Science

Conservationists in Wisconsin have reached an important milestone in Great Lakes wildlife restoration after a pair of piping plovers was found nesting on Wisconsin Point in Superior. The discovery ends a 49-year absence of nesting piping plovers at the site. According to an official announcement from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the endangered…

Representative Image (AI-generated) What if the best way to understand a 2,000-year-old burned scroll is to make one yourself and set it on fire? Scientists did just that to investigate how writing might be recovered from carbonised papyrus scrolls buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In a study published in PLOS ONE, researchers created…

The biggest mystery is how many tilcayo cats are actually living in the wild. Researchers currently cannot determine the species’ full range, partly because small tiger cats are notoriously difficult to identify through camera-trap surveys. A tiny wild cat living quietly in the Bolivian Andes has turned out to be something scientists have been searching…

Representative Image of a rocket carrying mycelium fungi launching into space on a mission to the International Space Station (AI Generated Image) In August 2024, researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia sent 36 small vials containing fungi into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bound for the International Space Station. The vials…

A rare tree daisy from Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island is receiving a new lifeline after two seedlings arrived at Logan Botanic Garden in south-west Scotland. Dendroseris neriifolia has been reduced to one known wild tree, which grows on a steep cliff and is supported by ropes to prevent it from falling. Conservationists in Chile and…

For America, bison have always been more than just an ordinary animal. The largest land mammal in North America, the massive, shaggy beast has been extremely important to the native cultures. Since 2016, it has also been crowned as America’s national mammal and is an apt representative of the country’s natural history.Bison, also referred to…

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…