Science

Newly identified 'muscles' shape trees in way once thought uniquely animal

Bronwyn Thompson — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:03:00 GMT

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.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Tree, BioLogic, Muscle, Biomechanics, nature, Wildlife, Conservation

Our use of fire has strange ties to how we can talk

Mike McRae — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 04:24:47 GMT

Come, sit. Let me tell you a story. Listen closely now.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Fire, Language, Speech, Evolution, Brain

324-million-year-old animal with 24 legs reveals how life conquered land

Bronwyn Thompson — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:03:00 GMT

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.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Evolution, Animal science, Insect, ancient, Fossils, Nanjing University

Yeast that makes food from plastic could solve two problems with one cookie

Mike McRae — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:03:00 GMT

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.

Category: Chemistry, Science

Tags: Food waste, Nutrition, Plastics, Food technology, Yeast, Biotechnology

Strange 17th-century Polish ‘vampire’ is no longer a mystery

Mike McRae — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 06:42:58 GMT

Finding a human body buried with a sickle around their neck and a padlock around their big toe isn’t exactly common fare.

Category: Archaeology, Science

Tags: grave, vampire, Archaeology, Bones, ancient, Fossils

Purple is the new white for ‘cool’ summer fashion

Mike McRae — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 22:03:00 GMT

As the kind of person who wears black in the height of an Aussie summer, I’m not one to give fashion advice.

Category: Chemistry, Science

Tags: metal-organic frameworks, Colors, Smart Fabric, Materials, Fashion, University of Adelaide

The extraordinary engineering that builds nature's only straight tusk

Bronwyn Thompson — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:01:00 GMT

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.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Marine Biology, Whale, Marine Innovations, Tools, Biomechanics, Sensory, Teeth, Arctic

'Phantom earthquakes' can haunt your brain long after tremors stop

Bronwyn Thompson — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:59:45 GMT

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.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Earthquake, Signal Processing, Neuroscience, nature, Geology, Brain, neurons

Gruesome ingredient has kept these 2,000-year-old rock artworks alive

Mike McRae — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:21:00 GMT

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.

Category: Archaeology, Science

Tags: China, Archeology, ancient, Blood, Art, tribes, History

Penguins carry forever chemicals in their feathers

Toluwalogo Niji-Olawepo — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 05:33:10 GMT

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.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: PFAS, Penguins, Antarctic, Pollution, Wildlife

Rare 'cotton candy' planet discovery may be the super puffiest ever seen

Chris Young — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:12:07 GMT

An international team led by researchers from the University of Oxford has discovered two of the lowest-density giant planets on record.

Category: Astronomy, Science

The 'Girl Dad Effect': Is Bandit Heeler the perfect partner?

Kerry Taylor-Smith — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 06:42:04 GMT

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.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Television, Parenting, Children, Relationships

1.7 million planned satellites to have ‘devastating’ impact on astronomy

Chris Young — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:34:13 GMT

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.

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: Satellite, Astronomy, Stars, light-pollution, ESO

Mount Etna may be like no other volcano on Earth

Pranjal Malewar — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:36:38 GMT

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.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: volcano, Geology, Earth, Italy

Sinkholes saved these endangered trees – then trapped them there

Bronwyn Thompson — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:41:42 GMT

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.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Biodiversity, Tree, Light, Photosynthesis, Carbon capture, adaptive

Microbe can turn into a "supergiant" cannibal (and we're not sure why)

Jay Kakade — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:09:53 GMT

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.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Micro-organisms, Hunting, Cells, protist, Transformable

Daddy longlegs seen catching and eating frogs in astonishing first

Jay Kakade — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 06:24:22 GMT

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.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Spiders, Frogs, Predator, Ecology

It became too easy to shout ‘aliens’, so SETI changed its rules

Chris Young — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:43:16 GMT

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.”

Category: Astronomy, Science

Tags: SETI, aliens, 3I/ATLAS, Extraterrestrial

The poop emoji hides a deeper truth about physics, study reveals

Kerry Taylor-Smith — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 06:17:29 GMT

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.

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: Materials, Animals, Waste, Fluid

Study predicts when the last plants on Earth will die

Mike McRae — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:41:30 GMT

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.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Plants, Extinction, Photosynthesis, Earth, Sun

'Critically stressed' US earthquake fault reaches 1,000-year pressure peak

Bronwyn Thompson — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 05:28:57 GMT

The volatile seismic zone along the roughly 750-mile (1,200-km) San Andreas Fault and the smaller San Jacinto Fault are now "critically stressed" – reaching a 1,000-year high level of pressure – increasing the likelihood of a big earthquake hitting the US West Coast.

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: California, Earthquake, Seismic, Geology, nature, Stress

Our bodies may be able to regrow lost limbs after all

Mike McRae — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 02:49:05 GMT

The permanent loss of amputated digits and limbs is the cost of being human. While worms, amphibians, fish and echinoderms all contain species capable of regenerating body parts, few mammals have the knack.

Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Regenerative Medicine, Mice, wound-healing, Scarring, Texas A&M Universty, Marine Biology, Skin, Bones