Apr 24th, 2025 - A remarkable find for ant history was made, not in the field but in a drawer. One of the most intriguing discoveries in entomology was just made — not in the field, but in a drawer. Anderson Lepeco, an entomologist at the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, had been combing through slabs of ancient rock in a collection from a little-known fossil site in northeastern Brazil when he saw something strange: a faint outline that reminded him of something. It wasn't a cockroach or a cricket, the usual fare in this collection. It was something else. "When I started to look ... [Read More]

Apr 24th, 2025 - Researchers explore the curious relationship between sound and gene expression in cell cultures. When a sound is loud enough, it doesn't just ring in your ears — it seems to vibrate through your bones and your chest too. Now, scientists have discovered that this sensation may go far deeper than we thought. Cells, it turns out, might also be listening . That's the conclusion of a striking new study from Kyoto University. Researchers found that simple sound waves — nothing more than vibrations in the air — can cause genes to switch on and off, alter cell behavior, and even ... [Read More]

Apr 24th, 2025 - Scientists have made the first-ever coherent quantum communication using existing telecomms infrastructure Researchers at Toshiba Europe have used quantum key distribution (QKD) cryptography to send messages a record 254km using a traditional fibre optic cable network. It's the first time scientists have achieved a coherent quantum communication using existing telecomms infrastructure. The breakthrough marks a step closer to ultra-secure quantum encryption, which could fend off hacks from even the most advanced classical and quantum computers of the future.   QKD is a form of ... [Read More]

Apr 24th, 2025 - The universe's largest structure, the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, was already a challenge to explain with models of the universe due to its incredibly vast size — and now, using the most powerful blasts of energy in the universe, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), astronomers have discovered this structure is even bigger than they realized. Plus, the team even found that parts of the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall are actually closer to Earth than previously suspected. The Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall is a so-called "supercluster" of galaxies; it's a filament of the cosmic ... [Read More]

Apr 24th, 2025 - Garden State Tortoise founder Chris Leone gets plenty of requests to take in turtles people can no longer care for. Rockalina's case was different. "Like we do in any rescue, we ask to see the photos ... And they sent us the photos, and my wife and I, our jaws hit the ground," he told NPR. A young boy found Rockalina, a wild eastern box turtle, while playing near his New York home in 1977. His family took her in and for nearly 50 years, she stayed there. She remained on a slick kitchen floor, eating cat food and occasionally lettuce. The environment wasn't like anything she knew in the wild, ... [Read More]

Apr 23rd, 2025 - Images of gladiators being mauled by lions have been featured on mosaics and pottery, but this is the first time skeletal evidence of the fighting has been found. Bite marks on a Roman-era skeleton found in York are the first physical evidence gladiators fought animals, experts have said. Teeth imprints from a large cat were found on the pelvis of a man buried in a cemetery believed to contain the remains of gladiators. Images of gladiators being mauled by lions have been featured on mosaics and pottery, but this is the first time skeletal evidence of the fighting has been found. Academics ... [Read More]

Apr 23rd, 2025 - Coral reefs around the world are losing their color at an unprecedented scale as a result of rising sea temperatures, federal marine scientists announced this week, with 84 percent of reefs exposed to bleaching levels of heat since 2023. The massive blow to marine habitats reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the highest share ever recorded — comes as the planet experiences its fourth global coral bleaching event, which occurs when bleaching is confirmed in every one of the oceans' basins at once. It raises new concerns about the precarious nature of ... [Read More]

Apr 23rd, 2025 - SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS, Calif. — Tuna Canyon was too quiet. The rugged gorge on the edge of Los Angeles, overlooking the twinkling Pacific Ocean, would normally be buzzing with the sounds of life: birdsong from the bushes, the patter of paws on the hillside, the splash of newts in the stream below. That was before the mountains burned. The January firestorms across this Southern California county torched entire neighborhoods and displaced thousands of people. But the disaster also tore through the natural world, disrupting fragile ecosystems that — despite popular imagination ... [Read More]