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Researchers who reviewed 400 years of scientific literature are challenging misconceptions about the extinct, flightless birds the dodo and solitaire. Dodos (Raphus cucullatus) went extinct in 1662 within decades of Dutch settlement on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius where the birds were endemic. The birds died out due to hunting and deforestation. “The dodo […]

Commercial insecticides “add little to no value to cockroach control”, according to a new study. The study, published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, found that pyrethoids – a common insecticide agent – couldn’t effectively kill German cockroaches when sprayed on surfaces near them. “Due to the frequent use of pyrethroid-based residual products, it is […]

A new study has identified the enzyme in avian influenza that mutates to allow the virus to replicate in humans. The structure of the enzyme, ANP32, can now be used to determine the mutations to monitor for in the field. It will also help assess if a strain is adapting to infect and transmit between […]

South Australia’s first state-owned and manufactured satellite, Kanyini, successfully launched in the early hours of Saturday 17 August. Following a delay of several weeks due the July mishap involving SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, Kanyini was finally delivered to low Earth orbit onboard the Transporter-11 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. Kanyini was […]

Scientists have compiled a library of hailstones to help fine-tune hailstorm simulations and make weather forecasts more accurate. To make calculations more simple, conventional scientific hailstorm modelling assumes all hailstones are perfectly spherical. In reality, they’re a little more complicated than that. “Hail can be all sorts of weird shapes, from oblong to a flat […]

Fossil beans about the size of limes have been found in Indonesian Borneo. The ancient seeds could help explain the evolution of today’s rainforests in Southeast Asia and Australia. The fossils were found in rock layers dating to 34 to 40 million years ago during the Eocene period (56–34 million years ago). They are described […]

Researchers have used perovskite quantum wires to make threads that can glow in any colour. The fibre light-emitting diodes (Fi-LEDs) could be used to make wearable lighting and displays. The team, based at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has published their research in Science Advances. The researchers made their Fi-LEDs by coating thin […]

New research highlights the importance of the tiniest islands in the world for seabirds. Seabird colony survey data collected over 55 years was used to estimate the numbers of birds nesting on the 280 atolls in the Indo-Pacific. The study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, also measures the nutrient contribution of the […]

A US study of 20 people who received uterus transplants has found the process feasible, with 14 recipients going on to have live births. Researchers said there were no abnormalities in the children born via transplanted uterus, but they highlight risks from surgery that affected both recipients and donors. The study, which is published in […]

New research into the 2-dimensional “flatland” where the rules of physics are tipped on their heads has led to the discovery of unexpected, and potentially useful, phenomena. In rare cases, particles like electrons can have a fraction of their usual electrical charge – an effect known as the fractional quantum Hall effect. The new study, […]

Microphones stuck in soil can be a good measure of health, according to Australian and Chinese ecologists. The team, which has published a study in the Journal of Applied Ecology, has found that soundscapes recorded from soil differ depending on its level of restoration. “It’s a bit of a rudimentary analogy, but we liken it […]

Scientists have successfully saved freshwater crocodiles from toxic cane toads invading northern Australia with an unusual new tactic – doctored cane toad carcases. By teaching freshwater crocodiles (Crocodylus johnstoni) to associate cane toads (Rhinella marina) with a bout of food poisoning, they reduced death rates by at least 95%. Across the dry season (May to […]

New finds in the Southern Pyrenees in Spain are offering up clues into a poorly known period of Neanderthal history. Abric Pizarro is an archaeological site in an uncharted area of the foothills which could help explain what caused the downfall of Neanderthals. It is one of only a few sites in the world which […]

New research reveals the fungal pathogen devastating commercial banana crops around the world did not evolve from the strain that wiped out Gros Michel bananas in the 1950s. Virulence of the new strain, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) tropical race 4 (TR4), seems to be driven by genes associated with the production and detoxification of nitric oxide. The […]

Rocks ranging from Ireland to Scotland might contain the most complete record of “Snowball Earth” – a crucial period of our planet’s history which may have triggered the development of complex, multicellular life – according to a new study. “Snowball Earth” was the world’s most extreme Ice Age. It lasted about 60 million years and […]

Scientists have confirmed it: ibis like to live near rubbish. A study has found that Australian white ibis (Threskiornis moluccus, or more familiarly, ‘bin chicken’) are more abundant within 10km of waste management facilities in the Moreton Bay region of Queensland. “We were definitely expecting that,” says Caitlin Willis, a doctoral student at the University […]

Got a song stuck in your head? Chances are it’s in the right key. Earworms are evidence that people are very good – perhaps too good – at remembering tunes. (My current earworm is In the hall of the Mountain King, which might tell you something about how my week is going.) But a study […]

Researchers analysing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have found evidence that an object in the asteroid belt is “hydrated”. This doesn’t mean that the asteroid has reached its daily fluid intake goals. The finding refers to the presence of hydroxyl molecules (an oxygen atom bound to a hydrogen atom) on the surface […]

The World Health Organization has declared the rising case numbers of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and several other African countries, a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Mpox, which had a global outbreak in 2022, is caused by a virus related to the smallpox virus. The disease can be fatal, […]

US researchers have made an implantable device that can detect opioid overdoses and automatically respond with naloxone. The device, called the iSOS implant, has not yet been tested in humans, but has successfully reversed the overdoses of 24 out of 25 pigs. The study is published in Device. “Having an automated robotic system that is […]

The South American lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa) has the largest animal genome ever sequenced, according to a new Nature paper. “With over 90 gigabases (in other words, 90 billion bases), the DNA of the South American species is the largest of all animal genomes and more than twice as large as the genome of the previous […]

How was Stonehenge built in ancient Britain 5,000 years ago? New evidence suggests the Late Stone Age people who made the colossal structure would have to have used advanced transport methods to move the stones even further than previously thought. According to English Heritage, the largest stones – called sarsens and weighing up to 30 […]

US researchers have made substances that can extract nanoplastics from water. The solvents, made from non-toxic components, could remove 98% of the tiny plastic particles from water in a lab environment. The team has published its research in ACS Applied Engineering Materials.  “Our strategy uses a small amount of designer solvent to absorb plastic particles […]

Scientists have made an unexpected discovery in a thousand-year-old abandoned fortress in Mongolia. Buried in the walls of the fortress is the grave of an elite woman who pre-dates the rise of the founder of the Mongolian Empire, Genghis Khan (also known as Chinggis Khan). The frontier fortress is about 1.4 km west of Khar Nuur […]