This image shows the orbital pathway of the newly discovered dwarf planet candidate 2026 ED138. For years, Pluto held a place among the solar system’s nine planets, until its status changed in 2006. Now, a newly discovered icy object lurking beyond Pluto has reignited interest in the distant worlds at the edge of our solar…
For decades, researchers have assumed that meaning could be distilled into three core emotional dimensions: valence, i.e. positive vs. negative; arousal, i.e. excited vs. calm; and dominance, i.e. controlling vs. submissive; collectively known as the VAD framework. Based on pioneering work in the 1950s by Charles Osgood and others, this model has been widely used…
For the first time, a human has contracted and died from the Shamonda virus, a disease-causing microbe that had previously been known only to infect animals. While the incident is unlikely to herald a more widespread outbreak, it is a potent reminder of the potential for pathogens to jump from animals to humans, with deadly…
Researchers have successfully recreated an ancient bronze naval ram using experimental archaeological methods, casting the weapon for the first time in more than 1,500 years. Used in Mediterranean naval warfare for nearly a millennium, from around 500 BCE to 500 CE, these weapons were designed to destroy, swamp, or sink enemy vessels. The experimental project…
MIT (source- Wikimedia commons) We have all tried origami, folding paper into different shapes and sizes. But what if I told you that engineers at MIT are using a completely different material for their origami? MIT researchers have developed an origami-inspired construction method that can turn flat aluminium sheets into lightweight, rigid structures capable of…
PC: Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Hundreds of native wildflower plugs have been planted at Fairstead Recreation Ground in West Norfolk as part of a project to create a species-rich meadow for local wildlife. Council staff were joined by members of the Nature Volunteer Network for the planting, which marks another step…
(Image credit: Facebook/ Gary Bankhead) A whole world of material culture, ruling dynasties, and the history of communities and their elusivity is etched in the world around us, in the buildings and the roads. But beneath it all, deep-seated in our rivers, lies the archive of its own history—the world that survived before us. So,…
PC: Travis Caperton/University of Oklahoma Soil stores more than three times the carbon found in the atmosphere, making it an important part of Earth’s carbon cycle. However, rising temperatures can affect how much carbon remains in the ground. A 12-year field experiment at the University of Oklahoma has found that rainfall plays a critical role…
A community in South Australia’s first dark-sky reserve is opposing a proposed hyperscale data centre (Image Source: Canva) “For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” Vincent van Gogh wrote this in one of his letters to his brother Theo in 1888. More than a…
PC: University of Göttingen A rock found on Goodenough Island in Papua New Guinea has preserved evidence of an unexpected change in thermal gradient as it sank deep beneath Earth’s surface. Researchers estimate that the rock travelled more than 90 kilometres into a subduction zone about 4.4 million years ago. Its mineral record indicates that…
