News

After six years of research and a successful trial period, a South African program that hopes to curb rhino poaching by inserting radioactive material into their horns is now in operation. While conservation efforts have seen rhino populations in South Africa and other parts of their range begin to bounce back from the brink of […]

New species are all around us, and while some have been hiding away in the foliage of tropical forests, some have been hiding in plain sight. In 2009, one manta ray species was revealed to actually be two distinct species, and now, after 15 years of it being suspected, a third new species officially joins […]

Around the polar region of our planet (and even elsewhere in the Solar System), electrically charged particles can form enormous vortices. These space hurricanes, as they are called, deliver a significant amount of energy into the atmosphere, leading to the creation of special auroral displays. Researchers have now published new insights into how they affect […]

Light moves at a finite speed, so whenever we look at something, we look at how it was in the past. This doesn’t matter in your everyday life, but when you consider space, it starts to become important. When we look at the Moon, for example, we are looking at how it was about one […]

MRI machines have become a staple of scientific research and clinical diagnosis. Hundreds of thousands of people owe their lives to them, either directly, or for the discoveries MRIs have facilitated. Some have presumably wondered how they manage to achieve such remarkable clarity of the inner workings of the body without bombarding it with potentially […]

Scientists conducting research in the waters of Cardigan Bay, Wales were treated to a rare sight recently, as their cameras captured footage of a critically endangered angelshark (Squatina squatina), one of the world’s rarest shark species. The camera that nabbed the footage of the shark wasn’t placed in the bay with the specific purpose of […]

Medical advancements are a wonderful thing. When HIV was first discovered back in the 1980s, it was considered a death sentence for anybody who received the diagnosis. With time and careful research, treatments were found; people started to live long and healthy lives with the virus, with a few individuals even being cured in recent […]

A chikungunya virus outbreak in China is prompting US health authorities to take another look at their guidance for travelers. The virus was first identified back in the 1950s, and since then outbreaks have been growing more frequent – but what are the symptoms, and can it be prevented? How do people catch chikungunya virus? […]

A first-of-its-kind implant has just been granted approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Developed by SetPoint Medical, the neuroimmune modulation device works by delivering electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve once a day to initiate the body’s innate anti-inflammatory pathways. It essentially prods the body to […]

Around 2.3 million years ago, ancient human species such as Homo rudolfensis and Homo erectus suddenly changed their diets. Using their large brains, these extinct hominins manufactured digging tools that they used to access carbohydrate-rich tubers, bulbs, and corms, despite the fact their teeth were unsuited to chewing these starchy plant fibers. By analyzing the […]

The oldest known wild bird, an albatross named Wisdom, laid an egg at the remarkable age of 74 last year, after pairing with a new mate. Wisdom was first identified and banded by biologists after she laid an egg at Midway Atoll in 1956. As albatrosses do not lay eggs before the age of five, […]

A new species of stick insect has been discovered in Australia, and it’s an absolute whopper. Named Acrophylla alta, it’s thought to be the heaviest known insect in Australia at 44 grams (0.09 pounds). That’s about the same as an egg. If confirmed, it’ll knock the giant burrowing cockroach, Macropanesthia rhinoceros, off the top spot. […]

Albert Einstein, recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the photoelectric effect and the great physicist behind general and special relativity, once said: “The exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler.” Given his […]

In an exciting advance in the world of neuroscience, a team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University just unveiled some of the first whole-brain organoids – “mini brains” that incorporate tissues from each region of the brain all linked up together.  Organoids are miniature replicas of an organ grown from stem cells in the […]

A new pre-print paper involving sometimes-controversial Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has suggested a way we could intercept interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it hurtles through the Solar System.  On July 1, 2025, astronomers spotted an object moving through the Solar System at nearly twice the velocity of previous interstellar visitors ‘Oumuamua and Comet Borisov. The object, […]

Life can thrive in some seriously extreme environments, from the salty to the cold, and now the surprisingly deep, as scientists have found the deepest complex ecosystem ever discovered. The hadal trenches these animals call home can be as deep as 9,533 meters (31,276 feet) and play host to species that get their energy from […]

Killer whales are known to be pretty successful hunters, but new research has revealed that teaming up with a buddy can help them catch herring off the coast of Norway. Using drone footage, the team recorded multiple pairs seemingly swimming in sync to catch herring and then sharing the fruits of their perfectly matched dance […]

An international team of researchers has developed a photonic quantum computer designed to operate in the harsh environment of space. The computer was integrated into a satellite and launched into space last month, collecting data about how a quantum computer would work in low Earth orbit. Quantum computers are the next revolutionary step in information […]

Deep beneath the surface of the Earth, there is a massive reservoir of water, estimated to contain three times the amount of water of all the oceans on our surface. A new study suggests how it might have ended up there, trapped in the Earth’s transition zone. In 2014, a team from the US used […]