An estimated 500,000 stars shine in this portion of the Milky Way galaxy NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and S. Crowe (University of Virginia). One of the big challenges in communicating about space and space-time is that the universe is so large the scales are very difficult to imagine. Even just trying to get a sense…
The trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system NASA/JPL-Caltech An interstellar object currently passing through our solar system might be one of the oldest comets we have ever seen, originating from a star billions of years older than our own. Comet 3I/ATLAS was spotted earlier this month near the orbit…
Smooth horsetail plants have segmented stems piemags/nature/Alamy A strange plant that has existed since animals first walked on land can distil water to an extreme degree, making it look more like water from meteorites than regular water from Earth. As well as being key to understanding ecosystems today, the plant’s fossilised remains could shed light…
Focusing solely on achieving weight loss for people with a high body mass index (BMI) may do more harm than good, argue experts in The BMJ. Dr Juan Franco and colleagues say, on average, people with high weight will not be able to sustain a clinically relevant weight loss with lifestyle interventions, while the potential…
New preliminary research suggests that a combination of higher atmospheric CO2 and hotter temperatures contribute to a reduction in nutritional quality in food crops, with serious implications for human health and wellbeing. Most research into the impact of climate change on food production has focused on crop yield, but the size of the harvest means…
Have you ever wondered what kind of video content would most grab the attention of monkeys? A new study of long-tailed macaques suggests the monkeys seem to like some of the same kind of content that humans do: videos featuring aggression and individuals they know. “Humans and macaques are both social animals who have a…
People’s intuitive perception of biodiversity through visual and audio cues is remarkably accurate and aligns closely with scientific measures of biodiversity. This is according to new research published in the British Ecological Society journal, People and Nature. In a new study led by researchers at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Helmholtz…
The majority of the Earth’s plant species, including our crop plants, rely on the services of animal pollinators in order to reproduce. Honey bees and other pollinating insects annually contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, and are responsible for nearly a third of the food that ends up on our tables. Our modern…
A Smithsonian-led team of researchers have discovered North America’s oldest known pterosaur, the winged reptiles that lived alongside dinosaurs and were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight. In a paper published on July 7 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers led by paleontologist Ben Kligman, a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow at…
Ongoing research into the effect of environmental change on the buzzing of bees reveals that high temperatures and exposure to heavy metals reduces the frequency (and audible pitch) of non-flight wing vibrations, which could have consequences on the effectiveness of bee communication and their role as pollinators. “People have been long interested in how insect…
