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Parts of the US are preparing for dust storms this week as a large mass of dry, dusty air is set to make landfall after traveling across the Atlantic from the Sahara Desert – but how is it able to make this over 8,000-kilometer (5,000-mile) journey? Advertisement It’s all down to seasonal changes in the […]

One of the big questions around climate change is how it will impact the Gulf Stream. Judging by how it fared during the last Ice Age, it’s looking increasingly likely that it will become weakened as the world warms, potentially causing a shake-up of the climate of Europe and beyond. Advertisement The Gulf Stream is […]

It’s no secret that the planet is getting warmer, but how are our bodies responding to increased exposure to extreme conditions? From record-breaking temperatures to an uptick in severe weather warnings, the consequences of the climate crisis are all around – so how is climate change impacting our health? This is the Big Question host […]

An aerospace engineer and astronomer has made waves on social media after checking the math of an astronaut that seemed too good to be true.  Advertisement Max Fagin, who has worked for NASA and SpaceX, as well as working as commander at the Mars Desert Research Station, wrote on X that an astronaut casually told […]

The aptly named magnificent tree frog is typically green with a yellow belly, so you can imagine the surprise when scientists stumbled across a member of the species with blue skin. The shocking blue frog is an incredibly rare discovery, most likely caused by a rare genetic mutation that affects the production of yellow pigments. […]

Freeze-dried skin samples of a woolly mammoth found in Siberia have enabled scientists to create a 3D reconstruction of 52,000-year-old chromosomes. The achievement is a world-first for ancient DNA, and reveals which genes were active in the skin cells when the mammoth was alive. Advertisement Shortly after the woolly mammoth died it spontaneously freeze-dried thanks […]

Lucky for us, the world is a dazzling display of colors. With so many animals relying on vision to perceive their environment, colors and patterns are a language used within and across species. But what about animals that hide underground, away from view? Why would they need a rainbow of colorful coverings? Advertisement Evolutionary biologists, […]

While looking down at his home planet, astronaut Matthew Dominick spotted a flurry of colorful bursts of energy dancing in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The spectacular light show was photographed on June 3 as the International Space Station (ISS) cruised over thunderstorms off the coast of South Africa, according to NASA. Known as transient luminous events […]

Singapore is known internationally for its food – so far, for its ability to embrace cuisines from around the world and meld them into something uniquely and deliciously its own. But the next big thing on the Singaporean menu – or, to be more accurate, the next little thing on the menu – might get […]

Ancient DNA can reveal all sorts of things about the past – from the mysteries of human evolution to the secrets of Earth’s prehistoric climate. We’ve found some pretty old examples of it – but what is the oldest DNA ever recovered? Advertisement What is ancient DNA? DNA is the hereditary material in humans and […]

If there’s one thing that the internet has made clear, it’s that scientists should not be allowed anywhere near your food. They’ll snip the middle out of your birthday cake; divide your pizza into weird, curvilinear tessellations – and now, they’re coming after your sandwiches. Advertisement Now, we all have a favored way to slice […]

The government in Alberta, Canada has announced an end to the 18-year ban on hunting grizzly bears in the province, drawing criticism from wildlife conservationists.  Advertisement Hunting grizzly bears – which are a subspecies of the brown bear Ursus arctos – was first brought to a close in Alberta back in 2006 due to low numbers […]

Two NASA astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) have described the moment they realized that the spaceship that brought them there was faulty. The astronauts – Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore – departed for the ISS on June 5, the third and final test of Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, and […]

A new study has suggested that up to 60 percent of near-Earth objects could be “dark comets”, a strange class of objects that have characteristics of both asteroids and comets. Advertisement Comets are remnants of dust, ice, and rock left over from the formation of the Solar System, typically measuring 1 to 10 kilometers (0.6 […]

The Bubonic plague that killed a third of the population of Europe and parts of Asia in the 14th century stands as possibly the most devastating disease epidemic in world history. But it seems there had been a warning of what the bacterium could do thousands of years before, when it was a contributor to […]

Chile’s Atacama Desert – the driest nonpolar desert on the planet – is currently blanketed in swathes of pretty purple flowers. It may seem strange for plant life to bloom in such a hostile place, but, stranger still, it is happening in the dead of winter, several months earlier than anticipated. The phenomenon is known […]

It’s easy for a science website to get bogged down in the weirdest mysteries of the universe, while people really want the answers to more basic (but fun!) questions like “Why can’t we power our cars with magnets?” and “If you fell from a skyscraper on the Moon, would you die or otherwise get badly […]

A new robotic ankle controlled by electrical signals in residual muscles below the knee is showing promise in improved mobility and reduced pain. After just two practice sessions, around six hours in total, seven participants in a clinical trial testing the new device were able to walk as fast as non-amputees and the movements of […]

What may be Britain’s oldest giant chalk figure, the iconic Uffington White Horse, has been given some much-needed care after it had started to shrink and thin out. The restoration work has spruced up the ancient horse, allowing it to put on weight again and return to its former glory. Advertisement Last year, archaeologists with […]

It’s almost forty years since Voyager 2 checked out Uranus, leaving some great mysteries behind. Three planetary scientists think they’ve shown two of these are connected – why its proton radiation belts are so weak and why its magnetic field is off-kilter – possibly solving one. Advertisement Magnetic fields affect the movements of charged particles, […]