Science

Scientists have developed and optimised python-specific environmental DNA (eDNA) markers to detect Burmese pythons through water samples collected in southern Florida. The work focuses on Stormwater Treatment Areas, the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed, and nearby rivers and canals connected to waterways previously sampled. The interconnected canal and river network can help non-native and invasive species…

Guinness World Records lists the northern pudu as the smallest deer species. Guinness World Records lists the northern pudu as the smallest deer species. Guinness World Records lists the northern pudu as the smallest deer species. Guinness World Records lists the northern pudu as the smallest deer species. Guinness World Records lists the northern pudu…

The wider project also examined how woody debris could be used in different coastal settings. At Pemaquid Beach in Bristol, the storm had carved steep, eroded faces into the dunes. After a powerful winter storm stripped away sections of Maine’s coastline in December 2022, an unlikely form of coastal protection began taking shape on the…

Between August 19 and 23, 2022, Omar Yaghi’s team placed a thermos-sized cylinder in Furnace Creek, inside the Death Valley National Park. The device was not connected to anything and for three complete cycles of night and day the device extracted liquid water from the air of one of the driest and hottest places on…

Researchers are installing 3D-printed artificial reefs on the deep seabed to see whether damaged cold-water coral habitats can be restored. Twenty-three of these structures have been placed off the south-west Porcupine Bank, off Ireland’s west coast, and in the Bay of Biscay, France. The work forms part of the Horizon Europe project REDRESS, which stands…

Off the Turkish coast near Adrasan, marine archaeologists recently discovered the remains of an ancient cargo ship bound for Rome and loaded with thousands of pieces of tableware in 122 different varieties, most famous and in demand at the time. The vessel had been carrying ceramic plates, bowls and serving dishes when it sank some…

Image: Puskar Basu/ Discover Wildlife A remarkably elusive Pallas’s cat has chosen an unexpected nursery in the high-altitude village of Hanle in Ladakh. The female entered a local couple’s home through an open window and settled there with three kittens. Farmer Tsering Topgyal and his wife, Palmo, alerted the Forest Department after discovering the wild…

A retired military aircraft has found an unusual second life beneath the Red Sea after Jordan deliberately sank it off Aqaba in 2017 to create an artificial reef. The Lockheed C-130 Hercules, a roughly 30-metre-long military transport aircraft, was placed underwater on November 16, 2017, about 300 metres from the Aqaba shoreline. It now rests…

The property carries significance that extends beyond its ecological value. It was historically part of the Garden River First Nation reserve before colonial-era government reductions altered the community’s original boundaries, explains the online report. At the edge of Echo Lake in northern Ontario, a stretch of forest, wetlands, cliffs and waterways is set to become…

A long-term experiment near Ithaca, New York, has found that white-tailed deer increased the diversity of seeds germinated from the soil and reduced the abundance of woody plants aboveground. According to a study published in PubMed, titled ‘Deer impact seedbanks and plant communities over 18 years of post-agricultural succession’, the deer exclusion experiment began in…