After decades of planning and construction, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is about to begin a 10-year survey of the southern sky. This enormous telescope has already produced stunning new images of the heavens and discovered thousands of new asteroids. New Scientist got a behind-the-scenes look at the telescope during the first few weeks of…
Steffan Messenger Environment correspondent, BBC Wales News BBC Campaigner Ric Cooper says he hopes new assessments of the condition of protected areas of the coast and sea would be a catalyst for action Pollution from rivers in Wales is affecting the marine environment and “suffocating our sea”, campaigners have warned. WWF Cymru said excess nutrients…
The question of whether Earth is alone in harboring life has captivated humanity for millennia. In recent years, scientists have turned to Earth-like planets in other solar systems that may show the most promise, but many revolve around stars that emit much stronger solar radiation than our own. Now, a new study offers evidence that…
Illustration of Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae, a newly recognised dinosaur species Bob Nicholls Art A newly discovered species of dinosaur is going on display in London’s Natural History Museum. Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae was a speedy, two-legged herbivore, 64 centimetres tall and 180 cm long that lived about 145 million to 150 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic…
A yellow-spotted tropical night lizard (Lepidophyma flavimaculatum) Dante Fenolio/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY A small, secretive group of lizards that still exists today may have been the only terrestrial vertebrates that survived in the vicinity of the Chicxulub asteroid collision, which led to the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. It has long been known that xantusiid night…
Mark Poynting Climate reporter, BBC News Getty Images More people are buying electric cars and installing heat pumps than ever before, but those numbers need to increase even further, according to the government’s climate advisers. The independent Climate Change Committee said that the government needed to make sure that households benefit from the switch to…
Georgina Rannard Science correspondent Reporting fromNatural History Museum, London Gwyndaf Hughes/BBC News The full name of the new species is Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae dinosaur Gwyndaf Hughes Science videographer A labrador-sized dinosaur was wrongly categorised when it was found and is actually a new species, scientists have discovered. Its new name is Enigmacursor – meaning puzzling runner…
BBC Inside an anonymous building in Oxford, Riley Jackson is frying a steak. The perfectly red fillet cut sizzles in the pan, its juices releasing a meaty aroma. But this is no ordinary steak. It was grown in the lab next door. What’s strangest of all is just how real it looks. The texture, when…
New analysis of the remains of two ‘puppies’ dating back more than 14,000 years ago has shown that they are most likely wolves, and not related to domestic dogs, as previously suggested. The genetic analysis also proved that the cubs were sisters at the age of around two months, and like modern day wolves had…
Primates, birds, and elephants are all known to make tools, but examples of tool use among marine animals are much more limited. Reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on June 23, a team of whale experts has found widespread tool manufacture and usage in an endangered population of resident killer whales living in…
