Science

The story of the Galápagos giant tortoise is one of exploitation, extinction and an extraordinary conservation comeback. Pirates, whalers and other sailors once collected the slow-moving animals from the islands as a reliable source of fresh meat, taking advantage of their ability to survive for months without food or water. On Floreana Island, relentless hunting,…

A mosquito’s proboscis is built for a very different job from manufacturing. It is a tiny biological structure designed to move through skin and handle fluid at a scale that is difficult to reproduce with conventional engineering. Now, researchers have found a way to put that natural geometry to work after the insect is dead.The…

Paleontologist John Moretti (left) and caver John Young after exploring Bender’s Cave. Image Credit: John Moretti The discovery beneath Bender’s Cave in central Texas began in an underground stream where fossils lay hidden beneath the water. John A. Moretti, a palaeontologist at the University of Texas in Austin, and caver John Young investigated bones preserved…

Representative Image of pregnant guppies in a small aquarium, with embryos developing inside them and Earth in the background (AI Generated Image) On December 14, 1983, the Soviet Union launched an unmanned biosatellite called Cosmos 1514, carrying more than 60 experiments from nine countries, including 2 rhesus monkeys, 10 pregnant rats and a small group…

Acacia Senegal. Image Credit: Wikipedia Planting trees in Sudan’s drylands changed the soil in ways that became clearer as the plantations grew older. Acacia Senegal gradually built up more organic carbon and improved the soil’s ability to hold water for plants. A 2018 study titled ‘Changes in soil hydraulic properties, soil moisture and water balance…

Rowan Atkinson, Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons In 2006, Rowan Atkinson bought Handsmooth House, a 1930s property set on about 16 acres in Ipsden, Oxfordshire, for a reported £2.6 million. Rather than preserve the existing house, Atkinson wanted to replace it with a completely different kind of home. He eventually commissioned American architect Richard Meier, whose…

Representative Image (AI-generated) Arizona’s Apache trout has made a remarkable recovery after decades of pressure from habitat degradation, overfishing and introduced trout. The native fish was once close to disappearing from the cold mountain streams of eastern Arizona, but long-term conservation led by the White Mountain Apache Tribe and supported by state and federal partners…

A new blood testing platform could make it easier to identify people who are genuinely allergic to amoxicillin, one of the most widely used penicillin antibiotics. Researchers tested 30 nanometre magnetic particles on blood samples from 94 people, including 50 patients with confirmed amoxicillin allergy and 44 who tolerated the drug. The experimental system detected…

A 22-year-old Kenyan engineer has developed robotic hands designed to help deaf children follow classroom lessons by converting teachers’ spoken words into sign language in real time. Norah Kimathi, co-founder of Nairobi-based startup ZeroBionic, developed the technology to address communication barriers faced by deaf students, particularly when learning science, mathematics and other STEM subjects. The…

Most small birds that regularly sit on branches belong to a group known as perching birds (passerine). Have you ever seen a bird sleeping on a thin tree branch and wondered why it does not fall? While humans may lose their grip when their muscles relax during sleep, many birds can remain safely perched for…

Melinda French Gates is committing $1 billion through 2026 to advance women’s power and influence, while her investment platform is backing women-led funds working on climate solutions. Through Pivotal Ventures, Gates has invested in Planeteer Capital, a climate-tech fund led by Sophie Purdom that backs early-stage companies developing solutions to climate change. The investment comes…

The approach is based partly on earlier laboratory research suggesting that carbon dioxide can be more harmful to zebra mussels than to some native freshwater mussels. Zebra mussels are small, but their impact on freshwater ecosystems can be enormous. Once established, the invasive shellfish can blanket lakebeds, crowd out native species and alter the communities…