Science

California’s efforts to restore wetlands in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta are showing measurable benefits for marsh-dwelling birds, with a newly published study documenting a dramatic rise in Marsh Wren numbers after tidal flows were reintroduced to former agricultural land. According to the journal Restoration Ecology on June 8, 2026, the research by Jason Riggio and…

PC: US Geological Survey​ A drone may help scientists find Burmese pythons hidden across the Everglades. US Geological Survey researchers are testing radio-tracking technology carried by small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) to locate the invasive snakes more efficiently. The work aims to give researchers a clearer picture of how pythons move through the Greater Everglades…

Florida restored a degraded oyster reef in 2018; density rose to 91 per sq m in six months and 244 by year five (Image Credit: UF/IFAS) Florida’s Lone Cabbage Reef, once a productive oyster habitat that had deteriorated into a sandbar, began recovering after researchers and local oyster harvesters rebuilt it with dolomite limestone in…

The galaxies, now catalogued as Shapiro Dwarf Galaxies I, II and III, share an unusual combination of characteristics. They are small, relatively isolated from other galaxies and, most importantly, appear to have stopped forming stars. Some astronomical discoveries begin with powerful telescopes pointed at distant corners of the universe. Others begin much closer to home,…

JNU professor Suneel Kateriya worked with Nobel laureate Peter Hegemann during his doctoral research in Germany. A question about how a microscopic organism finds sunlight led to research that would eventually help scientists control the activity of nerve cells using light. More than two decades later, the work has a connection to the 2026 Nobel…

Representative Image (AI-generated) A 27-acre stretch of woodland near Pittsburgh is set to receive permanent protection with the help of $277,200 in state funding. The funding was announced by Pennsylvania State Rep. Emily Kinkead on October 7 and will support the Lowries Run Expansion Project in Ross Township. According to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,…

A group of three smooth-billed anis in Galapagos. Image Credit: Michael Dvorak/ Galapagos Conservation Trust The smooth-billed ani was brought to the Galapagos Islands in the 1960s in an attempt to tackle a cattle tick problem that had caused serious losses for local farmers. The black bird was known to feed on ticks in mainland…

Patagonia National Park represents one part of a much larger effort by the Tompkinses to protect land across Chile and Argentina (Image Credit: Linde Waidhofer) A vast Chilean ranch once used for livestock farming took a different path when Kris Tompkins arranged for her nonprofit, Conservación Patagónica, to acquire the property in 2004. The conservation…

Representative Image of diverse bats flying over Europe during the late Paleocene epoch ( AI Generrated Image) For decades, scientists have debated where bats first evolved, with Africa, Asia and North America among the proposed origins of the only mammals capable of powered flight. A study published in Nature offers new evidence for a different…

A rock musician working at a computer might seem an unlikely figure in an asteroid-sampling mission, but Brian May brought a specialist skill to Nasa’s search for a place to land on Bennu. The Queen guitarist, who also holds a doctorate in astrophysics, helped scientists turn spacecraft photographs into three-dimensional views of the asteroid’s rough…