IFLScience media bias and reliability
The rating organisations do not give IFLScience one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. We have seen it on 31 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is IFLScience biased?
The rating organisations do not give IFLScience one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is IFLScience left or right?
The rating organisations do not give IFLScience one shared verdict in the records we hold. Their published ratings are Ad Fontes Media: Centre; Media Bias/Fact Check: Leans left. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is IFLScience reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for IFLScience are Ad Fontes Media: Very high factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What IFLScience has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with IFLScience’s own report linked underneath.
A nearly two-pound meteorite discovered in Mali in 2022 has been identified as a 4.1-billion-year-old piece of Mars. Named Teghaza 001, it offers new insights into the Red Planet's early history and water cycle.
IFLScience reported it asMartian Meteorite Found in the Sahara Is 4.1 Billion Years Old (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
Scientists have identified an icy object, named 2026 ED138, orbiting the sun beyond Pluto. The object's size is estimated between 600 and 1,500 kilometres in diameter. Classification as a dwarf planet depends on further study.
IFLScience reported it asRubin Observatory May Have Just Found The Solar System's 6th Dwarf Planet, Hiding Just Beyond Pluto (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
The Pentagon has released its seventh set of UFO documents, featuring a report of a black triangular object seen by FBI agents. The craft reportedly moved at high speed without sound or visible propulsion over a sensitive US site.
IFLScience reported it asNew Batch Of Declassified UFO Files Detail A "Matte Black Triangular Shape" Over US Airspace In 2026 (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
The United States is preparing its first offshore deep‑sea mining lease sale off American Samoa. The Marine Minerals Administration will offer two seabed tracts of roughly 31 million acres, with bidding on 19 November 2026, while local groups and environmentalists protest the plan.
IFLScience reported it asIn A World-First, US To Sell Deep-Sea Mining Leases For Over 30 Million Acres Off American Samoa (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
HSBC Group Chief Executive Georges Elhedery stated that investments in alternative logistics routes could make the Strait of Hormuz redundant within five years. The strategic waterway previously handled a fifth of global oil and LNG trade, but regional conflicts have highlighted the risks of dependence.
IFLScience reported it asThis El Niño Is So Tenacious It's Caused A Change In Ocean Colour That Can Be Detected From Space (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
Major European salmon producers are now feeding their fish with chicken by-products, including bones and organs. This shift is driven by the doubling of traditional fishmeal prices over the past two years, while poultry-based feed costs about half as much.
IFLScience reported it asEl Niño Is Pushing European Salmon Farmers To Start Feeding Their Fish Chicken (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
A new dinosaur species, Invictibellatrix amberina, has been identified from a fossil found on the Isle of Wight. The long-clawed predator, which lived 120 million years ago, is the first evidence of megaraptorans in Europe and may have viewed humans as prey.
IFLScience reported it asNewly Discovered Tiger-Sized Dinosaur Is The First Of Its Kind Found In Europe (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
NASA's Perseverance rover has set a new record for the farthest distance driven on the surface of another planet, covering 45.22 kilometers (28.1 miles) on Mars. The mission has been extended until the end of 2028.
IFLScience reported it asPerseverance Beats Opportunity - NASA Rover Has Now Driven The Furthest Of Any Vehicle On The Surface Of Another World (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
A report published in The Lancet has identified 17 major threats to human survival by the year 2100. Malicious use of artificial intelligence and nuclear conflict are highlighted as the most significant dangers, alongside issues like climate change, obesity, and pandemics.
IFLScience reported it asGlobal Experts Identify 17 “Catastrophic” Threats To Human Health This Century – Including 2 With “Extinction Potential” (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
A giant cloud near Mars' Arsia Mons volcano forms daily through a process called homogeneous nucleation, where water vapor turns directly into ice. This method has never been observed in a planetary atmosphere before, challenging previous assumptions about cloud formation.
IFLScience reported it asWeird Physics Causes This Lonely Martian Cloud To Reappear And Grow Longer Than California Every Day (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
Paleontologists have identified Herugavialis cairensis, a new species of extinct crocodile, from 45-million-year-old fossils found in Egypt's Mokattam Formation. The limestone used for the Great Sphinx was quarried from this formation, and a key fossil skull shares a missing snout tip with the monument.
IFLScience reported it asSkull Of An Extinct Crocodile Found In The Rocks Used To Build The Sphinx And The Pyramids Turns Out To Be A New Species (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
Jonathan, a 194-year-old Aldabra giant tortoise, has had his genome sequenced by scientists studying the secrets of his longevity. The research identified genetic changes associated with DNA repair and telomere function, offering potential insights into aging.
