Rescuers and volunteers were racing Monday to save about 100 pilot whales stranded on Sri Lanka’s western coast in the island nation’s biggest-ever mass beaching. The short-finned pilot whales began beaching at Panadura, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Colombo, shortly before dusk and within an hour their numbers swelled to around 100, local police

With an estimated 300 active volcanoes on Earth, the challenge is how to monitor them all to send out early warnings before they erupt. Measuring volcanic gas emissions is also no easy task.   Now researchers have designed specially-adapted drones to help gather data from an active volcano in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The drones

Before dawn, with just enough light to see by, James Dorey and his colleagues went searching for bees. This might sound like a futile exercise, since most bees are sleeping rather than finding food when it’s dark out; low light dulls the colour of flowers, and night-time produces cooler temperatures.   But at least a

The successful eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets ever discovered in the US made headlines last week, and now scientists have shared new details on the technology and techniques they’re using to counter the encroaching menace of this invasive pest.   The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), often nicknamed the ‘murder’ hornet,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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