Percy is moving on to its next drill site in Mars’ lonely Jezero Crater. Like a white gumball dropped in the sand, NASA’s Perseverance rover glints amongst the cliffs of Mars in a striking new satellite image. Perseverance – or “Percy,” to its familiars – has been rolling around Mars’Continue Reading
It provides insights into how the position and intensity of the North Atlantic jet stream has changed during the past 1,250 years. The findings suggest that the position of the jet stream could migrate outside of the range of natural variability by as early as the year 2060 under unabatedContinue Reading
U.S. National Science Foundation-funded scientists at Tufts University have developed a new filtering technology inspired by biology that could help curb a drinking water-related disease that affects tens of millions of people worldwide. It could also potentially improve environmental remediation and industrial and chemical production, among other processes. Reporting inContinue Reading
Experts want more data before making the jabs more widespread. In the United States, booster shots of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine won’t be widely available to the general public starting this week. Instead, only certain groups will have access to a third dose of the vaccine: people 65 yearsContinue Reading
When nobody else wanted the job, Marguerite Vogt stepped in. Working from early morning until late at night in a small, isolated basement laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, Vogt painstakingly handled test tubes and petri dishes under a fume hood: incubating, pipetting, centrifuging, incubating again. She was tryingContinue Reading
Prenatal sound perception is more widespread than previously thought, new research suggests Over a decade ago, behavioral ecologist Diane Colombelli-Négrel was wiring superb fairy wrens’ nests to record the birds’ sounds when she noticed something odd. Mother fairy wrens sang while incubating their eggs, even though it would have madeContinue Reading
Roach profiles mugging monkeys, thieving bears and more Around the world, criminals run free in the forest. These villains can’t be arrested — because they’re not human. In her latest book, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach puts the spotlight on these miscreants. On the Midway Islands, albatrossesContinue Reading
Most jaguars are loners that hunt landlubbing mammals, but not the big cats of the Pantanal In a tract of central Brazilian wetlands, jaguars spend their days wading through chest-deep waters searching for fish. When not hunting, the big cats playfully grapple with each other back on land. Their lifeContinue Reading
The snake is the first boa species discovered in the Dominican Republic in more than a century A wide-eyed snake has made scientists do a double take. The Hispaniolan vineboa, with its large protruding eyes and square snout, is the first boa species to be discovered in the Dominican RepublicContinue Reading
Body parts reinforced with zinc and manganese make impossible cuts possible, a study suggests If you’ve ever felt the wrath of a biting or stinging insect, it may seem incredible that something so small can so easily slice or puncture human skin. Scientists already knew that some small animals’ piercingContinue Reading
