PC: California’s La Brea Tar Pits & Museum A small Ice Age toad hidden in the collections of California’s La Brea Tar Pits has emerged as a new species to science, giving researchers another way to read the environmental history of ancient Los Angeles. ‘Spea labreae’, the extinct spadefoot toad, was identified when Dr Alberto…
Image Credit: AI Generated Two Canadian students have developed a colour-changing toothpaste designed to make toothbrushing easier for children to understand. Ella Zhang and Gillian Leung, students at Havergal College in Canada, created ‘ToothTint’ as a school project that uses a natural pigment to change colour in response to conditions inside the mouth. The idea…
This behaviour has often been described as elephants visiting a “grave” or mourning their dead. But scientists say the reality is more complicated. An elephant herd comes across the remains of another elephant. Instead of simply walking past, some animals slow down, approach the bones, touch them with their trunks and sniff them. In some…
El Niño is wreaking havoc not only on humans and the climate, but also animals. From ferocious tigers to little waddling penguins, everyone has been bearing their souls with the heightening heat that remains undefeated and overpowering. Amidst this, researchers in Chile have designed an unlikely new garment for injured penguins, snug red vests threaded…
The study, published in Nature, could also change how scientists identify links between gut bacteria and disease. The human gut is home to trillions of microorganisms that together form the gut microbiome. These microbes play important roles in digestion, immune function and metabolism. Now, researchers led by the University of Vienna have found that common…
BIO-ENGINE introduced in the pond. Image Credit: Hatena Blog Japanese students at Nakui Agricultural High School in Aomori Prefecture developed a natural water-cleaning system after years of research, and tested it on a pond where recurring algae outbreaks had caused unpleasant smells. According to Japan for Sustainability(JFS), the experiment worked. The pond’s algae outbreaks were…
Representative Image (AI-generated) Japan’s push to generate renewable electricity from reservoirs took a dramatic turn in 2019 when a powerful typhoon damaged one of the country’s largest floating solar farms. The project at Yamakura Dam in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, began operating in March 2018 with thousands of solar panels spread across the reservoir. According to…
Quote of the day by Albert Einstein (Image: Wikipedia) Albert Einstein‘s famous words offer a genuinely different way of looking at achievement. In a world where success is often measured through money, job titles and public recognition, this line asks people to look beyond what they have actually achieved and think honestly about what kind…
AI generated for representation/ChatGPT Walk through the streets of Rome, London, Jerusalem or Delhi and you may be standing above a city that is hundreds or even thousands of years older. In Rome, archaeological deposits beneath the modern city can reach several metres in thickness. In London, Roman remains have been found beneath modern streets…
Photo credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Two miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, in a world of near total darkness and crushing pressure, a remotely operated vehicle glided silently through the water. Its cameras were scanning the deep for the strange and the seldom-seen when something extraordinary…
