For generations, indigenous communities in Arunachal Pradesh had been using a spice in their food for its citrusy, tongue-tingling flavour. The native plant was a part of their world and that’s all they knew. But today, the small spice is helping 200 families gain a livelihood while also protecting agricultural land.On autumn mornings, residents of…
As concerns over plastic pollution continue to grow, a 14-year-old student in Brazil has developed a sustainable alternative using materials that would otherwise be discarded. Lucas Tadao Sugahara Wernick, a student from Curitiba in the southern state of Paraná, created biodegradable food trays made from cassava peels and araucaria tree residues. Designed as a substitute…
The Pacific Ring of Fire, the horseshoe-shaped belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean, may have played a far bigger role in shaping Earth’s past climate than previously understood. Findings show that some of the largest volcanic eruptions of the past 12,000 years, many originating from this seismically active region, align closely with major glacial…
The fossil record has a habit of reshaping ideas that once seemed settled. In the Late Cretaceous, long before the extinction of the dinosaurs, small mammals occupied a world dominated by much larger reptiles. Most left behind little more than isolated teeth and fragments of bone, making it difficult to understand how they were related…
Fourteen-year-old Sharvi Mahajan has developed NeuroDrive Alert (Picture: Young Scientist Lab) Sharvi Mahajan, a 14-year-old Indian-American student from California, has been named among the 10 finalists of the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge. Mahajan has developed a system to predict driver fatigue before it leads to accidents.Sharvi, an eighth-grade student at Bernardo Heights Middle School,…
Image Credit: Getty Images Lithium is of utmost importance for modern technology. It is powering the smartphones and the huge fleet of electric vehicles. As the world is shifting towards clean energy, the demand for lithium is also increasing quickly, which is placing a huge pressure on land-based mining. However, researchers at Texas A&M University…
Left/Southern Ocean/Right/Southern Ocean on map/Image: AI Generated As the world searches for ways to remove carbon dioxide already accumulating in the atmosphere, ocean iron fertilisation (OIF) has emerged as one of the most debated climate intervention strategies. The idea is deceptively simple: adding tiny amounts of iron to iron-poor parts of the ocean stimulates the…
Communities dig water-harvesting pits to restore degraded land and improve soil moisture in the Sahel. For decades, the Sahel has symbolised environmental decline. Stretching nearly 5,900 kilometres across Africa from Senegal on the Atlantic coast to Sudan on the Red Sea, this semi-arid belt has endured recurring droughts, advancing desertification and repeated crop failures since…
Most animals leave behind waste that quickly disappears into the landscape. But along Europe’s sandy tidal flats, one marine worm has adopted a remarkably different approach. Instead of scattering its droppings across the beach, it carefully stacks them into tall, coiled towers that seem to defy gravity. These delicate spirals have fascinated naturalists since the…
Few people have inspired a deeper appreciation for the natural world than David Attenborough, whose documentaries have introduced generations to Earth’s extraordinary wildlife and ecosystems. Among his many memorable observations, one quote continues to resonate with conservationists, educators and nature lovers alike: “No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will…
Specimen of Chondrosia reniformis transplanted into the harbor. Image credit: Carlota Escarré Scientists transplanted 42 sea sponges into a polluted Spanish marina, where 91.7 per cent of one hardy species survived for 455 days and began creating mobile clones.The study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, shows that the chicken kidney sponge (Chondrosia reniformis) can…
At first glance, a sheet of folded paper may seem far removed from advanced engineering. But for Japanese student Kuribayashi, origami became the starting point for a scientific investigation into how structures move. The student from Sapporo Kaisei Secondary School studied the complex folding patterns of a ladybug wing, exploring how its delicate design allows…
