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Wildlife tourism rangers could be a “powerful” force in conservation monitoring, according to the results of a research project in Uganda. Surveying wildlife is a costly and difficult part of conservation. But this project, done with African lions in Uganda, found that local rangers were well-equipped to dramatically improve the data. A paper describing the […]

Australia’s Red Cross blood service wants to stop doctors throwing away tens of thousands of litres of valuable blood every year. New research from the blood service known as “Lifeblood” reveals that 73,000 bags of discarded blood from people with an iron disorder could be used to save thousands of lives. The Red Cross says […]

A leading digital health expert says that current models of healthcare – driven as they are by economic and environmental pressures – are no longer sustainable. The Director of the Queensland Digital Health Centre (QDHeC), a leading digital health research unit based at the University of Queensland, Clair Sullivan is working to create what she […]

An international team of researchers has literally uncovered animal life thriving beneath sections of the seafloor in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. While microbes and viruses have been found in similar subseafloor habitats, this study demonstrates that larger animals can live there, too. The researchers focused on the East Pacific Rise, a volcanically active […]

The genome extracted from a 2,300-year-old skeleton has helped map out ancient immigration to the Japanese archipelago. Japan has been inhabited by people since about 35,000 years ago. Roughly 16,500 years ago a group of Neolithic hunter-gatherers, referred to as the “Jomon” culture, developed a complex society including the production of pottery and jewellery. About […]

A randomised-control trial has found that acupuncture can help reduce leg pain in patients with sciatica. The study is published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese practice involving the insertion of needles into specific points in the body, known as “acupoints”. While there’s evidence it can help treat chronic pain, the researchers […]

High-tech textiles might be a smart way to reduce the toll on humans in heating cities. Some, based on lotus leaves, might even repel rain. A new paper published in Science Bulletin highlights several fabrics developed by different teams of researchers, which can passively cool bodies and buildings. These fabrics, argue the authors, could keep […]

A rise in the number of articles about adult ADHD on social media might have led to an increase in people who believe they have the illness, according to a new survey. The survey of US citizens by Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre shows that 25 per cent of adults believe they might have […]

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, designed to probe for habitable environments beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa, is on its way to the outer Solar System. After a textbook launch at 12:06:00 PM, local time, into beautiful blue skies above NASA’s Kennedy Spaceflight Center (KFC), Cape Canaveral, Florida, it rocketed through Earth orbit and […]

The Australian government has announced an additional $95 million package to prepare for the arrival of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which is causing the deaths of poultry, wild birds and mammal species worldwide. The funding includes extra vaccines for humans. Australia is currently the only continent free from the H5N1 strain, […]

Metabolic factors like high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity are linked to bowel cancer risk, according to a new review. Researchers, who have published a study in Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, suggest that metabolic health programs should be run in conjunction with bowel cancer screening. Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer […]

In some positive news, a big and broad study has found that 7 of Europe’s most common forest trees have adapted to major climatic shifts and protected their genetic diversity. The trees, the researchers found, were able to do this despite sharp declines in population range and numbers, especially during ice ages. The results of […]

One of the earliest examples of a winged seed has been found in a mine in China’s Anhui province. The fossil dates to 365 million years ago – a period known as the Femennian. An examination of fossil seeds enables palaeontologists to understand how plants evolved and reproduced. Before seeds, plants reproduced through spores. Ferns […]

SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy rocket has another notch in its belt, following the successful capture of the booster by the “chopstick” arms of a metal tower. The reusable rocket booster returned to the launchpad 7 minutes after launch, where it was caught by the Mechazilla tower. The successful launch is the fifth test flight of […]

Endometriosis is a painful and very common condition, but it’s difficult to diagnose, sometimes taking years. A team of US researchers think that it may one day be possible to diagnose endometriosis more quickly and easily with a stool test. They’ve published a study in Med, which found that women with endometriosis had key differences […]

Hydrogen vehicles emit no carbon: their combustion engines rely on H2 alone. This has made them a promising option for zero-emissions heavy vehicles. But, like petrol cars, current hydrogen engines can still emit polluting compounds called nitrogen oxides. A team in the US has figured out a way to stop hydrogen engines from releasing these […]

Octopus’ abilities which inspire films like Octopussy and Spider-Man are being replicated by science, with surprising results. In one lab in the US, scientists followed in the footsteps of Spider-Man’s archenemy Doctor Octopus by designing octopus-inspired adhesive to augment human abilities. And in a lab across the seas in China, scientists have created a soft […]

In 2023, almost a year’s worth of rain fell over ten days in parts of northwestern Australia, leading to catastrophic flooding in the town of Fitzroy Crossing and surrounds. The rainfall was linked to a tropical cyclone, but there were also lesser-known forces at work: huge, planet-scale oscillations called atmospheric waves which bring heavy rain […]

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and New Horizons spacecraft have given a unique view of Uranus as they simultaneously set their sights on the 7th planet from the Sun. The results will help in future studies of similar gas giant planets around other stars. Hubble is in a low-Earth orbit. It trained its high-resolution camera on […]

US scientists have created their own version of Peter Parker’s iconic web fluid. The silk fibre liquid can be shot out of device and immediately solidifies once exposed to air. It forms a string that can stick to and lift objects more than 80 times their weight. “If you look at nature, you will find that […]

The Komodo dragon is an impressive and fearsome sight. Measuring 2.5m long and weighing more than 80kg, it is the largest lizard in the world. An apex predator, its lumbering gait bellies its speed when it attacks prey. There are only around 1,300 adult “land crocodiles” (as it is known to locals) left in the […]

Two new species have been identified from fossils found at the Hell Creek Formation in the northern US. The ancient bones belong to the oldest predatory birds ever found. Hell Creek is famous for its fossils of some of the most beloved dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rexand Triceratops horridus. These creatures lived right at the end […]

DNA extracted from between the teeth of 2 Kenyan lion specimens from the 1890s shows that the animals ate humans, as well as giraffes and wildebeests. The pair of male lions were dubbed the “Tsavo Man-Eaters” and are thought to have eaten dozens of people, including workers on the Kenya-Uganda railway in the late 19th […]

Scientists are revealing new details at a cave site in northeastern Laos which contains some of the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in mainland Southeast Asia. Tam Pà Ling cave has been studied for the past 14 years. Human fossils were deposited at the site 86,000–30,000 years ago. At the time, Homo sapiens wasn’t the […]