The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.As humans alter the planet’s climate and ecosystems, scientists are looking to Earth’s history to help predict what may unfold from climate change. To...
Nine years ago, in August 2015, Christine Figgener posted a video of her team removing a plastic straw from the nostril of a turtle. It went viral. Christine is a friend of mine and fellow marine biologist. We have both...
The trolley problem is a classic dilemma in moral philosophyStefan Lenz/Getty Images Animals, Robots, GodsWebb Keane (Allen Lane) No society we know of ever lived without morals. Roughly the same ethical ideas arise, again and again, over time and in different...
Bold as brassica What would be the effect on young adults and young children of seeing positive expressions on the faces of strangers who are eating raw broccoli? Katie Edwards at Aston University, UK, together with colleagues there and at...
A sweet dessert made from Neurospora intermedia fungus, served at the Alchemist restaurant in CopenhagenThe Alchemist A form of mould that grows on discarded food has been shown to radically alter its taste, allowing food that would otherwise be thrown...
The four crew members of the Polaris Dawn missionSpaceX SpaceX is getting ready to execute the first ever civilian spacewalk. Until now, every time a human has left their spacecraft to venture into the void of space it has been...
August 29, 20244 min readA Dolphin That Has Been Biting People May Just Be FriendlyDolphin ecologist Tadamichi Morisaka discusses common dolphin behaviors that could explain instances of the animals biting people in JapanBy Anna Ikarashi & Nature magazineMale bottlenose dolphins...
August 29, 20243 min readThis Ancient Sea Cow Was Killed by a Croc and Eaten by a SharkScientists re-create the last moments of a manateelike animal that was eaten by both a crocodilian and a sharkBy Meghan BartelsAn artist’s depiction...
We are closer to understanding how liquid behaves in the interiors of planets, such as VenusArtsiom P/Shutterstock Researchers have compressed super-hot liquids between diamonds to demystify how fluids behave under extreme conditions, such as in the interiors of planets. Physicists...
Mosquito bites can transmit deadly diseasesHum Images/Alamy A rare virus spread by mosquitoes has killed five people in the US this year. The latest death, announced on 27 August, occurred in New Hampshire and is the state’s first known case...
