Macaws are large parrots found in central and South America that can live up to 60 years in the wild or 80 years in captivity. Most species of macaws that exist are endangered or under threat of endangerment. The main threats to the birds are habitat destruction and being captured for the international bird trade. …
Continue reading “Researchers Create Foster Care for Macaw Chicks”
This story has slipped under the radar with all the other chaos in the world. As of 26 July, US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams have been in space for 50 days. Sounds like a great adventure, but that is 42 days longer than they were supposed to be there. As of now, there …
Continue reading “American Astronauts Continue to Be Stranded in Space”
A new paper published in the journal Current Biology has documented an interesting behavior of ants. These small creatures sometimes treat the wounded limbs of other ants from their anthill. The specific ants investigated by the researchers were Florida carpenter ants. Ants have an adaptation known as the metapleural gland that produces antibiotic fluid. The …
Single-use plastics infest many areas of our lives, and many plastics either aren’t recycled or are not made to be recyclable. The world produces 350 million tonnes of plastic each year, compared to just 2 million tonnes in 1950. From 1950-2015, only 6% of the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic produced was recycled. Much of …
Continue reading “Researchers Create Self-Digesting Plastic”
Jellyfish lack hearts, and have two nervous systems instead of a centralized brain (although they still have a rudimentary memory despite the lack of a central brain). Many species have no eyes, and must digest their food very quickly so that they can maintain their flotation. Certain types of jellyfish are bioluminescent, and others are …
In 2021, the helicopter-like drone known as Ingenuity landed on Mars’ surface. This NASA-built helicopter became the first vehicle to engage in powered flight on another world. Last week, however, NASA announced that Ingenuity had sustained damaged to its rotor blades and can no longer fly. Ingenuity was launched on the same craft that brought …
Continue reading “End of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Mission”
The nature versus nurture debate on the nature of human intelligence and many other traits is nothing new. Yet in the early decades of the 20th century, the scale was tipped largely in favor of the nature side. Most psychologists believed that intelligence was entirely heritable and that environment did not matter. A child born …
Continue reading “Iowa Orphans and the Nature of Intelligence”
The lamprey is a type of jawless fish that has been on Earth for a long time. The oldest lamprey fossils are dated to 360 million years ago. There are 38 known species of lamprey worldwide, and many of these are carnivorous animals that feed by burrowing into the flesh of larger animals. Adult lampreys …
What is remarkable about a celestial body called WASP-107-b? It is a planet found 212 light years away from Earth, or 1.2 quadrillion miles, a distance so vast that the human mind fails to comprehend it. Nevertheless, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers are able to observe such far away phenomenon. The JWST …
Continue reading “Astronomers Find Planet with Clouds Made of Sand”
On 30 July 2023, scientists at the US’ California-based National Ignition Facility (NIF) produced a fusion reaction that produced more energy than it consumed, leading many to renew speculation as to whether using fusion as an energy source is possible. Nuclear fusion occurs when two atoms collide to form a heavier atom. For instance, two …
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