Tag Archives: Science

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 …

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 …

US scientists have partially revived pig brains four hours after the animals were slaughtered. The findings could fuel debate about the barrier between life and death, and provide a new way of researching diseases like Alzheimer’s. The study showed the death of brain cells could be halted and that some …

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth’s oceans, scientists have discovered unique oil-eating bacteria. Similar kinds of bacteria have previously been found and even used to help deal with oil spills, such as that from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, but the new …

A Chinese researcher who sparked improved cognitive function in monkeys by implanting human genes into their brains has defended his experiment, which has divided the scientific community. The research, undertaken by multiple universities and led by the Kunming Institute of Zoology in southwestern China, was intended to shed more light …

“The gates of hell, the end of space and time.” That was how black holes were described at the press conference in Brussels where the first ever photograph of one was revealed to an excited audience. And this black hole, a super-massive object at the center of the galaxy Messier …

An “exquisitely preserved” trace of dinosaur skin has been discovered in South Korea. Researchers found a set of tiny tracks from a blackbird-sized Minisauripus, the smallest known theropod. The footprints themselves, which measured only an inch long, also contained perfectly preserved skin traces. “These are the first tracks ever found …

A four-legged creature that had a tail and webbed feet similar to those found on otters has been identified as an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planet’s oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors …

The number of new corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has plunged by 89% since unprecedented bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, scientists say. The events, which damaged two-thirds of the world’s largest reef system, are now being blamed for triggering a collapse in coral re-growth last year. “Dead corals …

Slightly over a year ago, Chinese archaeologists revealed that the first emperor of a unified China, Qin Shi Huang, was obsessed with finding the elixir of life by any means and even ordered a nationwide search for the miraculous potion. Archaeologists in central China’s Henan province have discovered an “elixir …

Remains of some of the oldest ever frogs have been recovered by sifting through fragments of rock from Arizona. The creatures, which shared the prehistoric landscape with dinosaurs, were identified based on tiny shards of hip bone smaller than a fingernail. Belonging to an as-yet-unnamed species that lived around 216 …

Nasa-funded scientists have developed a new kind of DNA-like structure that can store and transmit information – and could lead to new ways of finding alien life. The breakthrough discovery suggests there might be alternative, unimagined forms of DNA-based life as we know it on Earth. Life on other worlds …

A researcher inadvertently discovered the remains of Central America’s oldest marine mammal – a 20-million-year-old tusked sea cow. Steven Manchester, a curator of paleobotany at the Florida Museum of Natural History, had been looking for fossil plants when he stumbled across bones during fieldwork close to the Panama Canal. The …

Mathematics is the language of science and has enabled mankind to make extraordinary technological advances. There is no question that the logic and order that underpins mathematics, has served us in describing the patterns and structure we find in nature. The successes that have been achieved, from the mathematics of …