Science

​Wheat seed loss fell 63% after wheat germ oil treatment (Representational AI image) Australian scientists have tested a non-toxic way to protect wheat seeds from hungry mice by making it harder for the rodents to locate them. In an experiment carried out in 2021, instead of poisoning the mice or using bait, the researchers sprayed…

A prescribed fire. Image Credit: Wikipedia Fire was reintroduced to a subtropical grassy woodland in southeast Queensland after the area had gone without a recorded fire for at least a decade, giving scientists an opportunity to see how its hidden plant life responded. A low-intensity prescribed burn was carried out in 2022, and months later…

An inky pool in the middle of an anthracite coal pile. Image Credit: Jessica Klein/Inside Climate News/Pennsylvania Capital Star Pennsylvania’s abandoned underground coal mines may contain between 60 to 220 billion gallons of water, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study of the Western Middle Anthracite Coalfield. The research examined a 120-square-mile area across Schuylkill,…

PC: University of New Mexico Every winter, migratory ducks, geese and cranes arrive at wildlife refuges in the south-western United States, and managers must count them. Traditional methods can be difficult and imprecise, and some involve flushing birds into the air. According to the University of New Mexico, researchers working with the US Fish and…

On the Barrington River in New South Wales, 21 Manning River turtles have been moved from a conservation breeding facility into the wild, where the endangered species is still under pressure from predators and changes to its habitat. The turtles were raised by Aussie Ark at its Conservation Ark facility in Somersby before being prepared…

Image Credit: Natural History Museum, London A garden at London’s Natural History Museum has collected more than 11 million environmental data records during its first year as a high-tech living laboratory. More than 50 sensors now monitor conditions across the Nature Discovery Garden, recording everything from temperature and humidity to birdsong, underwater sounds and traffic…

Image: Pennsylvania Game Commission Website Beside the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania, a major clean-up is being prepared to turn old mining waste into living river habitat. The Pennsylvania Game Commission has reported plans to remove about 247,000 cubic yards of coal silt from State Game Land 286 and to restore a floodplain there. Around 19…

A decade ago, Higher Orbits launched its Go For Launch! programme at Deerfield High School in Illinois, bringing students together with astronauts and aerospace professionals to develop spaceflight-inspired STEM experiments. Ten years later, the organisation returned to the same school for its 100th Go For Launch! programme, again featuring former Nasa astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, who…

African Wild Dog. Image Credit: Wikipedia African wild dogs returned to Zimbabwe’s Matusadona National Park in February 2026 after disappearing from the area for decades. 20 animals were moved into the park in two established packs, marking a major step in the restoration of a predator that had been locally extinct there. But the return…

Volunteers at a protected Cape Cod nesting site found a rare diamondback terrapin hatchling with two heads (Image Credit: New England Wildlife Center) A tiny diamondback terrapin has become an unexpected discovery on Cape Cod after volunteers found a hatchling with two heads at a protected nesting site in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. According to Mass Audubon’s…