Buzz
As Halloween draws near, the desire for eerie tales grows stronger. It transports us back to our younger days, gathered by the fire or transfixed by a forbidden film, pondering whether spirits, demons, or zombies might truly exist.
If ghost stories don't send chills down your spine or make your heart race, let the strange and unsettling world of science remind you that reality can be even more bizarre—and far more terrifying—than fiction.
10. Space Madness
There's been considerable talk about humanity's push to reach—and possibly colonize—Mars. Recently, President Obama revealed that the government is collaborating with private aerospace companies to make this goal a reality by the 2030s. However, one unsettling study, where lab mice were exposed to high-energy particles similar to those astronauts will face in deep space, uncovered a disturbing result.
The exposure resulted in brain inflammation, which triggered dementia, cognitive decline, and an inability to process 'fear extinction'—the brain's method of diminishing fearful associations over time. This disruption would lead to an ongoing state of anxiety.
This condition, known as 'space madness,' was still evident in the rodents six months after their exposure to the particles. At present, there is no known way to fully shield astronauts from these harmful particles.
9. The Spider Virus
The WO virus has a very precise target—bacteria that reside inside spiders and insects. Like many bacterial viruses, it can hijack bits of DNA from the bacteria it infects when it serves its mutative needs.
However, WO was recently discovered to have stolen a gene from a place where few viruses of its kind venture—from its host, the black widow spider. Specifically, the virus takes the gene that produces the spider's notoriously powerful venom.
It is believed that this gene helps WO to breach the cell walls of its bacterial targets. The crafty virus was also found to have appropriated other genes that allow it to evade its host's immune defenses.
In short, we have a fast-mutating, immune-resistant virus equipped with black widow venom, and the fact that it hasn’t targeted humans yet doesn’t exactly ease our concerns.
8. The Second Fault
For years, seismologists have warned that the infamous San Andreas Fault is long overdue for a catastrophic earthquake, one that could easily exceed a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale. A troubling new theory may explain why this fault has remained quiet for so long. A second fault running parallel to the San Andreas may be responsible for holding the entire region in place.
The Salton Trough Fault stretches 56 kilometers (35 miles). Its discovery is triggering a full reassessment of earthquake risks in the region, which includes the Los Angeles area.
While the new fault may be relieving some of the pressure from the San Andreas Fault, explaining its recent stability, scientists are quick to warn that the Salton Trough Fault represents "a new danger to the region and has significant implications for fault models... and scenarios involving ruptures of the southern San Andreas Fault."
7. The Killing Machine
While artificial intelligence (AI) might hold promising uses in the future, a team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University decided to showcase the one possibility we all hoped would never materialize: they trained an advanced neural network to kill without discrimination.
Naturally, this experiment took place in a virtual world designed specifically for this purpose—the iconic 1993 first-person shooter Doom. The AI navigates this digital landscape by analyzing the screen like a human player would. It also has some understanding of how the game engine functions. Nevertheless, it didn’t take long for it to completely overwhelm all human opponents.
The AI was trained by receiving 'rewards' for successful kills and 'penalties' for taking damage and dying, as well as for unnecessary firing. This was implemented because the machine initially concluded that the most effective strategy was to shoot continuously, eliminating anything within its view.
For now, the current hardware is limited to playing video games.
6. The Carolina Butcher
Paleontologists from North Carolina State University recently uncovered a previously unidentified species that predates the dinosaurs and is an early relative of crocodiles.
Although extinct for over 230 million years, the mere fact that it once walked the Earth might be enough to haunt your dreams. This creature is Carnufex carolinensis (“Carolina butcher”), a fitting name for a crocodile-like beast that stretched 3 meters (9 ft) in length and walked on two legs like a human.
This creature wasn’t aquatic but instead roamed the land, likely dispatching anything unfortunate enough to cross its path. With blade-like teeth and more agility than its modern-day cousins, Carnufex was likely one of the dominant apex predators just before dinosaurs emerged.
5. The Guest
Professor Jonathan Allen struggled to get a proper diagnosis for a strange, round patch of skin inside his mouth. Even more concerning, the patch seemed to move to different spots. While giving an exam, the professor realized that the patch had shifted to the front of his mouth. It was then that he discovered a tiny worm beneath the skin's surface.
Luckily, Professor Allen is an expert in invertebrate biology, and unlike most people, he didn’t faint at the sight of this discovery. He removed the “writhing” worm himself, identifying it as a parasite that had infected only 13 known people in the United States, including him. He later published a paper about his unexpected guest, whom he named “Buddy.”
4. Jupiter’s Eerie Soundtrack
Juno, a NASA spacecraft, is on a mission to collect 20 months of data about the enigmatic gas giant, Jupiter. During its closest flyby, Juno utilized a recording instrument from the University of Iowa to ‘listen’ to the slow radio emissions coming from the planet’s auroras.
Engineers at the University of Iowa then translated the data into sound files. The result? A horror movie-like soundtrack straight from the void of space. The eerie, swooping screeching sounds, which almost resemble strained human voices, could easily serve as the buildup to the most terrifying scene in the scariest movie you never wanted to watch.
The emissions themselves have a specific scientific purpose. These are the strongest emissions of their kind in the solar system, created by electrons of mysterious origin, and scientists are eager to discover where they come from.
3. Matthew’s Face
Hurricane Matthew struck near the close of 2016, marking the first Category 5 storm since Felix in 2007. The storm caused devastating destruction and severe loss of life, with casualties estimated in the hundreds. Haiti, already struggling with poverty, suffered the most, with the death toll ranging from approximately 500 to over 1,300.
As Matthew made landfall in Haiti on October 4, a NASA weather satellite captured the infrared image above. The storm’s form strikingly resembles the profile of a grinning skull, with the ‘eye’ of the skull being the literal eye of the storm.
Was this just a coincidence? Certainly. But is it unsettling? We'll leave that for you to decide.
2. The Walking Dead
Recent studies have shed light on an unusual interaction between a parasitic wasp species and a particular type of spider. While it’s been known that the wasp uses spiders to construct particularly sturdy nests for its larvae, what is truly remarkable is how the wasps achieve this—by turning the spiders into mind-controlled zombies.
A female wasp lays an egg on the abdomen of a spider. Upon hatching, the larvae attaches to the spider’s nervous system, feeding on its blood and secreting a chemical that effectively transforms the spider into a zombie laborer, building an incredibly durable nest for the wasp.
The spider’s webbing is altered so that it reflects ultraviolet light instead of absorbing it, rendering it ineffective for trapping prey. After the work is done, the larvae consumes its zombie host before constructing its cocoon.
1. Ghost In The Machine
At some point, you've likely experienced the unsettling feeling of being watched, even when you knew you were entirely alone. Despite the awareness that it's all in your head, that sense of unease doesn’t go away. But what if there’s a scientific explanation behind this phenomenon? Researchers may have discovered the cause, and even figured out how to recreate it.
In a study involving 12 individuals who had similar experiences, it was found that areas of the brain related to self-awareness had been damaged. This led scientists to suggest that the brain misinterprets the body’s own signals regarding its position. As part of the experiment, a robot mirrored the subject’s finger movements by tracing them onto the subject’s back.
The participants didn't notice anything strange until the robot's movements began to deviate from their own. At that point, all the patients reported an overwhelming sensation of someone standing behind them. Many were so disturbed by the experience that they requested the experiment be stopped. A significant number of them also described the eerie feeling of being pulled backward toward the invisible presence.
