An analysis of 12 ancient papyrus fragments has revealed some surprising details about how the Egyptians mixed their red and black ink – findings which could give us a lot more insight into how the earliest writers managed to get their words down on the page. We know that ancient Egyptians were using inks
Month: October 2020
Scientists are seeing the Australian platypus in a whole new light. Under an ultraviolet lamp, this bizarre-looking creature appears even more peculiar than normal, glowing a soft, greenish-blue hue instead of the typical brown we’re used to seeing. The recent discovery has not been found in any other monotreme species – a primitive type
It’s that time of the year when skeletons, skulls, and bones have found their way onto cookies, porches, and storefront windows. While skeletons are universally considered symbols of death, the process of turning a newly dead animal into a bony skeleton relies on an explosion of life that ushers in the process of decomposition. Much
Scientists have examined the relationship between forest fungi and mature trees in greater detail than ever before. Turns out the more fungal colonies they’re connected to, the better the trees grow – an important discovery for forest management and climate change response. Previous research has shown how fungal organisms can support trees at the
Imagine, if you will, a microscopic submarine, motoring around inside your blood vessels, delivering medicine, or perhaps performing surgery all on its own. This is the sort of future theoretical physicist Richard Feynman used to fantasise about, and yet today, we’re still stuck on the swimming part. For a vessel at such a tiny
Earth’s past has served up some super-sized beasties – from mega sharks to giant wombats. Birds are no exception. Palaeontologists have re-discovered a fossil of one of the largest flying avians ever found, tucked away safely in an old museum collection. “I love going to collections and just finding treasures there,” University of California
Up to 850,000 animal viruses could be caught by humans if we don’t change our relationship with the planet. Source link
Humans and dogs have shared a long and beautiful relationship, but the story of how we got together has been lost to the sands of time – so we don’t know exactly how long we’ve been friends. According to new research, though, we started dogs on the path of domestication well before 11,000 years
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday removed endangered species protections for the gray wolf, paving the way for the iconic predator to be more widely hunted. The move was slammed by conservation groups, which said that while wolf numbers have partly recovered since the animal was first listed in 1974, they remain “functionally
Rapid melt is reshaping coastal Greenland, potentially altering the human and animal ecosystems along the country’s coast. New research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface on Oct. 27 finds that the ice retreat in Greenland has changed the way glaciers flow and where they dump into the sea. These changes could impact ice loss from
Ram’s horn shells are small, delicate spiral structures beachcombers can commonly find throughout the world. But despite their ubiquity, the original owners of these shells are extremely elusive. Until now, we’ve never had footage of a single one in the wild. In the twilight zone of our oceans, at the tips of sunlight’s fingers, a remotely operated
Scientists have discovered a new detached coral reef at the northern tip of the Great Barrier Reef – and it stands an impressive 500 metres (1,640 feet) high, taller than the Empire State Building, the Sydney Tower and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. It’s the first such discovery in the region for 120 years,
With strange smarts, shifting skin, and squishy bodies powered by three hearts, octopuses can get up to all sorts of mischief. Their camouflage mastery can allow them to remain hidden while they stealthily explore their surroundings with noodley limbs that each have a mini-mind of their own. With them, these sea aliens can reach out to
Passing electricity through a piece of quartz crystal generates a pulse you can literally set your watch by. Set a time crystal melting, on the other hand, and it just might pulse with the deepest secrets of the Universe. A team of researchers from institutions across Japan has shown the quantum underpinnings of particles arranged
The loss of billions of tonnes of ice from Earth’s frozen spaces is likely to increase global temperatures by an additional 0.4 degrees Celsius, according to research Tuesday highlighting the danger of a “vicious circle” of warming. Arctic summer sea ice levels have declined by more than 10 percent each decade since the late
Bats have long endured a bad reputation, even before COVID-19 emerged. These highly mobile creatures that live in clustered colonies are well-known reservoirs of viruses, including coronaviruses, that, as we’ve seen, can spill over into humans. But these innocent animals are unfairly maligned. They are important pollinators and pest controllers. And when bats are
