Science

Galactic winds are believed to have a major impact on how mysterious black holes affect the development of galaxies around them, but scientists are as yet baffled by how exactly this powerful phenomenon occurs. Scientists have discovered the composition of the powerful galactic winds emanating from supermassive black holes, according …

One of India’s richest men just got the green light to start building a new coal mine in Australia despite fierce opposition from climate change campaigners. The Adani Group, owned by billionaire Gautam Adani, said in a statement it would begin construction of the Carmichael mine in Queensland after receiving …

The planet is currently at its closest to Earth, meaning that it can be spotted in the sky without any special equipment. And while it looks beautiful enough already looked at with the naked eye, peering through binoculars or a small telescope could offer a detailed look at the planet. …

Nasa is to allow tourists to visit the International Space Station from 2020. The US space agency said it would open the orbiting station to tourism and other business ventures. There will be up to two short private astronaut missions per year, said Robyn Gatens, the deputy director of the …

There is a limit to human endurance and it is determined by the gut, not the mind or muscles, according to scientists. US and Scottish researchers studying humans involved in the most demanding physical feats, from running six marathons a week to pregnancy, have shown that the number of calories …

China has conducted a pioneering launch of a space rocket from a cargo ship, becoming “the first nation” to fully own and operate a floating launch platform. A Long March 11 carrier rocket lifted off from the pad installed on a civilian ship in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, the …

Hungary’s government is moving to tighten its grip on the research institutions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, despite protests by scientists against political control of the academy. Since taking power in 2010, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has tightened government control of public life, including the courts, the media, and …

Scientists in Britain have used gene-editing techniques to stop bird flu spreading in chicken cells grown in a lab – a key step towards making genetically-altered chickens that could halt a human flu pandemic. Bird flu viruses currently spread swiftly in wild birds and poultry, and can at times jump …

A fully albino giant panda has been caught on camera at a Chinese nature reserve in what is believed to be a world first. Researchers released an image of the all-white bear walking through a forest in Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province. It was photographed in mid-April by …

Scientists have observed wild chimpanzees tucking into an unusual snack: tortoises, whose hard shells they crack against tree trunks before scooping out the meat. In a paper published Thursday by the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from Germany say the behavior they spotted dozens of times in a group of chimpanzees …

Scientists believe that global sea levels could rise far more than predicted, due to accelerating melting in Greenland and Antarctica. The long-held view has been that the world’s seas would rise by a maximum of just under a meter by 2100. This new study, based on expert opinions, projects that …

Researchers in Germany have unearthed a new species of flying dinosaur that flapped its wings like a raven and could hold vital clues as to how modern-day birds evolved from their reptilian ancestors. For more than a century and a half since its discovery in 1861, Archaeopteryx — a small …

Over the last decade, scientists have established that as the inside of the Moon cooled, it shriveled up a like a raisin. That left it riven with cliffs called “thrust faults”, marked all over its surface. Now a new analysis, using data from Nasa missions, suggests that the Moon could …

Scientists in Cambridge plan to set up a research center to develop new ways to repair the Earth’s climate. It will investigate radical approaches such as refreezing the Earth’s poles and removing CO2 from the atmosphere. The center is being created because of fears that current approaches will not on …

The “holy grail” of plastic – a material that can be broken down and repeatedly recycled without any loss of quality – has been created by scientists. Placed in an acid bath, it can be fully broken down into its component parts. Like lego, these monomers can then be reassembled …

Scientists have described a diminutive new tyrannosaur from New Mexico, US. Called Suskityrannus hazelae, the dino would have stood about 1m tall at the hip and was perhaps no more than 3m in length – not much longer than just the skull of fearsome T. rex. “Suski” lived earlier in …

Researchers at the University of Sydney say they have discovered a potential antidote for the sting of the world’s most venomous sea creature: the Australian box jellyfish. The jellyfish has about 60 tentacles that can grow up to 3 meters (almost 10 feet). They live mainly in coastal waters around …

Astronomers say they may have spotted a neutron star being swallowed by a black hole for very the first time after seeing vast gravitational waves rippling across space. The waves were spotted by the twin Ligo observatory in the US and the Virgo detector in Italy following a possible collision …

Nasa is going to pretend a deadly asteroid is on its way, to practice for a real one. The “tabletop exercise” will allow the space agency and the other government organizations that will be tasked with responding to such an event to simulate their response, ahead of the possibility of …

Around 12 million hectares of forest in the world’s tropical regions were lost in 2018, equivalent to 30 football fields per minute. While this represents a decline in 2016 and 2017, it is still the fourth highest rate of loss since records began in 2001. Of particular concern is the …