Science

Nearly 15 years ago, scientists found that plants had a biological mechanism that controls their morphology – or, in simpler terms, their form – thought to have only been something seen in animals. Now, researchers from the same institution have uncovered how it works. It's basically a tree's version of a muscle. Continue Reading Category: Environment , Science Tags: Tree , BioLogic , Muscle , Bi…

Come, sit. Let me tell you a story. Listen closely now. Continue Reading Category: Biology , Science Tags: Fire , Language , Speech , Evolution , Brain

By now, most of us have some knowledge that life on land involved transitioning from the water and evolving the physiological means to do so. But a new study has found reliable evidence that this formative process involved more diverse species also making the transition. And it could change how we think of this period of evolution. Continue Reading Category: Environment , Science Tags: Evolution …

A protein-rich cookie made from plastic and agricultural waste could help solve two serious problems facing future generations, according to a team presenting results from their NASA-funded project at the Fall Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Continue Reading Category: Chemistry , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Food waste , Nutrition , Plastics , Food technology , Yeast , Bi…

Finding a human body buried with a sickle around their neck and a padlock around their big toe isn’t exactly common fare. Continue Reading Category: Archaeology , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: grave , vampire , Archaeology , Bones , ancient , Fossils

As the kind of person who wears black in the height of an Aussie summer, I’m not one to give fashion advice. Continue Reading Category: Chemistry , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: metal-organic frameworks , Colors , Smart Fabric , Materials , Fashion , University of Adelaide

The narwhal's defining feature – its continuously growing tusk – is the only straight structure of its kind seen in nature. Now, scientists have cracked the code on how these elusive Arctic whales grow such an impressive and unique tool. Continue Reading Category: Biology , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Marine Biology , Whale , Marine Innovations , Tools , Biomechanics , Sensory , T…

Some time around February 2025, after experiencing a handful of tremors at home in my Taipei apartment (tremors, mind you, that locals wouldn't blink an eye at), I began feeling quakes that weren't there – especially when still, in bed, at night. Continue Reading Category: Environment , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Earthquake , Signal Processing , Neuroscience , nature , Geology , …

An extensive gallery of ancient rock art paintings in Southern China has long intrigued archaeologists by somehow surviving the brutal tropical elements for around 2,000 years. Continue Reading Category: Archaeology , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: China , Archeology , ancient , Blood , Art , tribes , History

Sixteen different PFAS compounds have been discovered in the feathers of Antarctic penguins, demonstrating that the insidious spread of "forever chemicals" now reaches the most remote wildlife on Earth. Continue Reading Category: Environment , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: PFAS , Penguins , Antarctic , Pollution , Wildlife

An international team led by researchers from the University of Oxford has discovered two of the lowest-density giant planets on record. Continue Reading Category: Astronomy , Science , Refractor: Science & Health

Many of us have enjoyed watching Bluey with our kids, sharing laughs as each episode perfectly (and hilariously) captures the ups and downs of parenting and relationships. Continue Reading Category: Biology , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Television , Parenting , Children , Relationships

For the first time, a European Southern Observatory (ESO) study has quantified the threat to astronomy posed by a large number of highly reflective satellites planned to launch in the coming years. Continue Reading Category: Astronomy , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Satellite , Astronomy , Stars , light-pollution , ESO

Europe's most active volcano, Mount Etna, has always been a geological puzzle. The Sicilian volcano has erupted several times a year, and glassy peaks of over 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) have fascinated scientists for decades. Though renowned, Etna has stubbornly defied categorization in the traditional volcano lifecycle. Continue Reading Category: Physics , Science , Refractor: Science & Health T…

Large sinkholes in nature have traditionally been viewed as a win for biodiversity, protecting plants that would be exposed to environmental stress above ground. However, a new genetic study indicates they are an evolutionary death trap. Continue Reading Category: Environment , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Chinese Academy of Sciences , Biodiversity , Tree , Light , Photosynthesis ,…

In cloned populations of a newly described single-celled protist, a few cells undergo a voracious transformation. They metamorphose into much larger “supergiants” that shift their shape, alter their movement, and begin hunting and eating their own genetically identical relatives. Continue Reading Category: Biology , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Micro-organisms , Hunting , Cells , p…

Daddy longlegs, also called harvestmen, have been documented catching and consuming living frogs larger than themselves in South American rainforests. All without the use of venom. Continue Reading Category: Biology , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Spiders , Frogs , Predator , Ecology

For the first time in more than 15 years, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) committee has significantly revised the protocols governing how scientists “evaluate, verify, and announce evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.” Continue Reading Category: Astronomy , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: SETI , aliens , 3I/ATLAS , …

Why does the "poop emoji" look the way it does? Physics has the answer: as most animals defecate downward, each new coil falls a shorter distance, naturally forming the familiar tapered swirl. Continue Reading Category: Physics , Science , Refractor: Science & Health Tags: Materials , Animals , Waste , Fluid

One day, far in the future, a leaf will turn brown and crumble to dust, representing the end of all plants on Earth. Without a crystal ball, nobody knows for certain when that day will come. Continue Reading Category: Environment , Science Tags: Plants , Extinction , Photosynthesis , Earth , Sun