Scientists have turned discarded fish scales into a plastic-like material that can break down naturally in soil, Cyclo. Plas 2, the material is made from collagen fish scales and chitosan, creating a thin, flexible, translucent film. In tests, the material began breaking down after two weeks and biodegraded by the end of eight weeks. It…
Image: European Space Agency When a star strays too close to a supermassive black hole, gravity can tear the star apart in what astronomers call a tidal disruption event. Some of the debris gets swallowed, while the rest can be blasted back out in powerful jets, sometimes months or years after the star is destroyed….
For much of the 20th century, the Iberian lynx was disappearing from the Spanish landscape. By 2001, only 62 mature animals were recorded, leaving one of Europe’s most distinctive wild cats perilously close to extinction. Since then, a sustained conservation programme has altered its trajectory. Reintroductions, captive breeding, habitat restoration and efforts to protect its…
A 16-year-old student from Massachusetts has turned an everyday item into an award-winning recycling project. Benjamin Davis, a junior at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, developed a desktop machine that processes 3D-printed waste and other plastics into reusable filament for 3D printers. His work earned him the $75,000 Regeneron Young Scientist Award at the…
Representative Image of diverse plasticine models resembling prey, under scrutiny by researchers assessing animal interactions (AI Generated Image) For years, ecologists have used soft plasticine models shaped like caterpillars, fruit, bird eggs, snakes and frogs to study interactions between predators and their potential prey. The idea is simple: leave the models in a natural habitat,…
Humanity has achieved extraordinary things, from exploring distant planets to developing technologies that have transformed everyday life. Yet, despite these accomplishments, our place in the universe remains remarkably small. British physicist Stephen Hawking often encouraged people to look beyond their immediate surroundings and consider the vastness of the cosmos. His thought-provoking words, “We are just…
Researchers have found that waste eggshells can be processed into a fine powder and used to replace part of the cement in mortar without reducing its compressive strength. A study tested calcined eggshell powder at replacement levels ranging from 2.5% to 12.5%. The strongest result came at 10%, where the mortar reached a compressive strength…
Egg-laying Skink (Oligosoma suteri) in New Zealand. Image Credit: Wikipedia A conservation effort in New Zealand took a surprising turn when 30 egg-laying skinks were moved from Green Island to Korapuki Island in 1992. The group consisted of 10 males and 20 gravid females (already carrying eggs). Years later, researchers compared the skinks on both…
Japanese macaque. Image Credit: Wikipedia The relocation of 38 macaques from Japan to Austria in 1996 created a unique opportunity to follow a primate population from its first days in a new environment. The animals were moved from the Minoo-H group in Osaka Prefecture to Affenberg Landskron, a forested enclosure in southern Austria. Over the…
Planck in 1918, the year he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum theory (Image: B Lagrelius & Westphal/ The American Institute of Physics ) Long before quantum mechanics became a household term, Max Planck was already thinking carefully about what it actually means to do science. In this quote,…
