Environment

If you're releasing a robot into the aquatic environment with no intention of retrieving it, that bot had better be biodegradable. Swiss scientists have gone a step better, with a li'l robot that can be consumed by fish when its job is done.

Researchers at Australia's RMIT University have devised a simple and clever contraption that could make drinking water available in disaster-stricken areas, by pulling it out of thin air.

Remarkable research has unlocked new understanding of the mysterious ways trees communicate and share knowledge – and much like in the animal kingdom, the wisdom of age plays a key role. In fact, you may never look at a tree in the same way again.

Deep sea mining has been off limits because it's awfully hard, and because governments haven't yet firmed up regulations around extracting minerals offshore. That might soon change with The Metal Company's latest move – perhaps sooner than it should.

The quest to resurrect the woolly mammoth has taken another step forward, with the creation of the Colossal Woolly Mouse. The lab-made rodents have been genetically altered to possess key physical traits of the extinct beasts – in fur and fat, at least.

Stanford researchers have found a way to activate commonly found rocks so they capture CO2 out of the air at room temperature. The team believes it could be relatively inexpensive, and can easily scale to help sort our emissions problem worldwide.

A 13-year study of tiny penguins in Australia has dispelled the long-held myth that these seabirds mate for life, with the 'divorce rate' nearly 10 times that of the current statistics for US adults. And, not surprisingly, it all comes down to kids.

We often see the results of evolution, but not the process directly. Now, scientists have witnessed evolution unfolding in real time, as two similar lizard species encounter each other for the first time and quickly adapt to fill different roles.

Whales are not only the biggest animals on the planet, but they’re among the longest-lived, too. A new analysis reveals that right whales can live for more than 130 years, almost twice as long as previously thought.

Proposed methods of removing toxic ‘forever chemicals’ from water have either only trapped the chemicals or broken them down. A new study has demonstrated a method that does both effectively. And it's quick and cheap.

This serene gap between Pyrenees mountains becomes abuzz with flying insects each year, as they journey across Europe. We may not always like to live with them, but we can't live without them – so paths like this are critical for all life on Earth.

A new solution from Cambridge University could recycle both concrete and steel at the same time, by throwing old concrete into steel-recycling furnaces. If done using renewable energy, the process could make for completely carbon-zero cement.