Articles for author: Maria Faith Saligumba

a black hole in the sky with a light coming out of it

The Sound of a Black Hole: What NASA Heard in Perseus

Maria Faith Saligumba

For decades, we’ve been told that space is silent. The vacuum of the cosmos, we learned, cannot carry sound waves like our atmosphere does on Earth. Yet in 2022, NASA shattered this long-held belief with a discovery that sent ripples through the scientific community. Deep within the Perseus galaxy cluster, astronomers detected something extraordinary: actual ...

a group of ants crawling on a tree branch

Ants That Sacrifice Themselves by Exploding Their Own Guts

Maria Faith Saligumba

In the dense rainforests of Southeast Asia, a peculiar sound echoes through the canopy – a soft pop followed by the splatter of yellow liquid. This isn’t the work of some exotic fruit bursting open, but rather one of nature’s most extreme acts of self-sacrifice. Deep within the complex social structures of certain ant colonies, ...

brown and gray rock formation on body of water during daytime

Richtersveld: Where Rocks Record 2 Billion Years of Earth’s History

Maria Faith Saligumba

In the far northwest corner of South Africa, where the Orange River meets the Atlantic Ocean, lies a landscape so ancient it predates complex life on Earth. The Richtersveld isn’t just another desert wilderness—it’s a geological time machine that holds secrets spanning nearly half of our planet’s existence. Here, beneath the scorching sun and among ...

Shark

Shark Myths vs. Shark Science: What Kids (and Adults) Should Know

Maria Faith Saligumba

Picture this: You’re watching a movie where a massive shark leaps out of the water, roaring like a lion, ready to devour everything in its path. Your heart races, your palms sweat, and suddenly every beach vacation seems like a death wish. But here’s the thing—almost everything you just witnessed is pure fiction. The truth ...

green forest trees

Do Trees Have Memory—or Something Like It?

Maria Faith Saligumba

Imagine walking through a forest where every tree around you remembers the drought from five years ago, the harsh winter that claimed its neighbor, and even the subtle chemical warnings from distant relatives under attack. This isn’t science fiction—it’s the emerging reality of what scientists are discovering about the remarkable cognitive abilities of trees. While ...