Science

Florida city opens $31 million botanical and wellness park at 209-acre Tucker Ranch preserve (Image Credit: City Of Winter Garden) A former cattle ranch in Florida has gained a new purpose, bringing botanical gardens, outdoor fitness areas and wellness facilities together in a sprawling natural preserve. What began as a multimillion-dollar development project in 2024…

For the first time in 160 years of excavations, archaeologists unearthed a musical instrument at Troy, a flute made of bone that dates back about 2,800 years. Also discovered was a 4,500-year-old humanoid idol, which archaeologists hope will help shed light on the cultural traditions of the region.The bone flute was found in what’s known…

PC: The European Commission Three teenagers have developed a low-cost device designed to detect signs of stress in plants by listening to their acoustic signals. Their project, PlantLeaf, aims to make monitoring technology more accessible to farmers, with an estimated production cost of about €20 compared with existing equipment costing thousands. As reported by The…

PC: Palaeontologia Electronica A lizard’s ability to shed its tail to escape danger dates back at least 99 million years, according to a fossil discovered in amber from Myanmar. The specimen preserves a detached tail from the Cretaceous Period, providing the first direct fossil evidence of voluntary tail shedding in a fossil vertebrate.According to the…

For nearly a century, people living thousands of miles apart have described a bizarre experience after eating certain wild mushrooms: seeing dozens or even hundreds of tiny, brightly dressed human figures moving through the real world. Now, researchers have identified a mushroom species linked to these unusual visions in China and the Philippines. According to…

Japanese stiltgrass, an invasive annual grass native to parts of Asia, was introduced to the United States in Tennessee between 1918 and 1919. It likely arrived as packing material used to protect porcelain, with seeds escaping into the surrounding environment. Since then, the plant has become established in 16 eastern states, ranging from New York…

Siddharth Vikram’s idea for an app earned him $25,000 awards (Photo Credits: Ryan Garza | Courtney Simpson) When Siddharth Vikram watched his older brother go through long physical therapy sessions after a serious car accident, he noticed a major problem with the recovery process. While clinic visits offered expert help, doing the same exercises at…

In 2027, the agency will undertake a complex space mission in low Earth orbit, called Artemis III, as part of preparations for the crewed lunar landing (Photo: NASA). Nasa is ramping up preparations for a crucial lunar mission in 2027, with SpaceX and Blue Origin racing to develop landers for the agency’s planned return of…

For years, having a drink with dinner or sharing a couple of drinks with friends has often been treated as a relatively harmless habit, provided it does not turn into heavy drinking. But new research suggests that consuming what many people consider a moderate amount of alcohol may carry a greater long-term health risk than…

Image: The New York Times At 16, Violet Clinton has turned her fascination with insects into an ambitious scientific research project, documenting 11,377 insects during a seven-month study of moth diversity and abundance in New York. A student at Horace Greeley High School, she spends two or three evenings a week exploring the Eugene and…

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a compact optical spectrometer that costs around $10 and delivers laboratory-grade precision for applications ranging from healthcare monitoring to food and materials analysis. The device was developed with GlitterinTech, a start-up founded by the same research group.According to the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, it uses…

A patch of pavement in South Florida offered an unlikely hiding place for a Burmese python during the busiest part of the species’ nesting season. The snake was discovered beneath a sidewalk, where it was guarding 20 eggs, after a passer-by noticed movement under the concrete. The encounter drew attention to the places where the…