Renowned for their noiseless dive, the kingfisher's iconic beak-shape has inspired the design of high speed bullet trains. Now scientists have tested beak-shape among some of the birds' 114 species found world-wide, to assess which shape is the most hydrodynamic. | Continue reading
Insects are a healthy and environmentally friendly food source. But how can people in the Western world be convinced to eat them? | Continue reading
With 12 coal power stations in Australia closed since 2013, a full transition out of coal is coming. | Continue reading
If there's one thing potato plants don't like, it's heat. If the temperature is too high, potato plants form significantly lower numbers of tubers, or sometimes none at all. Biochemists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have now discovered the reason why. … | Continue reading
When people fall ill from bacterial infection, the first priority is to treat the disease. But where do these pathogens come from, and how do they thrive in the environment before the infection occurs? An international team led by Matthias Horn from the Centre for Microbiology an … | Continue reading
For the first time researchers of BacBio Laboratory of the University of Malaga have evidenced that the combination of Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas bacteria can improve plant health. | Continue reading
Cerro Blanco Volcanic Complex, located in the south of the Altiplano-Puna plateau, erupted around 4,200 years ago. But it was not an ordinary event. It was the largest eruption of the last 5,000 years in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes according to a new study published in … | Continue reading
A survey of 918 early childhood teachers across Virginia found that the vast majority—90 percent—reported having at least one child with challenging behavior in their classroom or childcare facility. | Continue reading
Early childhood education programs can impact life outcomes in ways that span generations, according to new research from Nobel laureate James Heckman. | Continue reading
Bilbies vs. feral cats—a Hunger Games-style experiment conducted in a South Australian desert has produced fascinating results with important implications for the conservation of our endangered species. | Continue reading
The length and precision with which climate scientists can track the salinity, or saltiness, of the oceans is set to improve dramatically according to researchers working as part of ESA's Climate Change Initiative. | Continue reading
The legal age for women to marry in India is 18, but a recent review of data showed that more than half of marriages in more than half of parliamentary constituencies—the equivalent of U.S. Congressional districts—involved an underage bride. | Continue reading
One of the causalities of climate change is the diminishing ice cover, affecting our planet in a number of ways. | Continue reading
Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes occur above some thunderstorms and propagate out into space. These high-energy discharges of photons were only discovered less than 25 years ago when a NASA spacecraft designed to observe cosmic gamma-ray bursts from outer space detected flashes that … | Continue reading
The first humans who settled in Scandinavia more than 10,000 years ago left their DNA behind in ancient chewing gum, masticated lumps made from birch bark pitch. This is shown in a new study conducted at Stockholm University and published in Communications Biology. | Continue reading
Realistic estimates show that global warming can only be kept below 1.5 or two degrees Celsius if carbon dioxide is actively removed from the atmosphere. Storage beneath the seafloor is an option that has been investigated intensively by an international team of scientists led by … | Continue reading
Blockchain technology has been considered as the most revolutionizing invention since the internet. Due to its immutable nature and the associated security and privacy benefits, it has attracted the attention of banks, governments, technology corporations, as well as venture capi … | Continue reading
Two Hawaiian crows, or alala, have done something momentous in the struggle to save the critically endangered species. | Continue reading
In nature conservation and agriculture, there are two opposing views of how to combine high biodiversity and sustainable food production: Nature conservation should either be integrated into agricultural land, or segregated into protected areas in order to enable maximum yields i … | Continue reading
Multi-component materials are among the most promising materials in the engineering and biomedical applications. Compared with traditional alloys, the composition design of multi-component materials is more complicated, and lots of alloys with different compositions need to be pr … | Continue reading
Marine biologists in Australia and the United States are joining forces to resuscitate two of the world's major coral reef systems along their coastlines threatened by rising ocean temperatures and extreme weather. | Continue reading
The man at the other end of the phone line was confused. But Daina Blackmon, with the same certification as a 911 dispatcher, calmly probed for signs of trouble. | Continue reading
Thanks to a geomagnetic storm from the sun, skywatchers across the far northern U.S. and most of Canada later this week could see the aurora borealis, aka the northern lights. | Continue reading
