News Feeds

Blackworms are ultra-fast swimmers, and they tangle up into worm balls to protect themselves from predators – but leeches have an ingenious method of catching them called “spiral entombment”

If we want to terraform the Red Planet to make it better able to host microbial life, tiny rods of iron and aluminium may be the answer

An estimate of annual bird fatalities due to building collisions in the US brings the figure to more than 1 billion – it is the first to include deaths from injuries after the strike

From the Fibonacci sequence to the Bell numbers, there is more overlap between mathematics and poetry than you might think, says Peter Rowlett, who has found his inner poet

Netflix's adaptation of The Decameron adds style and literary tropes to a licentious Renaissance classic. But it keeps the original's attacks on class and power, while also providing food for thought about today's elite tech preppers, says Bethan Ackerley

See some of the top entries to this year's Mangrove Photography Awards, showing the beauty and fragility of these unique ecosystems

Lush and vibrant cinematography plus a "cast" of real animals make Heart of an Oak an enthralling celebration of the natural world

Forget videos by gamers or influencers. For a real online thrill, watch the world's biggest flower emerging in a former web designer's greenhouse, says Annalee Newitz

Some write poetry when broken-hearted, others label it "love trauma syndrome" and use scientific methods to investigate. Feedback explores an acronym-heavy study into the lovelorn

After the release of a shocking video showing Olympic rider Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse, it is time for equestrians to educate themselves on the science of horse training, says Christa Lesté-Lasserre

The dynamics of how plants and animals change Earth is central to this last book in a trilogy by Other Minds author and "scuba-diving philosopher" Peter Godfrey-Smith

As the International Space Station comes to the end of its life, we should recognise its biggest achievement – showing that a better world is possible

Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “purpose,” once again deals  with the holy books, but this time Mo’s Qur’an. The Bible doesn’t have anything like the first verse; Jesus may have died a virgin, like his mother.

Here is one translation of the surah and verse at hand (33:40); note that Mo gets special connubial privileges:

O Prophet! We have made lawful for you your wives to whom you have paid their ˹full˺ dowries as well as those ˹bondwomen˺ in your possession, whom Allah has granted you. And ˹you are allowed to marry˺ the daughters of your paternal uncles and aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncles and aunts, who have emigrated like you. Also ˹allowed for marriage is˺ a believing woman who offers herself to the Prophet ˹without dowry˺ if he is interested in marrying her—˹this is˺ exclusively for you, not for the rest of the believers. We know well what ˹rulings˺ We have ordained for the believers in relation to their wives and those ˹bondwomen˺ in their possession. As such, there would be no blame on you. And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

And the second (33:36):

It is not for a believing man or woman—when Allah and His Messenger decree a matter—to have any other choice in that matter. Indeed, whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has clearly gone ˹far˺ astray.

People who claim to believe in conspiracy theories may not actually deep down, which researchers uncovered by asking if they thought Canada had an elite army of genetically engineered, super intelligent, giant raccoons

Scientists at three research institutions capture the pulsing motion of atoms in diamond, uncovering the relationship between the diamond's strain and the behavior of the quantum information hosted within.

Scientists at three research institutions capture the pulsing motion of atoms in diamond, uncovering the relationship between the diamond's strain and the behavior of the quantum information hosted within.

Modern commercial aircraft flying at high altitudes create longer-lived planet-warming contrails than older aircraft, a new study has found.

Researchers have turned concrete from a demolished school building and carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air into new blocks strong enough to build a house with. The process involved grinding the old concrete into powder, reacting it with CO2 from the air, pressurizing it in layers in a mold and finally heating it to form the new block. Instead of making buildings from new concrete only, this technique could offer a way to recycle old materials while also trapping carbon dioxide in the process. The blocks could theoretically be remade again and again, through the same process.

We are constantly surrounded by electromagnetic waves such as Wi-Fi. Researchers tested a device to convert this ambient energy into energy for electronic devices.

We are constantly surrounded by electromagnetic waves such as Wi-Fi. Researchers tested a device to convert this ambient energy into energy for electronic devices.