Over the next several hundred million years, Earth could face numerous unexpected consequences, all due to the distance slowly yet steadily developing between the planet and its only moon. In what is coming to be defined as one of the most precisely known physical quantities in all of contemporary planetary science, the Moon is moving…
Beavers may weigh only around 20 kilograms, but their engineering skills can reshape entire landscapes. Using little more than their powerful teeth, branches, stones and mud, these rodents build dams that slow rivers, create wetlands and transform dry valleys into thriving ecosystems. While these structures are best known for forming ponds, scientists have discovered they…
On 9 July 1962, during one of the most dangerous periods of the Cold War, the United States carried out one of the most extraordinary military experiments in history.In a test known as Starfish Prime, the US launched a 1.4-megaton thermonuclear bomb aboard a Thor missile and detonated it around 400 kilometres above Earth, roughly…
Two people can start the same ambitious project and expect completely different timelines for it to pay off. One assumes real progress should be visible within weeks, gets discouraged when it isn’t, and quietly abandons the work. The other accepts from the outset that meaningful results might take years, and keeps going long after the…
In a dry, remote stretch of central Queensland, tiny springs bubble up from deep underground to form shallow, ankle-deep pools in the middle of the desert. Living only in these springs is a fish so small it barely reaches the size of a thumbnail, called the red-finned blue-eye. It exists nowhere else on earth. For…
For 25,000 years, the GunaiKurnai (an Australian Aboriginal nation) people carried grass into Cloggs Cave and burned it. Archaeologists have finally found physical evidence that proves the ritual existed. These people burned the grass as part of rituals tied to magic, healing and the spiritual realm. Researchers unearthed layers of ash rich in phytoliths, microscopic…
Two new studies published in the journal Science are reshaping what scientists understood about how dogs became so physically varied and how closely their history has tracked our own. Comparing a village dog, a toy poodle, and a mastiff makes clear just how extreme the physical range within a single species can be. Roughly 700…
pc: Study: Fossil leaves of Pandanaceae from India suggest Paleogene persistence of the family in South Asia For most people, Kevda is recognised by its unmistakable fragrance. Its flowers are distilled into the aromatic essence used in sweets, perfumes, religious offerings and traditional remedies across India. Yet the plant has quietly carried a far older…
Under the watchful eye of scientists, volunteers clean the skeleton of a mastodonsaurus A huge fossilised skeleton weighing 1,300 kilograms (2,865 pounds) that was found in southern Poland is currently being chipped out of solid rock by a group of more than 2,000 public volunteers.According to a report by the Associated Press, this unusual public…
Life aboard the International Space Station (ISS) depends on making the most of every available resource, especially water. Transporting supplies from Earth is enormously expensive, so astronauts cannot simply rely on regular deliveries for drinking water. Instead, the ISS uses one of the most sophisticated recycling systems ever built. At the heart of that system…
