KeyGene’s new potato variety (centre) has the skin of Pimpernel (left) and the flesh of Bintje (right) Courtesy of KeyGene A new technique for creating fruit and vegetables with the skin of one variety and the flesh of another could make crops more resistant to pests and droughts. A lot of the fruit and vegetables…
A female bonobo at Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lukas Bierhoff, Kokolopori Bonobo Research Project Bonobos combine their calls in a complex way that forms distinct phrases, a sign that this type of syntax is more evolutionarily ancient than previously thought. Human language, often described as the hallmark of our…
Saturn now has a total of 274 moons NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute A further 128 moons have been discovered orbiting Saturn, bringing the planet’s total to 274 – more than there are around all the other planets in our solar system combined. But as advances in telescope technology allow us to spot progressively smaller planetary objects,…
Honeybees are vulnerable to seasonal die-offs Nicholas Klein/Alamy Honeybees in the US may have just experienced their most severe die-off on record, and we don’t know exactly why. “As of right now, it does look like this is going to be the largest colony loss that we’ve experienced in at least the last 25 years…
The surface of Mars, photographed by NASA’s Perseverance rover NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU Pure quartz crystals have been spotted on Mars for the first time, as well as other gems like opal. Researchers say these crystals, as well as being evidence of past hydrothermal activity, could contain well-preserved signs of ancient Martian life. Since it arrived on Mars…
Some spider species eat their siblings, especially when food is scarce David VILLA/SCIENCEIMAGE CBI CNRS A species of spider avoids cannibalising its siblings while they are alive, but does not seem to have qualms about eating its brethren as soon as they die. This suggests some spiders come to tolerate one another by learning to…
SPL Artwork: Uranus and its five largest moons had been thought to be inactive and sterile. The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought. Instead, they may have oceans, and the moons may even be capable of supporting life, scientists say. Much of…
Water was born as the result of exploding stars pixelparticle/Getty Images The first water molecules may have formed just 100 million to 200 million years after the big bang – before even the first galaxies – kicking off a process that led to life on Earth… and possibly elsewhere. Shortly after the big bang, most…
BBC On Christmas Eve, an autonomous spacecraft flew past the Sun, closer than any human-made object before it. Swooping through the atmosphere, Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe was on a mission to discover more about the Sun, including how it affects space weather on Earth. This was a landmark moment for humanity – but one without…
Mars appears light blue in this near-infrared image taken by the Hera spacecraft. Its moon Deimos is the dark mark towards the centre of the image ESA A space exploration mission to study an asteroid that NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into three years ago has taken stunning bonus images of Mars and its moon…