To help defeat – or at least contain – COVID-19, people all over the world have been told to stay at home this year, to lower transmission of the pervasive pathogen that has so drastically altered the course of 2020. Depending on the severity of outbreaks, sometimes being advised to ‘shelter in place’ is
What has two brains, no legs and the best profile pic on Facebook? That would be this rare, two-headed racer snake recently discovered by a house cat in Palm Harbor, Florida. The cat’s family was rudely introduced to the supernatural serpent about a month ago, when their cat, Olive, dropped the critter on their living room
The discovery of two small dinosaurs with bat-like wings a few years ago was a palaeontologist’s dream. Just how flight evolved in birds is something we’re still trying to nail down, and looking at this early evolution of bat-like wings in dinosaurs could give us a clue. But a team of researchers has
Agricultural department workers wearing protective suits have eradicated the first nest of giant “murder hornets” discovered in the United States, vacuuming them out of a tree in Washington state. The nest of Asian giant hornets was found on Thursday by Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) entomologists on a property in Blaine, near the
The quality and complexity of dreams appear to change with our stages of sleep, according to a new analysis. Before the twenty-first century, we used to think dreams only occurred during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, but more recent research shows people sometimes recall dreams even when they are woken from non-REM stages of sleep.
Monkeys, much like humans, could be engaged in the process of self-domesticating themselves, altering the course of their own evolution and physiology through the way they behave with one another, new research suggests. It’s long been recognised that domestication in animals promotes certain physical features that aren’t observed in their wild counterparts. This phenomenon
There comes a time in everyone’s life when the brain and the body reach their peak before age begins to take its toll. While muscle mass, strength, and function start to deteriorate around age 30, new research on professional chess players suggests the brain actually ages in a slower and more gradual way. Analysing
People thrive all across the globe, at every temperature, altitude, and landscape. How did human beings become so successful at adapting to whatever environment we wind up in? Human origins researchers like me are interested in how this quintessential human trait, adaptability, evolved. At a site in Kenya, my colleagues and I have been
A new psychology study investigating the best way to say ‘thank you’ has now offered a few preliminary tips for those looking to strengthen their romantic relationships. In both diary entries and conversation studies, psychologists found the best way to express gratitude is to elaborate on how responsive your loved one was to your needs.
Naked mole rats are beloved for having some of the strangest mammalian superpowers. They can resist cancers, defy the usual mammalian ageing process, survive almost 20 minutes without oxygen, and tolerate surprisingly high levels of pain. But it turns out these highly social freaks of nature have a nasty little secret that makes them
Water is essential for basic human survival. But it can also be dangerous; contaminated water can spread deadly diseases that have the potential to eradicate whole communities. Safe, clean water offers humanity one of its best chances to thrive. Several ancient civilisations, including the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans, filtered their water. Sanskrit writings dating
Learning no lessons from horror films of yore, Britain has plans for a high-speed rail project that will lay tracks over the ruins of a medieval church. And, apparently, the project has run into some trouble with witches and dark spirits. According to archaeologists working at Stoke Mandeville, a village that lies in the
When it comes to friendships, people are known to become more selective with age. It turns out the same is true of male chimps, who have fewer yet more genuine pals to ape around with as they get older, according to a study published in the journal Science on October 22. The research, which
Owls are one of the rare avian predators that catch their prey by night, and new research suggests that there’s something special in the way the DNA molecules in their eyes are packaged, giving them a powerful visual advantage in the dark. Through the process of natural selection, the new study proposes that the
Our love of pandas has helped these cute and fuzzy giants bounce back from dwindling numbers. But despite all the attention we’ve showered them with and the intense research and effort to get them to breed, no one had ever managed to film how this happens in the wild. Until now. It took a three
Scientists have created a super white paint that is the yin to Vantablack’s yang. While ultra black materials can today absorb more than 99.96 percent of sunlight, this new super white coat can reflect 95.5 percent of all the photons that hit it. Instead of warming up under direct light, objects painted with this
