Hubert Reeves once wrote that "on the cosmic scale, liquid water is rarer than gold". And what is true for the universe is even truer in the Sahel, the name given to the vast, arid belt that skirts the Sahara and stretches ...
Ecology
Jan 1, 2024
0
180
If you live somewhere that gets cold in the winter, you've probably seen cars parked outdoors covered in a thin layer of ice on a chilly morning. But what causes this frost, and how can you get rid of it quickly?
Environment
Feb 4, 2024
3
63
Electronics is based on measuring the tiny electrical charge of electrons passing through electronic circuits. An alternative approach under development is spintronics, which instead relies not on electrons' charge, but on ...
General Physics
Sep 2, 2015
2
220
Parallel universes – worlds where the dinosaur-killing asteroid never hit, or where Australia was colonised by the Portuguese – are a staple of science fiction. But are they real?
Quantum Physics
Oct 24, 2014
48
2
Humans have a "natural" lifespan of around 38 years, according to a new method we have developed for estimating the lifespans of different species by analyzing their DNA.
Plants & Animals
Dec 13, 2019
15
913
When Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov conducted the world's first space walk in 1965, the mission nearly ended in catastrophe. After 12 minutes outside the Voskhod spacecraft, the vacuum of space had caused Leonov's suit to ...
Space Exploration
Nov 5, 2015
2
105
To get rid of student loan debt through bankruptcy, you must prove to the court that paying back your student loans would cause an "undue hardship." But in our peer-reviewed study of nearly 700 student loan discharge cases ...
Economics & Business
Mar 7, 2022
0
22
Wasps have a reputation for being jerks because of their perceived aggressiveness and ability to sting repeatedly. They're often negatively compared with the honey production and agricultural pollination of bees.
Plants & Animals
Oct 29, 2021
0
569
Why did we take so long to invent civilization? Modern Homo sapiens first evolved roughly 250,000 to 350,000 years ago. But initial steps towards civilization—harvesting, then domestication of crop plants—began only around ...
Archaeology
Jan 3, 2020
16
1641
In recent months, three humpback whales were spotted in the East Alligator River in the Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park. Contrary to its name, the river is full of not alligators but crocodiles. And its shallow ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 13, 2020
1
149
