Technology

Fire history from 1450 to 1950 ce at 16 data collection sites across the upper Middle Fork study area. Upper panels show individual tree ring series (horizontal lines), tree establishment dates (small points), crossdated fire years (small triangles), crossdated fire years that initiated cohorts (large triangles), and establishment dates that constitute distinct tree cohorts (shaded polygons) … Read more

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The temperature has dropped, the nights have drawn in. The winter holidays have started, families are gathered—so where can you go to fuel the imagination and get some fresh air? A zoo might not be your first thought—but with some offering reduced ticket prices and smaller crowds than in summer, your … Read more

Credit: Jean van der Meulen from Pexels Over the past 15 years, through our scientific study of tracks and traces, we have identified more than 350 fossil vertebrate tracksites from South Africa’s Cape south coast. Most are found in cemented sand dunes, called aeolianites, and all are from the Pleistocene Epoch, ranging in age from … Read more

Flax. Credit: Newcastle University in Singapore A new study has compared the reinforcing efficiency of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) and cultivated flax fiber in poly(butylene succinate) composites. PALF, a less explored but potentially sustainable alternative, outperformed flax at 20 wt.%, showcasing its potential in high-performance bio-composites and aligning with environmental goals. The focus of this … Read more

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Hurricane Idalia and the Hawaii firestorm were the most notable weather disasters in the U.S. in 2023, but they were far from the only ones. In 2023, 25 weather or climate disasters caused at least $1 billion in losses and the deaths of 482 people, according to the National Centers for … Read more

Credit: CC0 Public Domain In 2015, the LIGO/Virgo experiment, a large-scale research effort based at two observatories in the United States, led to the first direct observation of gravitational waves. This important milestone has since prompted physicists worldwide to devise new theoretical descriptions for the dynamics of blackholes, building on the data collected by the … Read more