A popular selling point for electric vehicles is the notion that you never have to stop for gas. Your "gas station" is in your garage—simply plug in your vehicle to charge it overnight. | Continue reading
When science teacher Diana Allen set out to teach climate change, a subject she'd never learned in school, she fell into a rabbit's hole of misinformation: Many resources presented online as educational material were actually junk. | Continue reading
Accelerated tree growth caused by a warming climate does not necessarily translate into enhanced carbon storage, an international study suggests. | Continue reading
A Japanese startup that launched a rocket into space last month plans to provide low-cost rocket services and compete with American rivals such as SpaceX. | Continue reading
America's baby bust isn't over. The nation's birth rates last year reached record lows for women in their teens and 20s, a government report shows, leading to the fewest babies in 32 years. | Continue reading
Along the windy west coast of Ireland a biorefinery on wheels is turning grass into a series of different green products that could give farmers a more diversified source of income. | Continue reading
In its role as a unique orbiting laboratory, the International Space Station provides a broad range of equipment for conducting health and life sciences research. However, the equipment available for cellular and molecular biology is limited compared to capabilities found in labo … | Continue reading
Vanderbilt University paleontologists are looking into the evolutionary origins of the whistles and squeaks that dolphins and porpoises make—part of the rare echolocation ability that allows them to effectively navigate their dark environment. | Continue reading
Current efforts to tackle antibiotic resistance are "not nearly radical enough", a leading scientist says. | Continue reading
When it comes to wildlife conservation efforts, urban environments could be far more helpful than we think, according to new research. A study published today in Ecology shows that animals move faster through 'low quality' habitats—evidence that could change the way conservationi … | Continue reading
When it comes to choosing a mate, female guppies often go for the mates with the flashiest, most interesting color patterns. | Continue reading
For the hardy few, climbing Everest is a bucket-list feat of endurance, danger and wonder. But Kami Rita Sherpa's 23rd record summit of the world's highest peak on Wednesday was just another day at work. | Continue reading
Sport and Exercise Science (SES) graduates contribute almost £4 billion a year to the UK economy, supporting almost 150,000 jobs, a new report to be launched in Parliament on Wednesday reveals. | Continue reading
The online complaint system used by web giants like Google and Twitter is a 'Wild West' with evidence of abuse by complainants, according to a new study from Queen Mary University of London. | Continue reading
We all know plants need nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus. To give crops a boost, they are often put on fields as fertilizer. But we never talk about where the nutrients themselves come from. | Continue reading
A University of Bristol academic has succeeded where countless cryptographers, linguistics scholars and computer programs have failed—by cracking the code of the 'world's most mysterious text', the Voynich manuscript. | Continue reading
An innovative use of instruments that measure the ocean near Antarctica has helped Australian scientists to get a clearer picture of how the ocean is melting the Antarctic ice sheet. | Continue reading
Scientists have discovered a new material that could hold the key to unlocking the potential of hydrogen powered vehicles. | Continue reading
Researchers from the University of Houston and Western University in London, Ontario, published new research in the INFORMS journal Management Science that has found that the power of word of mouth (WOM) is effective at boosting demand for counterfeited copies of motion pictures, … | Continue reading
Researchers have used fossilized teeth found near Lake Turkana in northwest Kenya to identify a new monkey species—a discovery that helps fill a 6-million-year gap in primate evolution. | Continue reading
Understanding the patterns underlying vegetation distribution is vital for creating predictive models to forecast responses of natural systems to global change. Savanna ecosystems cover at least 40 percent of the global tropics, but the distribution of vegetation in savannas has … | Continue reading
Facebook announced Wednesday it is tightening access to livestreaming to prevent the rampant sharing of graphic video as took place with the Christchurch massacre. | Continue reading
A Claude Monet painting from his celebrated "Meules" (Haystacks) series fetched $110.7 million in New York on Tuesday in an auction record for the French Impressionist master. | Continue reading
San Francisco on Tuesday became the first US city to ban use of facial recognition technology by police or other government agencies. | Continue reading
After a deadly crash in Indonesia, American Airlines pilots called a meeting to press Boeing executives for safety changes to the 737 MAX aircraft, US media reported Tuesday. | Continue reading