Some tropical Heliconius butterflies have evolved a remarkable way to stay young, allowing them to live far longer than most butterflies. Most butterflies survive for only a few weeks after reaching adulthood. But scientists have now identified a group of tropical butterflies that can live for almost a year while showing little sign of physical…
A new species of spider from the Ecuadorian Amazon: Taczanowskia waska. Credit: David Diaz-Guevarra Researchers exploring Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest thought they had spotted a small mushroom clinging to the underside of a leaf during a night survey. A closer look revealed something far stranger. It was a spider that had disguised itself so convincingly as…
Quote of the day by B.F. Skinner (AI-generated image) A psychologist best known for training pigeons to peck levers for food pellets is not the person most people would expect a quote about love from. Yet B.F. Skinner wrote exactly that. “We are only just beginning to understand the power of love because we are…
For decades, Antarctica has been treated as a kind of frozen time capsule, a place where evidence of Earth’s deep past sits preserved, undisturbed, beneath layers of ice that have built up over millions of years. As per the study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists have now uncovered something remarkable within that buried record: an…
Quote of the day by Sigmund Freud (AI-generated image) There is a particular kind of tiredness that comes from constantly checking how you measure up against everyone else. A colleague’s promotion, a friend’s holiday, a stranger’s fitness progress online, each one quietly resets the bar you are judging yourself against. Sigmund Freud, the founder of…
Freshwater ecosystems have spent years under growing pressure from pollution, changing weather patterns and rising temperatures. Rivers and lakes in many parts of the world have been losing dissolved oxygen, placing fish, aquatic plants and countless smaller organisms under increasing strain. That broader pattern has often been presented as one of the more difficult environmental…
Cockroaches are already famous for surviving some of Earth’s harshest conditions, but scientists have now pushed their abilities even further. Researchers have developed remote-controlled cockroaches capable of walking underwater for up to three hours by fitting them with miniature oxygen-supplying suits. The unusual technology could one day help emergency teams search flooded buildings, inspect dangerous…
During the mid-20th century, large areas of Israel were transformed by one of the country’s most ambitious reforestation programmes. Millions of pine trees were planted to stabilise soils, combat erosion and create forests on previously open landscapes. At first, the initiative appeared to be an environmental success, with barren hillsides becoming green woodlands. However, decades…
DEEP has completed the installation of Vanguard, its pilot subsea human habitat, at Tennessee Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The system now sits 17 metres below the water’s surface following a complex marine operation, marking a significant milestone in subsea engineering and long-duration underwater research capability.The installation enables multi-day subsea missions, allowing…
Stretching from the Atlantic coast of Senegal to the shores of Djibouti on the Red Sea, Africa is undertaking one of the most ambitious environmental projects ever attempted. Known as the Great Green Wall, the initiative spans around 8,000 kilometres across the Sahel, a vast semi-arid region bordering the Sahara Desert. Its goal is far…
Some tropical Heliconius butterflies have evolved a remarkable way to stay young, allowing them to live far longer than most butterflies. Most butterflies survive for only a few weeks after reaching adulthood. But scientists have now identified a group of tropical butterflies that can live for almost a year while showing little sign of physical…
A new species of spider from the Ecuadorian Amazon: Taczanowskia waska. Credit: David Diaz-Guevarra Researchers exploring Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest thought they had spotted a small mushroom clinging to the underside of a leaf during a night survey. A closer look revealed something far stranger. It was a spider that had disguised itself so convincingly as…
Quote of the day by B.F. Skinner (AI-generated image) A psychologist best known for training pigeons to peck levers for food pellets is not the person most people would expect a quote about love from. Yet B.F. Skinner wrote exactly that. “We are only just beginning to understand the power of love because we are…
For decades, Antarctica has been treated as a kind of frozen time capsule, a place where evidence of Earth’s deep past sits preserved, undisturbed, beneath layers of ice that have built up over millions of years. As per the study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists have now uncovered something remarkable within that buried record: an…
Quote of the day by Sigmund Freud (AI-generated image) There is a particular kind of tiredness that comes from constantly checking how you measure up against everyone else. A colleague’s promotion, a friend’s holiday, a stranger’s fitness progress online, each one quietly resets the bar you are judging yourself against. Sigmund Freud, the founder of…
Freshwater ecosystems have spent years under growing pressure from pollution, changing weather patterns and rising temperatures. Rivers and lakes in many parts of the world have been losing dissolved oxygen, placing fish, aquatic plants and countless smaller organisms under increasing strain. That broader pattern has often been presented as one of the more difficult environmental…
Cockroaches are already famous for surviving some of Earth’s harshest conditions, but scientists have now pushed their abilities even further. Researchers have developed remote-controlled cockroaches capable of walking underwater for up to three hours by fitting them with miniature oxygen-supplying suits. The unusual technology could one day help emergency teams search flooded buildings, inspect dangerous…
During the mid-20th century, large areas of Israel were transformed by one of the country’s most ambitious reforestation programmes. Millions of pine trees were planted to stabilise soils, combat erosion and create forests on previously open landscapes. At first, the initiative appeared to be an environmental success, with barren hillsides becoming green woodlands. However, decades…
DEEP has completed the installation of Vanguard, its pilot subsea human habitat, at Tennessee Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The system now sits 17 metres below the water’s surface following a complex marine operation, marking a significant milestone in subsea engineering and long-duration underwater research capability.The installation enables multi-day subsea missions, allowing…
Stretching from the Atlantic coast of Senegal to the shores of Djibouti on the Red Sea, Africa is undertaking one of the most ambitious environmental projects ever attempted. Known as the Great Green Wall, the initiative spans around 8,000 kilometres across the Sahel, a vast semi-arid region bordering the Sahara Desert. Its goal is far…
