Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays have captivated scientists since their observation in the 1960s, who are curious about where they originate from. Like all cosmic rays, they are arguably misnamed: they are subatomic particles zipping through space, not “rays” of radiation. These ultrahigh energies are the product of ultrafast speeds that exceed the speed of light. A…
Not only lepidopterists but also chemists have long been enthralled by the bright blue hues of morpho butterfly wings. The complicated nanoscale protein structures layered inside the wings pique the latter’s curiosity: their shapes behave as prisms, representing a beautiful cerulean colour. Materials scientists plan to use the properties of these structures to create things…
Physicists have been unable to solve the puzzle of what happened when a vanishingly tiny seed exploded into the cosmos for a long time. Now, one physicist believes he understands why scientists haven’t been able to come up with a physical explanation for inflation: the world won’t let us. The physicist explains a recent theory…
The genes of monkeys, modern humans, and Neanderthals were compared. According to a new analysis, creativity may have been one of the critical reasons Homo sapiens survived and prevailed over similar animals, including Neanderthals and chimps. According to recent research, humans could spread out and conquer the world due to a new DNA alteration (or…
Karen D. Holl is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who specializes in restoration ecology. Professor of Forest Restoration at the Universidade de So Paulo, Pedro Brancalion This article first appeared in The Conversation. Arbor Day was observed in the United States on the last Friday in April for 149 years. To…
It’s Sunday, February 26, 1984, and you’re watching “Star Wars” (aka “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”) on CBS like millions of other kids around the country. When Chewbacca comes onscreen, your father says, “Is that Bigfoot?” You manage to say, “No, Dad.” You’ve even told your father about Chewbacca. The action figure…
In 1833, a nearly perfectly spherical fish showed up on the shores of Greenland and was brought to Copenhagen, Denmark, by zoologist Johannes Christopher Hagemann Reinhardt. According to Ted Pietsch, a systematist and evolutionary biologist, this species — later identified as the footballfish, Himantolophus groenlandicus, or the man-gobbler — was the first anglerfish found in…
After a long day in the woods, the diminishing sun beat down on our shoulders. We laboured over shovels and dug with our bare hands to remove the sand, tired. We were researching in the center of the Navajo Nation, in the center of dinosaur country on the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona, to ascertain…
Machine-learning algorithms can analyze thousands of hours of real soundscapes in a matter of seconds. We will learn a lot about nature if we pay more attention to it, and scientists worldwide are doing precisely that. Biologists are gradually placing audio recording devices on mountain tops and ocean depths to listen in on the groans,…
Researchers collected DNA from more than a million-year-old fossil, shedding light on the woolly mammoth and Columbian mammoth roots. Scientists have recovered DNA from more than a million-year-old mammoth fossil discovered in Siberian permafrost. This DNA, the oldest genetic evidence found to date, sheds light on the evolutionary origins of woolly and Columbian mammoths. It…