A layer of artificial fabric reduced melting on a section of China’s Dagu Glacier by 15% over one year, as per the study. Researchers covered about 500 square metres of Dagu Glacier No. 17 with non-woven geotextile in August 2020 and monitored changes in the ice through October 2021.According to the research published in Remote…
Two male king cobras meeting during the breeding season may engage in a prolonged contest, using their bodies to wrestle for control rather than relying on the venomous strikes associated with these snakes. The behaviour has long been recognised in accounts of king cobras, yet detailed scientific descriptions have been scarce. In Thailand, observations made…
Representative Image of Isabella Garry researching okra, fenugreek and psyllium in a school laboratory (AI-generated image) A seventh-grade student from Minnesota has tested whether gels made from common plants could absorb microplastics in a laboratory model of the stomach. Isabella Garry, from Eden Prairie, was named one of 30 finalists in the 2026 Thermo Fisher…
Fewer than 400 bearded vultures remain in the wild across South Africa and Lesotho, and conservationist Shannon Hoffman is working to give the unusual birds a chance of survival. Through the Bred 4 the Wild Bearded Vulture Breeding Programme, Hoffman has spent more than a decade developing a specialised captive-breeding effort intended to build a…
Scientists have discovered twin and triplet embryos inside two eggs laid by a single wild Burmese python in southern Florida, marking the first recorded instance of triplet embryos in a snake. The unusual finding emerged from a clutch of 37 eggs laid on 17 May 2024 by a radio-tagged female python in Big Cypress National…
Textile residues adhering to artefacts excavated at Sanxingdui (Photos: Antiquity) Scientists examining 3,000-year-old objects recovered from the Sanxingdui archaeological site in China’s Sichuan Province have found traces of silk on 101 artefacts, including bronze masks, gold, jade and ivory objects. According to a study published in the journal Antiquity on Sunday, researchers used microscopic and…
For generations, Australia’s tiny native stingless honey bees have been part of Indigenous medicine. Scientists now believe they may hold clues to tackling one of modern medicine’s biggest challenges: antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Researchers at the University of Sydney examined the potential medicinal benefits of honey and propolis (a mixture of plant resin and beeswax that bees…
A 42-year-old man in Russia discovered that a seed had sprouted inside his eye after suffering months of agonising headaches, inflammation and double vision. Maxim Sleptsov, a welder and plumber from Siberia, reportedly sustained the injury when a branch struck his face during a summer trip to a remote district. Although he rinsed his eye…
Nasa astronaut Anil Menon rides the Canadarm2 robotic arm to install a solar array on the ISS, 260 miles above Earth. (Photo: Nasa) Nasa astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk completed a seven-hour, 11-minute spacewalk on October 29, installing and deploying the seventh roll-out solar array on the International Space Station…
Make-up as an art never began simply to enhance the appearance but to draw courage from what was not mere beauty, but power and protection. Mistaken for mere garb, its long expanse across myriad empires and dynasties has symbolized unyielding power, stretched in strokes of black kohl and rosy rouge, painting a face not just…
