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Unearthed in southern China, this ancient fossil bears the most detailed and well preserved nervous system ever found.
In the 1990s, a famous study found animals in Yellowstone National Park, like elk, bred in fewer numbers and ate less after wolves were re-introduced. That seems like something bound to happen when you introduce an apex predator in a new ecosystem. However, what the study pointed out, in fact, was that most of the elk population suffered not as a result of attack from wolves, but rather simply due to them knowing wolves where now sharing the same park. In other words, fear produced such intense ripples that it altered the entire ecosystem. This was very controversial, and a team of Canadian researchers sought to replicate the findings on an island of fearless raccoons.
An MIT research team has developed a new technology that will allow for the creation of lighter and thinner solar cells than ever before. While the team says there is still work to be done before making them commercially available, the panels already proved their efficacy in laboratory settings. They hope that their work will power […]
DiCaprio took to the stage to present his acceptance speech, and tackled climate change in front of millions of people watching the Academy Awards, calling it 'the most existential crisis our civilisation has ever known.'
Massachusetts' state officials plan to designate the uninhibited island Mount Zion as a safe haven for the endangered timber rattlesnakes. The 1,350-acre wide site will be populated with adult snakes and authorities will keep a close watch on their progress.
A large biotech lab is now under a government animal welfare investigation after thousands of animals went "inexplicably" missing from their facilities.
Can you fly through water? It's a silly thought, but that's exactly what this snail butterfly, called Limacina helicina, seems to be doing. Researchers at Georgia Tech report that these sea snails flap their wings in a figure eight pattern very much akin to that used by airborne insects, like flies or bees.
For the first time, natural gas installations were also surpassed by PV arrays despite the shale boom, which says a lot about the momentum solar energy is currently gathering.
MIT researchers have created a powerful new tool for energy monitoring: a citywide urban building energy model of unprecedented scale and detail.
A study ten years in the making found that sea levels are rising at the fastest rate in the last 2,800 years. The researchers say that greenhouse gas emissions that build up in the atmosphere and heat the planet, melting glaciers and ice sheets, are to blame for this sharp rise.
The voracious reputation of sharks might soon change as marine biologists uncover that most coral reef sharks eat pray smaller than a cheeseburger.
A laboratory study on rats found that the animals that breathed Beijing's notoriously polluted air gained weight and showed sighs of cardio-respiratory and metabolic dysfunctions after three to eight weeks of exposure.
According to a 2009 report, around "60 percent of Americans live in areas where air pollution has reached unhealthy levels that can make people sick"
Two major oil spills in the course of only one month are threatening Amazonian wildlife and local communities. Peru’s General Directorate of Environmental Health issued a water quality emergency last Wednesday, but critics voice that this is a tad late -- more than three weeks since the first spill spewed more than 2,000 barrels in the regions of Amazonas and Loreto. Shockingly, a third spill has been reported by the local media in Peru, but this has been refuted by the the oil company responsible for the pipelines.
In late 2015, Volkswagen (VW) admitted to cheating on US tests to make its diesel cars seem more green than they actually were.
They may not look like much, but coffee pods are a big problem.
The saddening story of global warming continues in 2016 like it did in 2015. According to NASA, this January was the warmest January on record, in more than 150 years.
This Friday, the tiny island nation of Fiji put up a big flag on the map by becoming the first country in the world to ratify the UN climate deal put together last December at the Paris COP21.
Following ISIS's attack and destruction of the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq, Italy and the United Nations have joined forces to protect cultural heritage sites in conflict zones.
Mantis shrimp are probably best known for the dazzling colors that adorn their shells. The second thing they're best known for is their tendency to violently murder anything they come into contact with.
Between 2,500 and 4,000 so-called 'extremists' have been killed by drone strikes and kill squads in Pakistan since 2004. Maybe as early as 2007, the NSA has targeted terrorists based on metadata supplied by machine learning program named Skynet. I have no idea who would find naming Skynet a machine designed to list people for assassination a bright idea, but that's besides the point. The real point is that the inner workings of this software, as revealed in part by Edward Snowden from his leaks, suggest that the program might be targeting innocent people.
Today, sea levels rise at a rate double that recorded in the 20th century. That's a lot, but not nearly as much as climate scientists expected. Researchers at NASA claim they now know why: thirsty continents absorb a great deal of the extra water coming from melting glaciers. They warn, however, that the system will become saturated at one point and the water will be returned to the oceans, as part of the global water cycle.
A Nebraskan entrepreneur brought his own take on greenhouses, creating one that's powered by green, geothermal energy.
To find its way home to the nest, a wasp will leave its own visual 'breadcrumps'. The wasp will ever so often fly backwards to see its environment as if it were traveling to the nest, and use this information later to make its way safely back.
The day has come and passed, but the impact could be felt for a long time; that thrilling date, the memories created and the carbon emissions will linger long after Valentine’s day has passed. According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, 36 percent of Americans (58% men; 16% women) will buy flowers for […]
One landmark study suggests that the tundras are shifting their role as a result of climate change turning into carbon sources, with a net positive release of carbon into the atmosphere.
