Find below the science news story of the day, selected by the Scientia team – click the link on the related images to find out more!
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03/05/24 – Orangutan uses medicinal plant to treat a face wound. The sumatran orangutan may have learnt to treat its own wounds with medicinal plants. This is the first time a wild animal has been seen applying a plant that has known medical properties to treat an injury.
02/05/24 – Beluga whales may communicate by warping the fat in their heads. Animal behaviourists have found belugas make at least five distinct shapes with their melons.
01/05/24 – New medications show potential for preventing allergic reactions. Clinical trials have yielded promising results for a drug to prevent potentially deadly responses if a small amount of the allergen is ingested.
09/04/21 - A trek under Thwaites Glacier's ice shelf reveals specific risks of warm water. The autonomous underwater vehicle Ran trekked to Thwaite in Antarctica in 2019 to collect the first ocean temperature salinity and other data from beneath the floating ice shelf. These data help identify the source and pathways of warm waters eroding the ice.
08/04/21 - Ancient humans may have had apelike brains even after leaving Africa. Brains of early humans may have evolved from a more apelike version seen in a specimen from Georgia to the more humanlike one from Indonesia, between 1.7 million and 1.5 million years ago.
07/04/21 - Britain's electricity system 'greenest ever' over Easter. This article explores the significant strides we are taking towards operating our power system carbon free by 2025. It's highlights the increased role of renewable energy and the fact that our electricity system was at its 'greenest' over Easter!
06/04/21 - Tiny crystals give a plain fish twinkling, colourful dots under light. Did you know that some fish have crystals in sports they bear on their bodies? These crystals reflect certain wavelengths of light creating an impressive display of blue and yellow colours. Read more about this here!
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hardyhead-silverside-fish-crystals-colorful-dots
05/03/21 - Light pollution: How lockdown has darkened our skies. Lockdown has had some positive effects with regards to the environment. Our skies have become clearer and less polluted. One of the ways light pollution is measured is by counting stars! Read more about this good news here!
03/04/21 - Dinosaur-killing asteroid strike gave rise to Amazon rainforest. Evidence suggests that the dinosaur-killing asteroid that caused the Cretaceous-Palogene extinction event actually gave birth to our tropical rainforest.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56617409
02/04/21 - Microscopic images reveal the science and beauty of face masks. To know how effective masks are at slowing COVID-19, it helps to study them up close, fibres sticking out from the weave of cotton flannel, as pictured in microscopic cross-section, makes them more effective.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-coronavirus-face-masks-microscopic-images
01/04/21 - Higher testosterone levels in men linked to greater melanoma risk. Scientists have found some evidence that higher testosterone levels in men could be linked to a greater melanoma risk.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/31/higher-testosterone-levels-in-men-linked-to-greater-melanoma-risk
31/03/21 - Frog skin cells turned themselves into living machines. Scientists have created 'xenobots' by extracting small clusters of skin cells from frog embryos - these creatures can swim, move particles and even heal themselves!
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/frog-skin-cells-self-made-living-machines-xenobots
30/03/21 - Uranium 'snowflakes' could set off thermonuclear explosions of dead stars. A new study found that the build-up of uranium 'snowflakes' in the cores of dead stars could be the cause of type 1a supernovas.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/dead-stars-uranium-snowflakes-thermonuclear-supernova-explosions.
29/03/21 - How kelp forests of California are responding to an urchin takeover. Proliferating urchin barrens such as this one-off northern California, have destroyed kelp forest all along the state's coast.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/how-kelp-forests-california-urchin-takeover-sea-otter
28/03/21 - Study finds nowhere on Earth is safe from satellite light pollution. Scattered light from orbital debris may add 10% more light to a skyglow that interferes with astronomy.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/study-finds-nowhere-earth-safe-satellite-light-pollution
27/03/21 - A rare clotting disorder may cloud the world's hopes for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine. Italy halted use of vaccine on 15/03 following initial reports of symptoms, but resumed immunisations 4 days later.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/rare-clotting-disorder-may-cloud-worlds-hopes-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine
26/03/21 - Correcting altered brain circuit could tackle coinciding obesity and depression. Researchers have identified and characterised a novel neural circuit that mediates the reciprocal control of obesity and depression in mouse models, and a potential therapy.
25/03/21 - Hidden boundaries of lost continent 'Zealandia' revealed in incredible detail. A new expedition has finally mapped the lost continent called 'Zealandia', which was discovered submerged in the South Pacific Ocean in 2017.
24/03/21 - Cause of mysterious bald eagle deaths found after 25 years. A mysterious disease that started targeting the bald eagles of Arkansas over 20 years has finally been identified, and cyanobacteria is the culprit.
23/03/21 - Cephalopods: Older than we thought? Earth scientists have discovered possibly the oldest cephalopods in Earth's history. The find of these 522-million-year-old fossils from Newfoundland (Canada) would indicate that the cephalopods evolved about 30 million years earlier than has been assumed.
22/03/21 - AstraZeneca says its COVID-19 vaccine is 79% effective in a U.S. trail. Preliminary results from AstraZeneca's trail in the US, Chile and Peru of its COVID-19 vaccine showed the shot prevented severe disease and hospitalisation.
21/03/21 - New drugs that block a brain chemical are game changers for some migraine sufferers. By focusing on one neurotransmitter in the brain, researchers have created a class of drugs that may help some patients suffering from unrelenting, debilitating headaches.
20/03/2021 – 50 years ago, researchers treated chronic pain with electricity. It has been 50 years since electricity was first used to treat pain. Since then, these technologies have advanced and are not being used to help paralysed patients to walk again.
19/03/21 - Can room temperature superconductors work without extreme pressure? Physics made a new high-temperature superconductor by allowing hydrogen (silver) to diffuse through a thin layer of palladium (pink) onto yttrium (blue) and squeezing the material to high pressures.
18/03/2021 – Scientists create ‘unprecedented’ model of early human embryo using skin cells. Scientists have created a new, ground-breaking 3-D model of the human embryo called iBlastoids. This will enable scientists to better study issues such as early miscarriage, infertility and early human development.
17/03/2021 – Regent honeyeater: Endangered bird ‘has forgotten its song’. The Regent honeyeater, an endangered bird native to Australia, has ‘lost its song’ due to lack of interaction with other birds of the same species
16/03/2021 – What happened to Mar’s water? It is still trapped there. Billions of years ago, Mars was full of lakes and oceans. Past research has suggested that this water escaped into space and this explains the absence of water on Mars’ surface. However, scientists have recently challenged this theory with the idea that 30-99% of this water is trapped in the planet’s crust.
12/03/21 - The COVID-19 pandemic is now a year old. What have scientists learned? A year after the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, mass vaccinations (shown) are offering promise of its end. As we enter the second year, researchers share what they’ve learned and what they look forward to.
11/03/21 – Fukushima disaster: What happened at the nuclear plant? Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the Fukushima disaster; a nuclear meltdown caused by the 2011 tsunami. Scientists have been working tirelessly to make the area habitable again.
10/03/21 – Coronavirus: Divers find Philippine reef covered with single-use face masks. Face masks are now a part of daily life, but where to they end up when we’re finished with them? Marine biologists are finding PPE washed up on Philippine coral reefs.
09/03/21 – Octopuses can ‘see’ light with their arms. It’s well known that octopuses are the masters of camouflage due to their colour-changing skin, but scientists have just discovered that they can also “see” light… in their arms!
08/03/21 – A sea slug’s detached head can crawl around and grow a whole new body. Scientists have found that a young species of sea slug can voluntarily pull off its own head and begin growing a new body (organs and all!) whilst still being mobile, thanks to chloroplasts.
