An artist’s rendition of Saturn’s moon Enceladus depicts hydrothermal activity on the seafloor and cracks in the moon’s icy crust that allow material from the watery interior to be ejected into space. New research shows that instruments destined for the next missions could find traces of a single cell in a single ice grain contained … Read more
Longitudinal monitoring of mouse placental hemodynamics throughout a healthy pregnancy. Credit: Xiaoyi Zhu et al, Longitudinal intravital imaging of mouse placenta, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk1278 If you missed some of our top stories this week, we have you covered. From an underachieving black hole to a new species of fluffy beetle, you can see … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain For the first time in history, a single language dominates global scientific communication. But the actual production of knowledge continues to be a multilingual enterprise. The use of English as the norm poses challenges for scholars from regions where English is not widely spoken. They must decide whether to publish in … Read more
Dark matter is a ghostly substance that astronomers have failed to detect for decades, yet which we know has an enormous influence on normal matter in the universe, such as stars and galaxies. Through the massive gravitational pull it exerts on galaxies, it spins them up, gives them an extra push along their orbits, or … Read more
A killer whale leaps out of the water when swimming—a behaviour known as porpoising. Credit: Minette Layne/Wikipedia/CC A group of killer whales spotted hunting off the coast of California and Oregon over two decades may actually be their own unique population of animals, a new study says. When the notorious black fin of an orca … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the lack of diversity in workplaces, particularly in terms of ethnic and gender diversity. To address this, many companies have taken action by adjusting their recruiting policies and setting targets for achieving minimum diversity levels. The accounting profession has suffered from … Read more
Credit: CC0 Public Domain A shortage of cocoa beans has led to a near shutdown of processing plants in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the two countries responsible for 60% of global production. With chocolate makers around the world reliant on west Africa for cocoa, there is significant concern about the impact on the prices of … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Tasmania’s tall eucalypt forests are globally significant. They accumulate carbon faster than any other natural forest ecosystem in the world. But climate change is making it harder for these forests to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in wood. During heat waves, they stop removing carbon altogether and release … Read more
Credit: Intouchable / Openverse How stable are planetary systems? Will Earth and its seven siblings always continue in their steady celestial paths, or might we one day be randomly ejected from our cosmic home? Physicists understand the rules that govern the orbits of two celestial bodies, but as soon as a third is added (let … Read more
Credit: Nanyang Technological University Scientists from NTU Singapore have developed ultra-thin semiconductor fibers that can be woven into fabrics, turning them into smart wearable electronics. Their work has been published in the journal Nature. To create reliably functioning semiconductor fibers, they must be flexible and without defects for stable signal transmission. However, existing manufacturing methods … Read more
