Science

Wetland in South Australia. Image Credit: Department for Environment and Water (South Australian Government) Australia’s Green Triangle became a major plantation forestry region after large areas of land were converted to commercial forests. Decades later, the Lower South East of South Australia is facing growing pressure on its groundwater system. Assessments show that plantations can…

Acropora muricata, Heron Island, Australia. (Photo Credit: Claire Lager, Smithsonian) A rare coral species found nowhere else on Earth except Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii has been successfully returned to its natural habitat after completely disappearing from the wild. The recovery project was led by the Hawaii Coral Restoration Nursery, a facility run by the state…

The facial tumour had severely affected devil populations in many parts of Tasmania In 2012, 28 Tasmanian devils were brought to Maria Island off Tasmania’s east coast as an “insurance population” when facial tumour disease was severely affecting the species. The devils have since thrived, with their numbers reaching up to 90. But their success…

​2025 monitoring data showed the horses were reproducing without constant human intervention. The Przewalski’s horse, considered the world’s last truly wild horse, has returned to China’s grasslands after once disappearing from the wild in the country. Forty years after China began its Wild Horse Return Program, the population of the species has grown to about…

Tyrannosaur preying on an ancient diving bird (Representational AI photo) A 66-million-year-old feather found inside fossilised dinosaur poop may offer a clue to why some birds survived the asteroid impact that wiped out most dinosaurs. Scientists say the feather belonged to a hesperornithiform, an extinct group of aquatic birds that lived alongside dinosaurs.The feather was…

India’s growing space industry needs an umbrella Space Act for legal support. India needs a Space Act. It needed it yesterday!The country opened its space sector in 2020, created IN-SPACe to authorise and regulate their activities, and subsequently put in place the Indian Space Policy 2023 and a framework for non-governmental entities. The industry is…

The bath was incorporated directly into the emperor’s palace, with its heating system, bathing areas and sophisticated architecture working together within a relatively compact space. Nearly 1,700 years ago, an emperor could retreat from the demands of the Roman court without leaving his palace. Beneath a monumental tower in what is now eastern Serbia, he…

More than 1,600 years ago, as fire engulfed a Roman settlement in what is now Bulgaria, a young man appears to have made a desperate decision: he climbed inside a huge storage jar and hid. He never came out. Archaeologists uncovered his remains inside the vessel during excavations at the ancient Roman colony of Deultum…

An ambitious conservation project off the coast of California has helped save the endangered Santa Cruz Island fox from near extinction. The rescue effort involved removing 5,036 feral pigs, allowing the native island fox (Urocyon littoralis santacruzae) population to recover from fewer than 100 animals to more than 1,300 across the 96-square-mile island. According to…

A busy bird feeding station. Image Credit: Tim Felce/Wikimedia Commons Food and water stations intended to help wild birds may also help a potentially deadly parasite spread between species, according to a study published in Molecular Ecology. Researchers found that Trichomonas gallinae, a parasite that causes trichomonosis, was widespread among birds and in shared food…

Representative Image (AI-generated) Its appearance told one story; its DNA tells another. For decades, the extinct Miracinonyx trumani was known as the “American cheetah” because its long legs, slender body and adaptations for speed made it look remarkably similar to Africa’s modern cheetahs. But a new genetic study has overturned that long-held picture. Published in…

Indoor cat wearing a cat collar and bell. Image Credit: Wikipedia Domestic cats can be effective hunters of birds, but a simple change to what they wear may make it harder for them to catch their flying prey. A study of 94 outdoor cats in New York and Florida found that they brought home 61%…