Escape artist and magician James Randi, who spent decades investigating and debunking faith healers, mind readers, psychics and other fraudsters and charlatans who claimed paranormal powers has died, his foundation said. He was 92. “We are very sad to say that James Randi passed away yesterday, due to age-related causes. He had an Amazing life. We
A major renewable energy project in Australia billed as the world’s largest solar farm in development has had its proposed location revealed. The AUD$20 billion facility – the heart of an ambitious electricity network called the Australia–ASEAN Power Link – will be built at a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory, roughly halfway between
Matthew Kasson usually studies fungi that sicken trees and wipe out crops. But lately, he’s gotten into moldy desserts. A plant pathologist and mycologist at West Virginia University, Kasson tested how various types of fungi grow on marshmallow Peeps last year. So when he saw photos of strange-looking Twinkies on the Twitter account of former biology
Geologists agree that some 60 million years ago, the Farallon and Kula tectonic plates covered a vast area of Earth’s surface across the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of North America. However, there’s debate about whether a third plate existed, called Resurrection. Now researchers at the University of Houston think they might have found the
Scientists think they’ve finally come closer to identifying the cause of Earth’s worst mass extinction, by tracking down the geochemical trigger that may have started it all. Known as the Great Dying, the Permian-Triassic extinction event happened around 252 million years ago. The new research is based on a study of fossil shells left behind by clam-like
The diabolical ironclad beetle (Phloeodes diabolicus) of North America doesn’t have the visual pizzazz of some of its more shiny beetle cousins, looking more like a small piece of gnarly bark or stone. But what it lacks in dazzle, it makes up for in durability: its exoskeleton is one of the toughest materials in
With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, a 14-year-old from Texas has won a national science competition for identifying a molecule that can bind to the virus and potentially disable it. Anika Chebrolu, who hails from Frisco, used computer modeling to search for a compound that binds tightly to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein — a
The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has expanded to one of its greatest recorded sizes in recent years. In 2019, scientists revealed that the Antarctic ozone hole had hit its smallest annual peak since tracking began in 1982, but the 2020 update on this atmospheric anomaly – like other things this year –
About 24 million years ago, baby shark ancestors of the giant beast called megalodon needed a place to grow big before heading into the open ocean, so they swam around a coastal spot replete with easy-to-catch prey – a nursery in what is now South Carolina, according to new research. Until now, scientists knew of just
A cat lies in the Sun in Peru, its ears up and alert, its belly exposed, and tail stretched out. The cat is 37 metres (120 feet) long, and around 2,000 years old. It’s a geoglyph recently discovered in the famous Nazca desert in Peru. After authorities began improving access to a lookout point
A giant, catastrophic tsunami in Alaska triggered by a landslide of rock left unstable after glacier melting is likely to occur in the next two decades, scientists fear – and it could happen within the next 12 months. A group of scientists warned of the prospects of this impending disaster in Prince William Sound
The American pika (Ochotona princeps) is traditionally thought of as a canary in the coal mine when it comes to America’s rising temperatures. Making their homes high up in the cooler mountain regions of western North America, these adorable critters can overheat in high temperatures – making them incredibly sensitive to climate change. Or
Scientists have measured the shortest unit of time ever: the time it takes a light particle to cross a hydrogen molecule. That time, for the record, is 247 zeptoseconds. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second, or a decimal point followed by 20 zeroes and a 1. Previously, researchers had dipped into
Since the mid-1990s, coral in the Great Barrier Reef has declined by more than 50 percent, and that goes for virtually every species, at every depth, and in every size, according to a new study. The research spanned the entire 2,300 kilometres of the Great Barrier Reef and found a disturbing loss at pretty
Have you ever been in more than one place at the same time? If you’re much bigger than an atom, the answer will be no. But atoms and particles are governed by the rules of quantum mechanics, in which several different possible situations can coexist at once. Quantum systems are ruled by what’s called
Early life may have been far more like animals than we thought, suggests new research that shows bacteria can ‘develop’ like an embryo. When bacteria band together, they ooze out a protective communal home of slime to form thriving, densely packed colonies known as biofilms. Together these teeny organisms are more powerful. Within the