Science

For decades, scientists have known that the Ontong Java Plateau, the world’s largest oceanic plateau, was created by an extraordinary burst of volcanic activity more than 100 million years ago. What remained uncertain was how enormous volumes of magma travelled through the Earth’s lithosphere during that event. According to the study published in Advancing Earth…

Scientists have discovered the deepest known animal ecosystem on Earth, thriving almost 10 kilometres beneath the Pacific Ocean where sunlight never reaches. At depths of up to 9,533 metres, researchers found dense colonies of blood-red tubeworms, white clams and other marine animals living around methane-rich cold seeps on the ocean floor. The discovery ‘Flourishing chemosynthetic…

Forest bathing sounds like an ancient tradition, but it is actually younger than the personal computer. The practice known as shinrin-yoku was coined in Japan in 1982, not passed down through centuries. It began as a public health idea rather than a spiritual one, aimed at a country that was mostly forest but rapidly urbanising,…

For decades, archaeologists believed that while early humans had learned to control naturally occurring fires more than a million years ago, they only mastered the ability to create fire much later. A remarkable discovery in southeast England is now challenging that timeline. Tiny fragments of iron pyrite, found alongside heat-damaged stone tools and ancient hearth…

A person demonstrates Japan’s TRUSCO Do Reimon Box, a walk-in cooling booth. As record-breaking heatwaves become more frequent around the world, keeping outdoor workers safe has become an increasingly urgent challenge. Japan may have come up with an unusual solution. A Japanese company has developed what many are calling a “human refrigerator”, a walk-in cooling…

Every invention begins with a simple question: “Can this be made better?” The world’s greatest innovators did not accept limitations as permanent or believe that existing solutions were the best possible ones. Instead, they looked at everyday problems as opportunities waiting to be solved. Alexander Graham Bell’s insightful observation, “The inventor is a man who…

Progress is measured not only by scientific discoveries or economic growth but also by the opportunities a society offers its people. Throughout history, women have often been denied the freedom to pursue education, careers and leadership simply because of their gender. Elizabeth Blackwell’s powerful statement, “If society will not admit of woman’s free development, then…

In April 2022, a routine field survey on a quiet Canadian lake turned into one of the most puzzling wildlife investigations in recent years.What first appeared to be the isolated death of a freshwater turtle soon escalated into a grim discovery involving nearly 150 carcasses scattered along the shoreline. The incident left scientists searching for…

Every summer, a vast stretch of the Gulf of Mexico transforms into what scientists call a “dead zone,” an area where oxygen levels in the water become so low that most marine life cannot survive. Fish flee if they can, while shrimp, crabs and bottom-dwelling organisms are often trapped in what researchers describe as “hell…

Koalas nearly went extinct before humans arrived, DNA study reveals A major genetic study has found that koalas almost became extinct about 100,000 years ago because of major climate changes, long before the first humans reached Australia.By studying the DNA of hundreds of koalas, an international team of researchers found that every koala alive today…

Pythagoras (Image: Wikipedia) Humans depend entirely on the natural world, and yet the relationship has always been tangled with contradiction, admiration for animals sitting right alongside routine cruelty toward them. A line attributed to Pythagoras names that contradiction directly. “As long as Man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will…

Scientists monitored dolphins in two bays along Sea of Japan coast. (Representational photo) People living along Japan’s Sea of Japan coast had been saying for years that they occasionally spotted dolphins close to shore. Local fishers also reported seeing them from time to time. These sightings were interesting, but scientists did not have enough information…