Scientists have documented the way a single gene in the bacterium that causes bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, allowed it to survive hundreds of years by adjusting its virulence and the length of time it took to kill its victims, but these forms of plague ultimately died out. A study by researchers at McMaster University and…
Greater mouse-tailed bats crawl backwards Sahar Hajyahia et al. 2025 Orientating yourself in the darkness of a cave seems like a difficult task. But some bats may have an ingenious solution: using their tails. Greater mouse-tailed bats (Rhinopoma microphyllum) live in groups inside small caves where flying is challenging, so they hang from the cave’s…
We don’t always understand our emotions, but we couldn’t lead normal lives without them. They steer us through life, guiding the decisions we make and the actions we take. But if they’re inappropriate or stick around for too long, they can cause trouble. Neuroscientists and psychiatrists, despite their best efforts, don’t understand nearly enough about…
In an important contribution from the social sciences, Rice University anthropologists Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer examine the societal consequences of global glacier loss in a commentary published today in Science. Their article appears alongside new research that estimates that more than three-quarters of the world’s glacier mass could disappear by the end of the…
Long considered a disease brought to the Americas by European colonizers, leprosy may actually have a much older history on the American continent. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS, and the University of Colorado (USA), in collaboration with various institutions in America and Europe, reveal that a recently identified second species of bacteria responsible…
Spring in the Arctic brings forth a plethora of peeps and downy hatchlings as millions of birds gather to raise their young. The same was true 73 million years ago, according to a paper featured on the cover of this week’s edition of the journal Science. The paper documents the earliest-known example of birds nesting…
The findings, published today in the journal, Science, are striking. Even if global temperatures were stabilised at today’s level of 1.2°C, an estimated 39 per cent of global glacier mass would still be lost compared to 2020 levels — contributing over 10 centimetres to global sea-level rise. In the new study, an international team of…
There is a small chance of asteroid 2024 YR4 striking the moon ESA/NASA For a brief period earlier this year, the world’s space agencies were warning that the sizeable asteroid 2024 YR4 had an uncomfortably high 3.1 per cent chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Thankfully, more detailed observations have now dropped those odds to…
By David Stock On 29 March, a partial solar eclipse will pass over Canada and parts of northern Europe, including London. Thanks to our friends at the Royal Observatory in London, we can experience this celestial event guided by their astronomers. Source link
Alison Francis Senior science journalist Kevin Church/BBC The team has so far found 41 skeletons buried in the cemetery A medieval cemetery unearthed near Cardiff Airport is continuing to confound archaeologists, as the mysteries surrounding it are multiplying. The discovery of the site, dating to the 6th or 7th Century, was announced last year, with…