IFLScience reported it asWe Finally Know How Jonathan The Tortoise, The World's Oldest Land Animal, Is Still Alive And Kicking At 194 (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
Two independent teams have created the first functional nuclear clocks, which track changes within an atom's nucleus. These clocks, using thorium-229, are significantly more accurate than current atomic clocks and could lead to advances in navigation, mining, and physics research.
IFLScience reported it asFirst-Ever Thorium-Based Nuclear Atomic Clock Is A New Tool To Probe Fundamental Forces – And Even Hunt For Dark Matter (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
Research from Oxford University suggests animals may have evolved up to 200 million years earlier than fossil evidence currently shows. The study re-examined microfossil deposits and used molecular clock analysis to propose an earlier origin for animal life.
IFLScience reported it asWhen Did Animals First Evolve? New Evidence From Mongolia Suggests It Could Be As Far Back As 800 Million Years Ago (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
A planet described as a gas giant has been discovered orbiting a white dwarf star approximately 250 light-years away. This 'second-generation' planet is believed to have formed from material expelled by its dying star, offering new insights into planet formation.
IFLScience reported it asFirst Ever Detection Of A Phoenix Planet Around A White Dwarf – Born After Its Star Had Died (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
A SpaceX rocket carrying two US astronauts, a Canadian astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut launched from Florida on October 1, 2026. The Crew-13 mission is bound for the International Space Station for a six-month duration.
IFLScience reported it asAstronauts Just Set A New Record: The Fastest-Ever Trip To The ISS By An American Spacecraft (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its first orbital test flight on Monday. The mission aims to deploy satellites and test systems critical for future NASA moon missions, with a planned splashdown off the coast of Chile.
IFLScience reported it asSpaceX's Starship Reaches Orbit For The First Time – Then Explodes After Splashdown (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
US artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced its AI model Claude has identified a previously unknown enzyme system, dubbed ART, in bacterial DNA. The discovery, the first from Anthropic's biology lab, could potentially represent a new gene editing mechanism.
IFLScience reported it asAnthropic Says Its AI Has Discovered A CRISPR-Like Enzyme System – But The Company Isn't Yet Certain How It Works (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
Researchers are employing advanced technologies like LiDAR, drone imagery, and ground-penetrating radar at the Durupınar Formation in Turkey. Some claim the site, a boat-shaped mound, is the resting place of Noah's Ark, citing evidence of man-made structures.
IFLScience reported it asNo, Researchers Haven't Found "Noah's Ark" Near Mount Ararat In Eastern Turkey (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
A new report from the Climate Impact Lab estimates that the current El Niño event could lead to 451,000 additional heat-related deaths worldwide between September 2026 and February 2027. India is projected to experience 15,800 of these deaths.
IFLScience reported it asThe Record-Breaking "Super El Niño" Just Keeps Getting Gnarlier, With Warnings Of Over 451,000 Deaths Worldwide (opens IFLScience in a new tab)
Who says so
2 organisations have published a rating for this outlet, in their own words. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
How reliably it reports fact
A rating of the newsroom in general, by others, and a different thing from the Trust score we publish on each story, which judges one piece of reporting.
Very high factuality
Who owns it
- LabX Media GroupCorporationdirect owner
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- Sudbury, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
- Official site
- iflscience.com
- Seen publishing on
- iflscience.com
- Access
- Free to read
What we have seen ourselves
Counted across the stories this site has published, which is the only denominator a reader can check: every one of them has a page, and every page lists the reports it was written from.
- Stories
- 31
- Reports listed
- 31
- We could read
- 0
- First seen
- 4 August 2026
31 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 0 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 2 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and IFLScience ran the story anyway.
Across the 31 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than IFLScience’s on 1 of them. Overall it filed a median of 33 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 2 November 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 2 November 2026. Ratings pulled 4 October 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as IFLScience, also publishing from United Kingdom, ordered by how often we have seen them on a story. Sharing a rating is not the same as being alike.
Think this page is wrong?
The leanings above are published by AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check, and we republish them rather than make them. If you think one is misapplied, the strongest place to say so is with the organisation that made it, and every verdict here links to their page.
What we are responsible for is everything else: the ownership chain, where IFLScience publishes from, which of our stories we have listed it on, and whether we have the right publisher at all. Tell us what is wrong and an editor reads it.
Report something wrong on this page
Anything we correct is written up in the public corrections log. We do not publish reader votes as a rating, because an unattributed rating is the thing this site exists to argue against.
Every rating on this page is a named third party’s published work, republished with its author and, where one exists, a link to it. Our own coverage record is the section we measure ourselves. Neither is a judgement of any individual report: those are scored story by story, and the reasoning is on our methodology page.