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According to scholars of Scandinavian studies, many widely held beliefs about Vikings and Old Norse paganism cannot be confirmed through modern scientific methods. “They are based essentially on reports written by Christian scholars in the High Middle Ages well over a century later, since, besides brief runic inscriptions, no written texts from the original period…

“Plants have neither ears nor brains, so they can’t appreciate music as we do…” Credit: Michele Cornelius/Alamy Do you play music to your plants? As a botanist obsessed with collecting houseplants, I get asked this question all the time. This New Age notion first entered popular culture back in the 1960s, complete with psychedelic “music…

These “killer koalas”, or marsupial lions, are a highlight of the show Apple TV Back in 1999, the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs series spawned a new format: wildlife “documentaries” featuring long-extinct animals. I’m a big fan of this genre, and Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, made by BBC Studios for Apple TV, is taking it to…

Water is present almost everywhere. It covers most of our planet, moves through the human body, and even settles into the tiniest molecular pockets. But what happens when water cannot circulate freely and becomes trapped inside these cramped spaces? Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Constructor University in Bremen have now shown for…

Working with Alzheimer’s mouse models, human cells, and donated human brain tissue, researchers found that reducing levels of a molecule called PU.1 can shift microglia into a more protective mode. Microglia are immune cells that live in the brain and help maintain its health. When PU.1 levels drop, these cells increase the production of certain…

Loggerhead turtles are equipped with two different abilities for sensing the Earth’s magnetic field, yet scientists had not determined which one they rely on to interpret the magnetic map they inherit at birth. New findings from researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published in Journal of Experimental Biology, show that hatchlings…

A geomagnetic superstorm is one of the most extreme forms of space weather, created when the Sun sends enormous bursts of energy and charged particles toward Earth. These powerful events rarely occur, typically appearing only once every 20-25 years. On May 10-11, 2024, Earth was hit by the strongest event of this kind in more…

University of California, Irvine astronomers have identified an exoplanet located within a star’s habitable zone, a region where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist on the surface. Liquid water is considered essential for every form of life currently known. The planet lies in a relatively nearby part of the Milky Way Galaxy and appears…