Science

Human activities can look very different through the senses of a wild animal. A pioneering project in Somerset invited 18 volunteers to see the landscape from the perspective of red deer, otters, earthworms, kestrels and Atlantic salmon. Over six months, they spent time around the River Tone near Taunton, exploring the risks these animals may…

The facial tumour had severely affected devil populations in many parts of Tasmania In 2012, 28 Tasmanian devils were brought to Maria Island off Tasmania’s east coast as an “insurance population” when facial tumour disease was severely affecting the species. The devils have since thrived, with their numbers reaching up to 90. But their success…

In the high-elevation lakes of California’s Sierra Nevada, trout introduced into mountain lakes are affecting more than the water itself. Researchers studied 39 lakes in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, comparing bird abundance with aquatic insects emerging from the water. A study published in Ecosphere titled ‘Crossing boundaries: Introduced trout alter the bird community…

​2025 monitoring data showed the horses were reproducing without constant human intervention. The Przewalski’s horse, considered the world’s last truly wild horse, has returned to China’s grasslands after once disappearing from the wild in the country. Forty years after China began its Wild Horse Return Program, the population of the species has grown to about…

Tyrannosaur preying on an ancient diving bird (Representational AI photo) A 66-million-year-old feather found inside fossilised dinosaur poop may offer a clue to why some birds survived the asteroid impact that wiped out most dinosaurs. Scientists say the feather belonged to a hesperornithiform, an extinct group of aquatic birds that lived alongside dinosaurs.The feather was…

Spider webs may hold a surprising record of the animals living nearby. A study found that genetic traces from terrestrial vertebrates can be collected directly from spider webs, turning the structures into passive filters for environmental DNA. Researchers tested 49 webs from an Australian wildlife sanctuary and Perth Zoo and detected vertebrate DNA in every…

Tree branches could provide a simple way to filter drinking water. MIT engineers have developed water filters made from sapwood, the living wood found beneath the bark of trees such as pine and ginkgo. The material contains tiny channels called xylem that normally carry water through a tree. Thin membranes between these channels act like…

India’s growing space industry needs an umbrella Space Act for legal support. India needs a Space Act. It needed it yesterday!The country opened its space sector in 2020, created IN-SPACe to authorise and regulate their activities, and subsequently put in place the Indian Space Policy 2023 and a framework for non-governmental entities. The industry is…

What scares a deer away from a crop field, a wolf howl, a cougar call or the sound of a human shouting? A 2025 study by researchers from the University of Alberta and King’s University found that, among the sounds tested, human shouts produced the strongest flight response in both deer and elk. But the…

More than 1,600 years ago, as fire engulfed a Roman settlement in what is now Bulgaria, a young man appears to have made a desperate decision: he climbed inside a huge storage jar and hid. He never came out. Archaeologists uncovered his remains inside the vessel during excavations at the ancient Roman colony of Deultum…