Nasa has taken another step towards building a permanent human presence on the Moon by awarding almost $600 million in fresh contracts for a new series of robotic lander missions. Rather than focusing on a single spacecraft, the agency is spreading the work across several commercial partners, continuing its strategy of using private companies to…
An invasive snake that likely arrived on Guam hidden inside military cargo after the Second World War went on to transform the island’s ecosystem in ways scientists are still trying to understand. The brown tree snake, native to parts of Australia, Papua New Guinea and nearby islands, found an environment unlike any it had encountered…
Mount Everest is widely recognised as Earth’s highest mountain, standing as the ultimate symbol of altitude and exploration. According to NASA, beyond our planet lies a volcanic giant that dwarfs every mountain on Earth. Olympus Mons, an enormous shield volcano on Mars, rises to a height of around 27 kilometres, nearly three times taller than…
A routine archaeological excavation beneath a quiet village in northeastern France has uncovered one of the most remarkable Roman coin hoards found in recent years. Hidden for around 1,700 years, three ceramic jars packed with an estimated 40,000 bronze and copper Roman coins were discovered beneath the remains of an ancient neighbourhood in Senon. Far…
The question of whether humanity is alone in the universe has fascinated scientists for generations, but few have pursued an answer as publicly or as controversially as Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb. While most researchers argue that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, Loeb believes advanced alien civilisations may already have left technological traces in our cosmic…
Quote of the day by Alexander Graham Bell (AI-generated image) Today’s quote of the day is widely quoted as having been said by Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish-born inventor best remembered for giving the world the telephone. The line reads, “The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.” It has…
Scientists at the University of Minnesota have announced a major step in synthetic biology: a laboratory-made system dubbed ‘SpudCell’ that mimics many behaviors of living cells. (AI-generated image) Scientists at the University of Minnesota have announced a major step in synthetic biology: a laboratory-made system dubbed ‘SpudCell’ that mimics many behaviors of living cells.Built from…
China is developing a ground-based boost system that would accelerate a rocket along a track, using electricity. China is pushing an unconventional launch idea that could change the economics of reaching orbit: instead of igniting rockets at ground level and spending huge amounts of chemical propellant just to claw through the thickest part of the…
Building bridges for bears, wolves and elk sounded like an expensive fantasy when Canadian officials first proposed the idea in the 1990s. Many critics questioned whether wild animals would ever use specially designed crossings over one of the busiest highways in the Canadian Rockies, while some even mocked the proposal as a waste of taxpayers’…
Carl Jung (Image: Wikipedia) Think of a person who changed you. Maybe a friend, a teacher, someone you loved, even someone you knew only briefly. Chances are you came away from them a little different than you were before. Carl Jung, one of the most influential figures in the history of psychology, captured this in…