PC: Youth Service America At 18, Abhinav Mehta has helped build a student-led battery recycling network that has collected and recycled more than 23,000 used batteries. The initiative began with a small collection bin in a corner of his school commons. Mehta had noticed that used batteries were often being thrown away instead of being…
Image Credit: Denkstorm News The Ocean Cleanup has secured $121 million in funding in 2026 to expand its efforts to prevent plastic waste from reaching the oceans, with a programme targeting 30 major polluting cities across Asia and the Americas. The initiative aims to stop up to one-third of plastic entering the oceans through rivers…
A former NASA researcher has won a $100,000 global award for developing a toilet that works without conventional flushing water or sewer connections, offering an alternative to communities struggling with inadequate sanitation infrastructure. Diana Yousef, founder and CEO of change:WATER Labs, received the 2026 Global Citizen Waislitz Disruptor Award for her company’s iThrone technology, which…
Cane toadPhoto credit: Canva Australia’s attempt to solve one pest problem in 1935 created another that has spread across the country for nearly a century. Cane toads were introduced to control beetles in Queensland’s sugar cane fields, but they became one of the nation’s most damaging invasive species. Now, a A$28 million partnership involving Curtin…
NASA’s 3,200-pound Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has plunged back to Earth after nearly 22 years in orbit, bringing an end to a mission that transformed scientists’ understanding of some of the universe’s most powerful explosions. The space telescope re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over northern Sumatra, Indonesia, on November 4, 2026, after a failed attempt to save…
Organic molecules on Mars have reached a new record of diversity, with seven never detected on the planet before. The Curiosity rover drilled the rock sample, nicknamed Mary Anning 3, in October 2020, and years of laboratory analysis have identified 21 carbon-containing molecules inside it, the most varied collection ever found on the Red Planet….
(Image credit: UHH/K.Helmholz) The struggle to recover money someone owes you is familiar, even if the person on the other end of the transaction lived thousands of years ago. Imagine the disappointment of a woman instructed by her husband to retrieve silver he was owed, who, upon failure, penned her frustration in a letter addressed…
(Image credit: deadseascrolls.org/Tsila Sagiv) Some incredible findings emerge from happy accidents. In 1947, a young Bedouin shepherd searching for a stray animal near the Dead Sea threw a stone into a cave and heard the sound of pottery breaking. This led to the discovery of a collection of ancient manuscripts hidden for centuries, finally giving…
The female “vampire” with a sickle across her throat found in Pień, Poland PC: Mirosław Blicharski Vampires are one of the most famous mythological creatures in history. These blood-sucking creatures roam the night searching for people to feed upon.Perhaps it is the fascinating legends surrounding these creatures: their sharp fangs, their association with the night,…
Scientists have discovered a new deep-sea species that flashes green light when disturbed inside underwater caves near Japan. Named Corallizoanthus aureus, the marine animal was found living on colonies of Pleurocorallium coral near the entrances of karst caves around Minamidaito Island. Researchers recorded its blinking light after mechanical and chemical stimulation, including during observations inside…
