At 86, Mervin Raudabaugh had a decision to make over 261 acres of Pennsylvania farmland he had spent decades working. The land had caught the attention of data-centre developers, who reportedly put forward offers exceeding $15 million, including one estimate of about $60,000 an acre. On paper, it was the kind of figure that could…
Woolston Eyes in Cheshire recorded 35 breeding pairs of black-necked grebes in 2025 (Photos: RSPB) A former dumping ground for dredged material from the Manchester Ship Canal has been transformed into a wetland. The wetlland has now become the most important breeding site in the UK for the rare black-necked grebe.According to the Royal Society…
Solar panels are usually associated with electricity, but a study in China has found that they can also change the summer conditions inside sea cucumber ponds. Researchers examined ponds fitted with photovoltaic panels and found that the shade reduced the amount of light reaching the water and lowered its temperature. The cooler conditions were linked…
There are moments when pursuing an idea can feel lonely, particularly when other people cannot see what you see. Barbara McClintock understood that feeling well. The American geneticist spent years investigating patterns in corn genetics that initially challenged the scientific thinking of her time. Her words are not simply about refusing to listen to criticism….
Nearly 400 years ago, people living in Osaka had no refrigerators, supermarkets or modern food supply chains. Yet an unusual scientific discovery suggests that their diets were far more varied than expected. Researchers analysing hardened dental plaque from eight people buried at the Umeda cemetery in Osaka identified 38 dietary proteins from 17 types of…
Far out in the Atlantic, the concrete base of a floating wind turbine has been given an unusual second role. Instead of serving only as the underwater support for renewable energy equipment, parts of the structure are now carrying ropes, nets and collectors designed to grow marine species. Commercial divers attached equipment for oysters, clams,…
On Española, one of the smaller islands in the Galápagos, the landscape is being reshaped by animals that spend much of their time moving slowly through it. Giant tortoises push through grasses, knock down vegetation and leave broad paths behind them as they travel. Their effect is easy to miss if viewed as ordinary grazing….
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the space observatory Roman Telescope lifts off from launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center Nasa‘s newest flagship space observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, blasted off from Florida on Sunday on a mission to search for planets beyond the Solar System and investigate some of the…
Astronomers may have found a new way to investigate one of the biggest mysteries in cosmic history: how the Universe’s first supermassive black holes were born. A faint gravitational-wave “hum” detected through networks of pulsars could contain clues about objects that existed more than 13 billion years ago. A new study by researchers at Colgate…
In 1990, a small bird became an unlikely symbol of one of America’s fiercest environmental battles. The northern spotted owl was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, putting the future of vast stretches of old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest at the centre of a bitter fight between environmentalists and the logging industry.Thirty-six…
Representational image of quantum imaging showing electron waves around an atom. (AI photo) Dirk Morr, a physics professor at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), has developed a quantum imaging strategy that uses superconductors as tiny projectors. The research, published in Nature Physics, provides experimental support for an idea Morr first proposed two decades ago.Morr…
Starling tested GPS-free navigation using onboard cameras to track space objects. (Credit: NASA) NASA has tested a navigation system that allows satellites to determine their position without relying on GPS. Instead of depending on an external navigation network, the system uses other spacecraft and orbital debris as reference points to work out where a satellite…
