Every winter in Antarctica, emperor penguins gather in large groups called huddles to survive the cold. Temperatures can fall to -40 degrees Celsius, and strong winds make the weather even harsher. Without huddling together, these penguins would not be able to survive.But a penguin huddle is much more than a group of birds standing close…
A palm-sized AI drone weighing just 40 grams has achieved an engineering first by autonomously hunting and killing a flying insect in mid-air, paving the way for a new approach to mosquito control. Developed by US startup Tornyol, the tiny drone successfully detected, tracked and intercepted a flying moth during a controlled indoor demonstration without…
Space and its mysterious world never fail to surprise humans. According to the latest report, 14 years after touching down on the Red Planet, NASA’s Curiosity rover has snapped a photo of a mysterious honeycomb-like texture on the Martian surface, lending yet another mystery to an ever-expanding list of Martian geological features.NASA’s veteran Curiosity rover…
Bees have a reputation for being tireless workers, but it turns out that reputation only really applies to some of them. Researchers at the University of Illinois glued tiny numbered tags onto thousands of individual honeybees and tracked their comings and goings for almost two months across several separate colonies. What they found flips the…
Bees are among the world’s most important pollinators, helping sustain ecosystems and supporting the production of many fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Yet bee populations have been declining for years due to habitat loss, pesticides, diseases, parasites and climate change. More recently, another potential threat has entered the conversation: the rapid expansion of data centres….
Charles Darwin (Image source: Wikipedia) A bad experience is supposed to teach a lesson, yet people return to habits they already know are harmful more often than logic would suggest. Charles Darwin noticed the same contradiction and put it more bluntly than most. “An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it…
The Demogorgonichthys arcanus was discovered in a well-known area monitored by biologists for decades (Photo: Matthew Niemiller) A clumsy fall into an underground pool beneath an active US military base has led to the discovery of a strange, eyeless fish named after a TV series monster.Matthew Niemiller, an associate professor of biological sciences at the…
Blood, fingerprints, and weapons aren’t the only evidence investigators look for at a crime scene; pollen is another. Pollen grains are one piece of evidence that has helped solve some of the highest-profile murder cases in recent years, one grain at a time. The tiny grains that might be invisible to the naked eye actually…
Dipterocarp forest at the Danum Valley Field Centre. Borneo’s tropical forests, dominated by trees from the Dipterocarp family, have some of the highest canopies in the world, with some trees reaching 100 meters Simply cutting back aggressive climbing vines in logged tropical forests allows the tree canopy to recover three times faster than planting new…
A small mark on an ancient jaw has opened a window into a moment of violence from a time far removed from written history. The remains of an early Homo sapiens individual from Qafzeh Cave in Israel have revealed signs of a serious facial injury, likely caused by a sharp stone tool. What makes the…