The Amazon might appear to be lush, but its soil is actually not so fertile. That’s why the region’s Indigenous peoples have been fertilizing the land to use it for agriculture for thousands of years, according to a new study reported in Science News. Archaeologists have long...
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Honeybees are getting their own vaccine, the Guardian reported. Recently, the US Department of Agriculture approved the world’s first inoculation for honeybees aimed at protecting the insects from the American foulbrood disease, which has been severely decimating their colonies. The disease is caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus...
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The Pantheon in Rome has survived nearly intact for almost 2,000 years. How is that possible, scientists have long wondered. Recently, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have figured out a few of the ancient tricks the Romans deployed to create structures that last for millennia,...
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For years, scientists thought that dinosaurs were big but dumb. But now, some researchers believe that some dinosaur brains were so complex and densely packed with neurons that they nearly resembled the noggins of modern primates, according to a new but controversial study. Neuroanatomist Suzana Herculano-Houzel and...
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Stress, like laughter, is highly contagious. Previous studies have shown that levels of the stress hormone cortisol can spike in people simply observing other individuals experiencing stress. Now, researchers are focusing on whether stress contagion is also common among other members of the animal kingdom, the Washington...
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Nature is merciless when it comes to organisms feeding on others to survive. Bacteria are eaten by other microorganisms, such as protozoans, for example. Now, scientists recently found evidence that viruses too are prey to bigger predators, Gizmodo reported. In their study, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln...
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It’s complicated sending humans to Mars. Apart from oxygen supply, food issues and solar radiation, crewed missions also need to figure out how to power their equipment. Astronomers have suggested using solar energy to power human missions. Unfortunately, sunlight is hard to come by in the planet’s...
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For centuries, philologists and linguists have been racking their brains over a 2,500-year-old Sanskrit grammar puzzle created by “the father of linguistics,” a grammarian and philologist named Panini, who lived in the region of what is now northwest Pakistan and southeastern Afghanistan between the 6th...
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Glass frogs of Central and South America have the ability to become “invisible” to evade predators, NPR reported. The half-dollar-sized amphibians are known for their transparent skin that can reveal their internal organs. Initially, researcher Jesse Delia took pictures of the small animal’s circulatory system as part...
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Peru’s majestic Nazca Lines recently received a significant boost in the number of geoglyphs that paint the vast region, Live Science reported. Archaeologists spotted 168 previously unknown geoglyphs – large designs or motifs produced on the ground – created by the Indigenous inhabitants more than a millennium...
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Astronomers are about to witness how a planet is devoured by its star – and it’ll take millions of years, according to Science News. In 2009, scientists launched the Kepler space telescope to find exoplanets by watching them cross in front of their stars. The first...
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A new study on wild chimpanzees suggested that the human ability to walk on two feet began up in the trees rather than on the ground, CNN reported. Researchers from the UK-based University College London monitored the behavior of 13 wild adult chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Issa...
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The ancient Romans portrayed the invading Huns and their leader, Attila the Hun, as ransacking barbarians with an “infinite thirst for gold.” Some of these depictions had good reason, but a new study suggested that the motives of Attila and his people were a matter of...
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Scientists discovered a large complex of flat, interconnected magma chambers below Hawaii’s volcanoes that could be responsible for a number of tremors in the past seven years, the Independent reported. In their paper, the research team used machine learning to analyze data gathered from seismic stations,...
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2022 was a banner year for science and researchers say they are looking forward to making new strides in 2023, according to Scientific American. In space, this year saw massive satellite constellations littering the night sky, two crewed space stations going operational, and governments rolling out...
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Archaeologists in Turkey discovered an 11,000-year-old, two-panel carving depicting humans and animals in what they consider to be one of the earliest known narrative scenes, Art Net reported. Researchers found the engraving – depicting two male figures facing dangerous animals – on the benches that line...
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Scientists discovered that snakes have clitorises in a landmark study that could prompt more research into the female species’ reproductive organ, Live Science reported. Researcher Megan Folwell initially came across the organ after she made an incision into a female Australian death adder’s tail. But she...
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Scholars have wondered how mammals emerged as the dominant class of animals following the cataclysmic impact of an asteroid on Earth that wiped out the dinosaurs. Previous theories suggested that the animals lived in the shadows of the giant lizards until the asteroid hit the planet...
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Housework and cooking don’t come easy to Japanese men. Most have never learned. That’s because strict gender roles in domestic affairs have persisted in Japan: The wife usually takes care of meal preparation and cleaning, while the husband supports the family financially. That labor division has persisted...
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The Christmas holiday season is often marked by the vibrant poinsettia plant that graces homes, churches, and offices across the world. The plant blooms only for a few weeks in November and December but remains one of the best-selling flowers worldwide, especially in the US where...
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