ScIence

Sand Dunes Interact And ‘Communicate’ With One Another, Physicists Say

Whether on land or underwater, sand dunes usually appear in large groups. But even when these natural formations are in close touch with their neighbours, they still need their personal space from time to time. When two identical dunes migrate over long distances, physicists have found these structures will unexpectedly change their pace so they end up evenly spread out, prompting speculation a

Dinosaur Eggshells Just Added Curious Evidence to a Debate About Their Blood

One of the great, longstanding mysteries in the study of dinosaurs is the question of whether the blood in those ancient, towering and sometimes terrifying frames ran hot or cold. Traditionally, it was thought that dinosaurs, like modern-day reptiles, were cold-blooded creatures. In more recent times however, growing awareness of the dinosaurian origin of birds has complicated this assumption,

The World’s Richest Man Just Pledged $10 Billion to Fight Climate Change

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon and the world's richest man, said Monday he was committing US$10 billion to a new fund to tackle climate change. In a post to his 1.4 million followers on Instagram, the e-commerce tycoon said the Bezos Earth Fund would "fund scientists, activists, NGOs - any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world." "Climate

NASA Has Detected Millions of Methane Hotspots Littering The Arctic

In the remote northern Arctic, greenhouse gas emissions are slipping through the icy cracks. Flying over some of the most inaccessible parts of Alaska and northwestern Canada, NASA researchers have located a shocking amount of thawing permafrost - the frozen layer of soil that blankets much of the region. If this tundra melts, it releases methane and other carbon emissions into the atmospher

After 40 Years of Hunting, Scientists Identify a Key Flaw in Solar Panel Efficiency

Solar panels are fantastic pieces of technology, but we need to work out how to make them even more efficient – and last year, scientists solved a 40-year-old mystery around one of the key obstacles to increased efficiency. The 2019 study outlined a material defect in silicon used to produce solar cells that has previously gone undetected. It could be responsible for the 2 percent efficiency

Geologists Finally Reveal The Forces That Forged Earth’s Sunken Continent Zealandia

Three years ago, the identification of Zealandia as a continent made global headlines. Now, newly published results from our scientific drilling expedition reveal the largely submerged Zealandia continent, which stretches across five million square kilometres beneath the southwest Pacific Ocean, was shaped by two tectonic events. First it was ripped away from Australia and Antarctica, and th

An Extremely Rare ‘Double Nucleus’ Has Been Imaged in a Nearby Galaxy

Wrapped up within the nearby Cocoon Galaxy, astronomers have detected a rare double heart. Recognised in the Northern Hemisphere for its distinct shape, this distorted spiral galaxy, otherwise known as NGC 4490, appears to be hiding a true rarity. Despite its relatively small size - its system is roughly a fifth of the Milky Way - this cocoon holds not one, but two central cores. "I saw the

Bumblebees Are in Trouble, as Rising Temperatures Drive Their Decline

For some species, small jumps in temperature make a big difference in survival. To predict which populations are at risk, ecologists developed a new way to map shifts in population in relation to temperature change, and tested it on bumblebees. The news for many of these fuzzy-buzzy pollination balls across the western hemisphere isn't great. Putting aside any damage we're causing through wanto

The World’s Only Venomous Primate Could Explain Why Humans Are Allergic to Cats

For those with a severe cat allergy, any location that harbours a pet feline can become a toxic no-go zone. Research on another tragically cute mammal now suggests this might be no accident of nature – cats really are trying to keep us away. A study on the world's only known example of a venomous primate has found a surprising similarity between a key protein in its armpit glands and the alle

Scientists Unlock a New Method That Can Actually Bend Diamonds

Diamond is one of the hardest materials on the planet, but scientists have found a new way of getting it to bend and deform – and the key to these processes is to work at the tiniest possible scales. By beaming an electric field at diamond nanoneedles just 20 nanometres in length (about 10,000 time smaller than a human hair), the researchers were able to get them to bend to 90 degrees without