Glaciers hold layers of history preserved in ice, offering unique insights into Earth’s past that can also help us interpret the future. Trapped amidst the frozen water are microscopic deposits of dust, pollen, and even pollutants that scientists can use to examine environmental changes through time. DRI’s Ice Core Lab has used this technique to…
A photo of the lunar surface taken by China’s Chang’e 5 lander, which collected samples in 2020 CNSA/Xinhua/Alamy A solar-powered device could produce water, oxygen and fuel from lunar soil for future colonies of astronauts on the moon. It has long been known that a large amount of water is locked up in minerals on…
Two of five snow leopard cubs recently photographed in Mongolia SLCF-Mongolia/Snow Leopard Trust A pair of researchers have visited two snow leopard dens in Mongolia’s Tost mountains, where they studied and photographed five cubs, offering a rare opportunity to gather data on this threatened species. Prior to this expedition, which took place in June and…
It turns out the Dark Ages weren’t all that dark! According to new research, medieval medicine was way more sophisticated than previously thought, and some of its remedies are trending today on TikTok. A new international research project featuring faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York reveals that people in the Middle Ages…
A medieval literary puzzle which has stumped scholars including M.R. James for 130 years has finally been solved. Cambridge scholars now believe the Song of Wade, a long lost treasure of English culture, was a chivalric romance not a monster-filled epic. The discovery solves the most famous mystery in Chaucer’s writings and provides rare evidence…
Researchers at The University of Osaka have developed a novel method for generating ultrahigh magnetic fields via laser-driven implosions of blade-structured microtubes. This method achieves field strengths approaching one megatesla—a breakthrough in compact, high-field plasma science. Ultrastrong magnetic fields approaching the megatesla regime—comparable to those found near strongly magnetized neutron stars or astrophysical jets—have now…
People with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have an odour that can be reliably detected from skin swabs by trained dogs, a new study has shown. The research, in collaboration with Medical Detection Dogs and the Universities of Bristol and Manchester, was published on July 15 in The Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. Two dogs were trained by…
Egg cells don’t dispose of their waste the same way other cells do Sebastian Kaulitzki / Alamy Human eggs seem to dispose of their waste more slowly than other cells do, which may help them avoid wear and tear – and explain why they live longer. Every woman is born with a finite number of…
Odd plants from a remote Pacific island reveal new insights into an important ecological question: how unrelated and antagonistic partners can form long-term mutualistic relationships with the same host. Scientists studying ant plants in Fiji have discovered one way that a host plant can keep the peace among residents that might otherwise kill each other….
Every day, your body replaces billions of cells — and yet, your tissues stay perfectly organized. How is that possible? A team of researchers at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute and the University of Delaware believe they’ve found an answer. In a new study published in the scientific journal Biology of…
