The predicted path of A11pl3Z, making it the third interstellar object ever seen in the solar system CSS, D. Rankin A potential interstellar object has been spotted zipping through our solar system, and amateur and professional astronomers around the world are now racing to train their telescopes in its direction, allowing them to refine models…
In chimpanzee communities, strong social ties can be a matter of life and death not just for the adults who form them, but for their kids, too. A new federally-funded study of wild eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) from Gombe National Park shows that female chimpanzees who were more socially integrated with other females in…
Two concentric rings appear around the supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5, indicating that it exploded twice ESO/P. Das et al. Background stars (Hubble): K. Noll et al. A white dwarf star around 160,000 light years away appears to have exploded twice – the first evidence astronomers have seen that such supernovae involve a double detonation. White…
A new study challenges the belief in a universal “pet effect” on human well-being. Using data collected during COVID-19 lockdowns, researchers found no significant change in respondents’ well-being when they acquired or lost a pet in their household. The findings suggest that, even during a time of extreme isolation, human-animal bonds may not be as…
Tim Dodd Climate and science reporter Getty Images Record low water levels in the Amazon basin disrupted drinking water for thousands of people From Somalia to mainland Europe, the past two years have seen some of the most ravaging droughts in recorded history, made worse by climate change, according to a UN-backed report. Describing drought…
In the study, researchers from Canada, New Zealand and Mexico reported on 34 interactions spanning two decades in which orcas in the wild attempted to offer food to humans. The incidents took place in oceans around the world, from California to New Zealand to Norway to Patagonia. “Orcas often share food with each other –…
Mark Poynting, Jess Carr and Phil Leake BBC Climate and Verify data journalism teams Getty Images Many reservoirs in northern England, like Lindley Wood in Yorkshire, have hit extremely low levels If you live in north-west England or Yorkshire, you are already in an official state of drought, the Environment Agency says, and people living…
Researchers say they have developed a new way to distinguish between legal mammoth ivory and illegal elephant ivory. Elephant ivory is often passed off as mammoth ivory when being imported. As the mammoth is extinct, it is legal to trade this form of ivory as opposed to that from elephant tusks, which was banned in…
An orca attempting to share food with a researcher holding a camera Orca Research Trust Orcas have been seen appearing to gift dead prey to humans, which may be a sign that they engage in altruism and can recognise sentience in other species. Jared Towers at marine research firm Bay Cetology was filming a pod…
Protocells are membrane-bound spheres formed from fatty molecules that are thought to resemble the precursors to living cells HENNING DALHOFF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Membrane-bound structures similar to those that enclose living cells have been shown to spontaneously self-assemble on micrometeorites, offering a tantalising hint that dust strewn across planets could play a role in the development…
