Even after four years away from a release site, pigeons took similar paths home Credit: Todor Dinchev/Alamy Stock Photo Advertisement Homing pigeons combine precise internal compasses and memorized landmarks to retrace a path back to their lofts—even four years after the previous time they made the trip, a new study shows. Testing nonhuman memory retention … Read more
UCLA scientists have discovered a new source of super-fast, energetic electrons raining down on Earth, a phenomenon that contributes to the colorful aurora borealis but also poses hazards to satellites, spacecraft and astronauts. The researchers observed unexpected, rapid “electron precipitation” from low-Earth orbit using the ELFIN mission, a pair of tiny satellites built and operated … Read more
Anne Beaumanoir, a French resistance fighter who aided Jewish people fleeing the Nazi occupation of France during World War II and later became a groundbreaking clinical neurologist and epilepsy researcher, died in her home in Quimper on March 4 at the age of 98. Her medical colleagues at Geneva University confirmed her death but did … Read more
If last year’s events taught us anything, it was that social media platforms like Instagram can negatively impact teens. But the extent of this effect is still poorly understood. To try to learn more, scientists from University of Cambridge, University College London, and University of Oxford sought to characterize this multifaceted relationship between social media … Read more
President Biden’s proposed budget would give a big boost to the global climate fight by injecting more than $11 billion into efforts to help other countries address global warming. The money would go toward a range of programs, budget documents show—from one initiative designed to help developing nations transition away from coal, to another that … Read more
There has been little progress at talks in Geneva aimed at encouraging countries to set new targets for protecting wildlife Environment 29 March 2022 By Adam Vaughan Deforestation in Palawan, Philippines Roland Nagy / Alamy A fortnight of negotiations to establish the draft of a new global deal reversing the loss of wildlife and habitats … Read more
If you’re a cat owner, you already know that litter boxes are super important. But veterinarians still see owners making plenty of mistakes with them. For starters, many cat owners make decisions based on things they want, rather than what may be best for the cat, says Fiia Jokela, veterinarian and owner of Chicagoland Veterinary … Read more
Vagina ObscuraRachel E. GrossWW Norton & Co., $30 More than 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates, the Greek physician often considered the father of modern medicine, identified what came to be known as the clitoris, a “little pillar” of erectile tissue near the vagina’s entrance. Aristotle then noticed that the seemingly small structure was related to sexual … Read more
Process water from the food industry is an excellent fertilizer in land-based seaweed cultivation. Not only does the seaweed grow faster; Its protein content also multiplies. In this way, process water can go from being a cost to becoming a resource in the food industry. Can macroalgae, such as sea lettuce, become a competitive source … Read more
This story originally appeared in the Messy issue of Popular Science. Current subscribers can access the whole digital edition here, or click here for a new subscription. The air inside Sulphur Cave in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is full of poisonous hydrogen sulfide and lethal levels of carbon dioxide. The cavern, blocked off with a three-board fence, has hosted few visitors. … Read more