and the northeast of England could find an “accent mimic” more accurately, while those from Bristol and Essex performed less well.
Lake has water in it
Lake Enigma – a permanently frozen lake, deep in the northern foothills of Antarctica’s Victoria Land – was thought to be solid ice from top to bottom.
But, according to a new study, the lake’s icy surface rests on liquid water – and that water is filled with bizarre microbial life.
Teens blush when forced to watch their own karaoke
In an unusual study to test human embarrassment, scientists have asked teenage girls to sing karaoke songs and then watch the recording.
As expected, the researchers found that participants blushed more while watching their own recordings in comparison to other participants’ recordings.