For centuries, honey bees have fascinated scientists with their ability to travel long distances, locate food and return unerringly to their hives. Now, a new study has revealed an even more remarkable skill hidden in plain sight. Researchers from the University of Freiburg have discovered that individual honey bees follow their own highly consistent flight…
Climate change is often framed as a story of ecological loss, but scientists have uncovered an unexpected consequence unfolding nearly 2,500 metres beneath the Arctic Ocean. As glaciers in Greenland and parts of the Russian Arctic destabilise, increasing numbers of debris-laden icebergs are drifting through the Fram Strait before melting and releasing vast quantities of…
Quote of the day by Richard P. Feynman One of the more unusual qualities of Richard Feynman was that he did not seem particularly interested in being the smartest person in the room.That may sound odd for a physicist who won the Nobel Prize and became one of the most recognisable scientific figures of the…
For a few precious months each year, the brightest and most photogenic region of the Milky Way rises high enough above the horizon to create one of nature’s most spectacular night-time displays. June marks the beginning of peak Milky Way season across much of the Northern Hemisphere, offering photographers their best opportunity to capture the…
A glance at the evening sky this month reveals an unusual amount of activity packed into a relatively short stretch of time. Bright planets are gathering low in the west after sunset, the moon is moving through several eye-catching encounters, and the June solstice is approaching. For anyone who enjoys stepping outside after dark, the…
For generations, farmers have relied on a combination of manual labour, herbicides and pesticides to protect crops from weeds and pests. Now, artificial intelligence is offering a radically different approach. In California’s Salinas Valley, often called America’s Salad Bowl, autonomous robots equipped with AI, high-resolution cameras, lasers and UV light are helping growers tackle some…
Some scientists make discoveries. Others create entirely new ways of understanding the universe. Harish-Chandra belonged to the latter group. Born in Kanpur in 1923, he began his academic career as a physicist and earned his doctorate at the University of Cambridge under Nobel laureate Paul Dirac. During this period, he identified a mathematical error in…
James Clerk Maxwell (Image: Wikipedia) In 1928, a Scottish farmer named Hugh Fleming noticed something unusual in his laboratory. A dish containing bacteria had been contaminated by mould. Normally, that would have been a reason to throw it away and start again.Instead, he stopped and looked more closely.The scientist, better known to history as Alexander…
Quote of the day by Max Planck (Image source: Wikipedia) There are moments in education when everything suddenly feels heavier than expected.A student who once solved problems quickly begins to slow down. Pages take longer to finish. Concepts that once looked familiar stop behaving the same way when the numbers change or the conditions shift….
The world’s first trillionaire has promised to take you to Mars, but can he?Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is no longer just looking at Earth, but straight at the little red planet: Mars. The SpaceX founder has an interstellar dream: not just to visit the red planet, but to help build a permanent human…
A volunteer donates blood during the World Blood Donor Day, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. (PTI Photo) Can blood be created in a laboratory for transfusion? The answer may eventually be yes, but not yet.In November 2022, scientists in the United Kingdom carried out the world’s first transfusion of lab-grown blood as part of a clinical…
Blaise Pascal (Image: Wikipedia) Not every disagreement begins with a lack of facts.Sometimes two people know the same information and still walk away with completely different views. It happens among friends discussing a career choice. It happens between parents and children talking about the future. It happens in offices when colleagues look at the same…
