Mars’s rust-colored desserts, towering volcanoes, and tantalizing prospect of ancient life have enthralled people for millennia. Benevolent on its surface, though, lurks a far stranger secret rife with rotten eggs. Recent discoveries in science imply that the Martian core is not only an iron and nickel molten ball like that of Earth. Rather, it might ...
New research has revealed that female earwigs may use their forceps as weapons when competing for mates, challenging previous assumptions that only males evolved these structures for combat. Scientists from Toho University found that female earwigs exhibit exaggerated forceps growth, similar to males, suggesting that sexual selection may have influenced both sexes. This discovery broadens ...
Tim Friede still remembers the searing pain, the burning, the swelling, the moments when his vision blurred and his body fought to stay conscious. But this wasn’t an accident. He had chosen to be bitten not once, but 202 times by some of the deadliest snakes on Earth. From black mambas to rattlesnakes, Friede turned ...
A mysterious rat vanished into the mountains of New Guinea in 1989. Now, after more than three decades, it has finally shown its face and researchers have the photos to prove it. Meet Mallomys, the elusive subalpine woolly rat, a species so rare that researchers had practically given up hope of ever seeing it alive. ...
Imagine negotiating a busy city street, climbing a mountain trail, or even riding a bicycle all without looking forward. Most people find this unfeasible. Still, a growing body of studies shows that people can create comprehensive mental maps of their surroundings by using sound echoes, thus developing a sort of “sonar vision.” Human echolocation is ...
Gravity has been recognized to be one of the fundamental forces of nature for a long time and is a subtle pull that keeps galaxies from separation and planets orbiting. But what if it’s not a force? What if gravity is just an effect of something more bizarre that is the universe operating as a ...
New research has revealed that birds may regularly consume alcohol through their diet, particularly species that feed on nectar and fruit. Scientists have detected traces of ethyl glucuronide, a byproduct of alcohol metabolism, in the feathers and liver samples of various bird species. This discovery suggests that exposure to ethanol is more widespread among birds ...
Today’s Arctic is a land of bitterly cold winters, unceasing summer daylight, and a delicate ecology full of migrating birds. But a revolutionary finding in northern Alaska points to an avian paradise far older than we could have ever known. A wealth of 73-million-year-old fossils, including delicate bones of embryos and hatchlings, shows that birds ...
The plague has tormented mankind like a shadow for millennia, wiping off whole populations in waves of destruction. Up to half of the population in Europe in the 14th century, the Black Death alone claimed an estimated 25 million lives. Still, the bacterium causing the epidemic, Yersinia pestis, never really disappeared despite its terrible toll. ...
New research has confirmed that African Swine Fever (ASF) has been circulating in Europe since 2007, rather than being introduced recently. The virus’s spread is primarily driven by human movement rather than new outbreaks, raising concerns about its long-term impact on pig populations and the pork industry. The Origins and Spread of ASF in Europe ...
Gargi Chakravorty
