Science

PC: Travis Caperton/University of Oklahoma Soil stores more than three times the carbon found in the atmosphere, making it an important part of Earth’s carbon cycle. However, rising temperatures can affect how much carbon remains in the ground. A 12-year field experiment at the University of Oklahoma has found that rainfall plays a critical role…

(Image credit: Facebook/ Gary Bankhead) A whole world of material culture, ruling dynasties, and the history of communities and their elusivity is etched in the world around us, in the buildings and the roads. But beneath it all, deep-seated in our rivers, lies the archive of its own history—the world that survived before us. So,…

Photo credit: The British Museum A drinking cup made around 1,600 years ago has a remarkable property: it can appear green when light falls on it and ruby red when light shines through it. Now, researchers at the University of Sheffield have recreated the unusual glass effect, offering a new understanding of the technique used…

PC: University of Göttingen A rock found on Goodenough Island in Papua New Guinea has preserved evidence of an unexpected change in thermal gradient as it sank deep beneath Earth’s surface. Researchers estimate that the rock travelled more than 90 kilometres into a subduction zone about 4.4 million years ago. Its mineral record indicates that…

A community in South Australia’s first dark-sky reserve is opposing a proposed hyperscale data centre (Image Source: Canva) “For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” Vincent van Gogh wrote this in one of his letters to his brother Theo in 1888. More than a…

PC:  University of Pennsylvania Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania tracked 10 fruit fly populations in outdoor enclosures for four months, documenting rapid genetic changes as the seasons shifted from summer to autumn. The experiment, conducted in Pennsylvania in 2014, found that natural selection influenced genetic variant frequencies at more than 60% of sites across…

Abandoned fishing nets that once threatened marine life around Hawaii are being turned into electricity through a programme established in 2002. The Hawaii Nets to Energy Program collects discarded nets from fishermen and local removal groups before processing them for combustion at Honolulu’s H-Power waste-to-energy facility. According to NOAA Ocean Today, 832 tons of fishing…

Mark Zuckerberg with his wife Priscilla Chan in 2014. Image Credit: Wikipedia Researchers at Biohub, an organisation backed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative co-founded by Priscilla Chan, have identified potential new drug targets for psoriasis by combining AI with genetic screening. The study, published in Nature Communications, discovered 2 biological pathways that could help control…

(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons) Dreaming is an experience we often associate with humans but is it something that only humans experience? Scientists have long been curious to ascertain what may happen when other animals fall asleep. While certain sleep behaviours have been observed in mammals and birds, much less is known about how sleep works…

Millions of Americans will gain an extra hour on Sunday, November 1, when daylight saving time ends and clocks go back by one hour. But while the change may appear to offer a welcome chance to sleep longer, it can still leave some people feeling tired, groggy or out of step with their usual routine…

Bailey Quinn Frank, 15, from Fort Lauderdale, who built an air sampler with a small fan and filter paper to collect bacterial DNA (Image Credit: Society For Science) A 15-year-old student from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has won a $25,000 science award for developing an affordable device that collects airborne bacterial DNA, with the potential to…

Representative Image of a 10-meter ichthyosaur fossil displayed in a museum, highlighting its significance during the Jurassic period (AI-generated image) A 10-metre ichthyosaur discovered on a secluded beach near Bridport in Dorset has gone on display at Bridport Museum, bringing an unusual Jurassic fossil into public view. Belgian fossil hunters Michel Plissart and his partner…