Almost 50% of all new wind turbines in 2015 were built in China. Considering that, it’s no surprise that the country has become the biggest producer of wind energy. But China is showing that its determination in greening its economy is real and it’s not slowing down. According to statistics released by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) on […]
While around 97% of active climate change researchers (the most qualified) agree that global warming is real and caused by humans, the same can't be said about the general populace. One study surveyed 1,500 middle school and high school teachers across all 50 states and found only 67 percent agreed that "global warming is caused mostly by human activities," which is strikingly similar to how the average American feels. You'd think school teachers should know better, though.
Wisdom, the 65-year old albatross from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is breaking record after record.
When Fukushima’s nuclear accident unfolded, people fled the area without looking back. But one man realized that humans aren’t the only victims of the tragedy. Naoto Matsumura went back to Fukushima’s 12.5-mile exclusion zone to care for the abandoned animals. In 2011, one of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history struck Japan. The 9.1 temblor took even […]
The 160-megawatt concentrated-solar already has 100,000 mirrors in place, focusing sunlight to create steam and generate clean energy.
A team of researchers performed the most extensive study of howling made by canid species. This includes wolves, jackals and familiar domesticated dogs. The findings suggest that each species and subspecies has its distinct vocal fingerprint, with a specific pitch, fluctuation and timbre.
In the wake of calamities like hurricanes or tornadoes, you'll find trees leveled to the ground. But observations suggest that all trees seem to break at the same wind speed, with parameters like the type of tree, height or diameter barely affecting the outcome.
A new study analyzes how much Arctic ice can melt before its grounded portion also starts sliding into the ocean.
A period of significant cooling from 536 to 660 AD brought forth massive societal changes in Europe and Asia, a new study found. The cooling, caused by volcanic activity, coincided with a massive plague, the decline of the Byzantine Empire and the spread of Slavic and Arabic people. It is well known that volcanic activity can […]
The transplant community has established a new committee to address the recent Zika virus outbreak, and protect organ transplant patients from the potential dangers of the virus.
CO2 interferes with neuroreceptors in the brain of fish, causing them to behave as if drunk. By 2100, fish in half of the world's water might be intoxicated in this way.
A few months after it was proposed, the law was approved in December and it's now official.
These bizarre creatures are called Xenoturbella, and can be found at the bottom of the ocean. For years scientists have being trying to figure out which proverbial foot these fit in. Now, it seems like their place in the tree of life has been established. Not surprisingly, these are found near the base of the tree of bilaterally symmetrical animals. A fancy way of saying one half matches the other half. That's at least one thing these deep-sea sock creatures have in common with humans.
Some 50 million years ago, the world was in dire straits. Atmospheric CO2 levels were at over 1000 ppm, with some putting the level at 3500 ppm. Turtles and palm trees were thriving at the poles and sea levels were much higher than they were now as there was virtually no snow to be seen. […]
It's all about the topography of the terrain, and whether or not it allows for niches to become connected, researchers found when they tried to explain what drives the most biodiversity. The findings could prove extremely important in gauging the future impact of migrating species to higher elevation as a result of climate change.
German scientists have turned on a device called a stellerator, the largest of its kind. The machine could pave the way for nuclear fusion, a clean and safe type of nuclear power.
If you can see a person or an animal, then it is possible to be seen back. It's a basic caveat they train in the military when discussing camouflage. What's more, if you suspect you're being seen, you must minimize your movements. This level of abstraction was thought to be unique to humans. It's been recently shown that ravens too are capable of imagining someone is spying on them and take greater care hiding their food, as reported in Nature Communications.
Most people don't have that much of an issue with dying, like they do with being freaking old. Being old is a drag. You gain weight, the skin gets wrinkled, the mind and body weakens -- and it all gets gradually worse until you expire. Ants don't seem to share this human tragedy. By all accounts these particular ants don't seem to age and die in youthful bodies.
It may be possible to observe the presence of an advanced alien civilization by the effects produced if that civilization were to self-destruct through nuclear war, biological warfare, nanotechnological annihilation, or stellar pollution. Each case would generate unique detectable signs that could be identified by earth-based telescopes.
The French government announced its plan to build a 1,000 kilometer (621 mile) long stretch of solar panel-paved roads over the next five years. The locations for deployments have yet to be revealed. The fossil fuel tax is expected to bring in between 200 to 300 million euros ($220 to 440 million) of funding for the project coined "Positive Energy" .
In Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park poachers set thousands of snares to trap wildlife for meat. Inadvertently mountain gorillas -- listed as critically endangered -- get caught in the traps, and the young often die due to wounds or starvation. These sort of scenes are commonly witnessed by trackers working in the area to dismantle the snares, an uphill battle most of the time. What was startling though was a display of ingeniousness few cared to think was possible. Days after a young mountain gorilla was killed by a trap, trackers saw how a pair of four-year old gorillas worked together in coordination to dismantle a trap from the same area.
The moon does more than cause tides and delight lovers - according to a new study, it can also affect how much rainfall falls down on the ground.
A general trend was found: those animals with the highest brain/body size ratio were better at solving a problem they had never seen before.
Get it together, world – the top 10 greenest countries in the world are all European! The greenest countries The 2016 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a Yale-developed method to quantify the environmental performance of a state; it’s a measure of how ‘green’ a country is. Of course, like any index it has its pros […]
